The H_____ Family Purpose...

Last year, The Hubs did a Bible study with our church in Alaska called the "Quest for Authentic Manhood."  The study is for men, and is about taking spiritual leadership in your home, what it means to be a provider and a protector for your family.  The Hubs thoroughly enjoyed the study, and has embraced those principles in our family.

Just last month, "Organized Simplicity" was a free e-book on Amazon, and word just flew around Facebook.  I downloaded it to my Kindle, and devoured it in just a couple of hours.  It is a GREAT book, is worth purchasing. (The "free" offer expired.)

http://www.amazon.com/Organized-Simplicity-Clutter-Free-Approach-Intentional/dp/1440302634/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330130740&sr=1-1

In both of these studies/books, they encourage you to create a FAMILY PURPOSE STATEMENT.  We were going to write one last spring, then all craziness broke loose with moving and everything else, and we just never got around to it.  I got spurred on (again) by "Organized Simplicity" to write one, and began brainstorming.  Tsh Oxenrider (I think that's how you spell her last name) encourages you to write one, and says that's the tool to use to determine every aspect of your life.  If something doesn't fit into your family purpose, seriously consider whether or not you want to pursue that path/purchase it.

The Hubs and I finally sat down, looked over Tsh's tools for building a purpose statement, and here's what we came up with:

The H_____ Family Purpose:
-To faithfully serve God, our country, each other, and our community.
-To joyfully "bear with one another" with the Fruits of the Spirit.
-To have our home be a place of laughter, peace, and comfort.
-To have our experiences be fun, educational, and uplifting.

We also developed a motto for our family:
"Remember Whose you are, and who you are."

I typed these up, and printed them out on pretty paper.  I've gotten a simple frame to put them in, and to leave where I can see it.

From here on out, I will be weighing my decisions based on our Family Purpose.  What we buy, what we commit to, our extracurriculars, how we live.  We-as the family with said purpose- have the right to tweak our purpose, but these are goals we can work towards for the rest of our lives.