Wednesday, March 18, 2009

A Family Is. . . A Changing Life Mobile

From Chapter 1 of Edith Schaeffer's What is a Family?


Things to Ponder:
  • How can I chronicle the changes in our family? How can I get my children involved?
  • How can I commemorate the changes in our family?
  • How can I pass on to my children past changes in our family?

Things to Do:

  • Begin low-maintenance journals for each child. (I *will*not* be a slave to scrapbooking, stamping, embossing. . . I will simply insert a nice picture or souvenier here and there and keep an up-to-date journal for each.) Have the children contribute to their journals with their own words, artwork, and collected souveniers.
  • Celebrate birthdays and anniversaries with special traditions. (Think I'm alright here.)
  • Journal old family stories from mine and J's childhoods and our parents' childhoods.
  • Begin a yearly family vacation, preferably to the same place each year, that may be carried on after the kids leave home and start their own families.

Reflection:

  • Romans 5:3 ~ ". . . tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. . ."
  • How can I *work* to show the beauty of family to others?

Quotes:

  • "Showing love that has depth and is real comes along in the succession of events given us [in Rom. 5:3]: tribulation -- patience -- experience -- hope."
  • "Patience cannot be shown unless there is a circumstance which would make us impatient."
  • "Time after time, patience is demonstrated. . . and then comes the experience of knowing how to get along with another imperfect human being, which makes it possible to have a continuing relationship with the same person. . ."
  • "As we go on being patient or steadfast during various kinds of tribulation in our family experiences together, the love of God grows, and His love in us becomes more apparent through us to each other, as well as our natural love for each other growing and mellowing into a richness that could never exist without the long succession of ups and downs, better and worse situations."
  • "Unity and diversity. Form and freedom. Togetherness and individuality. A family."

2 comments:

Anwen said...

Wow. I love your blog. I love the Anne series, too! So glad I found your site.

Erika said...

Thank you for stopping by -- glad you've enjoyed.