Friends & Family Night

So... another Monday was on it's way and I finally decided what my New Years Resolution would be; hey it was only the 13th of January... I'm early. Anyhoo... I was sitting in sacrament meeting and decided it was time to start our monthly "Friends & Family Home Evening". So we invited some friends from our ward and planned dinner and a lesson and away we went. (Those who know me won't be surprised that I invited people over to our house for dinner the same day as said dinner; why plan ahead when last minute is so much more exciting...or is that stressful?)

I got the idea from an amazing family we met while living in Idaho, Dennis and Mirium Carter. When Jason and I moved to Idaho just over 11 years ago we hadn't really been actively going to church, we were pretty hit and miss in attendance, and I never really felt like I belonged to our ward. (Definitely my own fault looking back.) I remember thinking to myself when we got there that for the first time in my life no one knew me (or my mom, dad, grandma...etc.) and that I could be anyone I wanted to be because no one knew more than I was willing to share with them. It was the first time I really stopped to think about who I wanted to be, not what I was expected to be and not what others wanted me to be or even who they thought I was, but who I thought I was. We found our ward in Idaho Falls and started going, everyone was really friendly and welcomed us right away but old habits are hard to break and it was still too easy to skip church if we were too tired, too lazy...etc. Then we met Dennis and Mirium, Dennis was assigned as our home teacher and Mirium was my visiting teacher (I never knew who her partner was, she always came alone, and never only once a month.) After a few months they invited us over for Family Home Evening and dinner. They had invited several families from the ward and we laughed and ate and had so much fun. They just kept inviting us each month, and became wonderful friends, they never judged and seemed to love us unconditionally and the weeks we missed church became fewer and farther between. Needless to say we went through the Temple while we were there and I know that one of the reasons our Heavenly Father sent us to Idaho was to meet the Carters. They were (and I'm sure still are) his messengers here on earth. I don't remember the lessons but I remember how they made us feel about ourselves. So Dennis and Mirium are my inspiration this New Year. I want to do a little more, a little better.

So our first ever Friends & Family Home Evening was last night and we had a great time! I made 3 kinds of soup and bought several kinds of bread (yeast doesn't like me), and our lesson was on choices. There were 10 kids and 6 adults, it was loud and a little (OK a lot) wild, we built a fire (thanks for the wood Dad) and we talked and laughed and ate and I don't think anyone will remember the lesson, but I hope they felt a little bit like I always did after spending time at the Carters.

Our FHE scripture was Helaman 14:30 "Ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves." I hope we all have a Dennis and Mirium in our lives, but even more I hope I am for someone else.