Hayes Family Guiding Principles

Will and I, for years, have wanted to write up a Family Mission Statement, but have never really gotten around to it. But last week at church, someone spoke about family "guiding principles" and that's all it took for us to get motivated again. So for family home evening last Sunday, we sat down with the kids and talked about what was important to each of us in a family. With those ideas, appropriately stated where we all could understand, we came up with the following statement. I thought it would be appropriate to put in on our FAMILY website. We also plan on dedicating our family home evenings to further discussing, learning and acting out each of these principles. Kind of a fun idea that might work for other families too! We plan on updating it every few years to best meet the needs and growth of our children, and ourselves.

Hayes Family Guiding Principles
We are positive and happy.
We encourage and support each other in both word and deed.
We hug and cuddle to show affection and trust.
We have respect for ourselves and others.
We talk of Christ and we rejoice in Christ.
We are gentle, humble, polite and patient.
We use clean language.
We are grateful for what we have.
We do what we can to help ourselves and look for ways to help others.
We go to church, say our prayers, have Family Home Evening, pay our tithing and read our scriptures.
We keep our bodies, rooms and house clean and organized to invite the Spirit of the Lord.

Hayes Family-January 2008

Also, I teach in the Relief Society at church on the 4th Sunday of every month. This month the Bishop wants me to talk with the ladies about what we can do, during each and everyday, to move our marriage, our children and our families along the spiritual journey toward God. So, I am curious, what things do YOU DO in your family to nuture, prepare. love and teach each member of your family? This could conclude include ways you nurture your marriage or how you help your children feel the spirit or what you have done to read the scriptures with a young family successfully (is that possible)? The things that I am going to use from our family as examples are 1. The above statement. 2. My husband and I keep a spirial bound book of love letters to each other. I will write in the book and leave it for him to find, and then he returns the favor sometime in the future, and it's nice to have them all in one place and a good reminder of how important it is to write those loving emotions down. 3. Primary music before bed or in the car have saved me countless times.

I appreciate any suggestions at all! I know many of you have amazing homes and lives! Share you secrets! Ideas from the family you grew up in would be great too. I teach this lesson on the
27th. Thanks everyone!