Family Home Evening with the Vests

Every 2nd Sunday of each month we get together with my family for a Family Home Evening Lesson. (*See below to find out what Family Home Evening is all about.) We switch off meeting at different family member's homes, taking turns with the lesson and the refreshments. We all really look forward to these nights. Our kids love being with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This past month we met at Stephen and Emily's. Chad and Jenn gave a great lesson on tithing, complete with a fun fishing activity to reinforce the principles they taught.

The highlight of our last FHE was when Stephen brought Shadow, the dog, to come in and play.

What did “family unity” mean to the pioneer family who made their way by ox cart across the plains? Or to the hardy people who settled your country? For many of these people, family unity was both a necessity and a natural result of their way of life. Their families lived and worked together. They relied heavily on each other for companionship, safety, and survival.

But in our fast-paced world, many of us change jobs and homes several times in a lifetime. As a result, we have learned to depend less on family. In many of our homes, where television and outside activities compete for our attention, family members may actually feel isolated from one another.

Today, like families in the past, your family has a strong need for unity. Your family came to this earth from a loving home with our Father in Heaven. We lived in a family with Heavenly Father. We live in a family now, and we may live with our family eternally if we are worthy. ("Lesson Twenty-one: Family Unity," Family Home Evening Resource Book (1997), 92)

*Family Home Evening, also known as FHE, is an activity that we have in our church that is carried out in the home. It's time set aside each week (typcially Monday nights, but can be any night) where we consciously take time out of our busy schedules to strenghten relationships within our immediate (and sometimes extended) family. FHE might look like a lesson about a principle of the Gospel and making correct choices, it might look like a service project, or attending a play or concert or museum, or pulling weeds in our backyard. The sky's the limit. It's basically just spending time to become more unified as a family.