This is what we do on Monday nights

We start out by gathering at our dinner table at 5:00 pm for an exquisite meal that is eaten with great care by all. Clean up is a breeze. Next we gather in our immaculate living room at 6:00 pm while JR plays a little prelude on the piano. Then we sit down and our adorable, sweet children sit quietly with arms folded and listen intently as their father expounds on chapter after chapter of scripture. The smell of homemade chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven fills the air. The phone doesn't ring, and the dog doesn't bark. After the insightful lesson, we play games with sportsmanship, then only eat 1 cookie each and give the others away to a family in the ward. We end at 7:50 and the children are in bed by 8:00 sharp.







OK, not really. This is more like what our Monday nights are like:


We hurry and eat dinner at 7:00, drag the children to the living room, where at least one couch is buried in laundry, and have our FHE. The phone rings at least once, and almost always somebody has to go to the bathroom. The songs usually go over well, as do the short lessons, so that we can get to the treats and activity. Of course there are tears because the games are NEVER fair, and then we all eat way too many treats. Despite all of this chaos, FHE has been a great thing for our family. We have started to look forward to it instead of dreading it. It has been fun to see our kids so excited about Monday nights. They plan for days about what treat to have, or what to do for our activity. Even though we still have a lot to learn, we have learned this: FHE is sooo important!