what is family home evening?

i found these frames at tjmaxx and decided they needed a project in them.  a friend of mine told me her one-time bishop told her this phrase "knees in the morning and knees at night", and it always stuck with her.  it stuck with me, too, so i created a cute little thing for the boy's room, and one for us (although i think the one for us would look better in a black frame).

we have our morning and bed time routines:  every morning we pray and read one scripture verse from our popsicle jar.  for bedtime we sing that month's primary song, talk about a scripture painting/read a scripture story, then read a fun book, then have prayer.  

confession: i have never pushed family home evening in our house.  excuses:  the boys were too young.  david's never home at night.  i'm the one always bringing up prayer, scriptures, do i really need to be the one to bring up fhe, too?  (and it's been a particularly long day, and david's been gone for 12+ hours, i get really  crabby and start saying things like, "i do everything around here!  why doesn't he do something?!"...and i know I'm probably the only wife evil enough to think something like that, right?)  i was having a conversation with bishka about something in relief society, something along the lines of sisters making the same comments as mine, and that fhe is a source of stress and annoyance and frustration, and what's the point.  i don't know if she made this comment, or another sister, but the essence was:  ultimately, this is what you want your children to learn, this is the testimony you want your children to have, and you want to be the one cultivating it.  the point isn't about the "priesthood holder" conducting your home evenings, or making an elaborate lesson with treats, etc., the point is about building a foundation in christ in your children's lives.  period.  that stuck with me.  i adamantly stood by the no-stress rule, however.  so i prayed to create quick, simple, lessons that would hold the boy's interest and be done within 10 minutes.  4 lessons immediately came into my mind.  it also dawned on me i could use a lot of the visual aids i've created for sunday school/primary lessons over the years.  (duh...)  this is doable.  

we do a song, scripture, and an activity.  first: i pulled out a "magnifying glass" from an old lesson (thank you, cardboard, aluminum foil, and saran wrap), and called it the what would jesus do magnifying glass, and talked about trying to be like jesus.  second:  we talked about building a foundation in jesus and had two paper houses--one set in the grass, and then the other one we stuck in-between bricks labeled with things that would bring us close to jesus...and then the storms (water from the hose) came and we saw which house was left standing.  third: we talked about building a stronghold for our family, and used drawings i'd had from a lesson on captain moroni's strongholds.  this past monday night:  we played the obstacle game.  i drew a road with obstacles along the way.  then i drew six bridges to help us cross over the obstacles. the boys had to go pick a car, and make their way from earth back to heavenly father and jesus, and put bridges along the way to cross the obstacles.  each bridge we turned it over and talked about a bridge jesus provides for us to get back (they were faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, the temple endowment, temple sealing).  not to create any illusions here...when i say we discussed jesus' bridges, it went like this:  "pace, look at mama.  pace, listen to mama.  pace, look.  pace, focus.  pace, look at this bridge!  pace, what do you see in this picture?  pace, put the car down for one minute and look at this!"  ...and so on...

anyway, since starting, my first excuse was seriously debunked.  pace will randomly tell me things jesus can do for us, and things we need to do to be better.  a couple weeks ago i was tucking them in for bed, and after talking about our scripture story, pace said, "mom, we can build on jesus."  the boys LOVE the obstacle game and always ask to play on it with their cars.  they love getting to the obstacles, and shouting, "hurry, mama!  it's a tornado!"  the first time i told pace to get a bridge and cover it up so he could get back on the road.  he said, "but mom, jesus has to build our bridge!"

the first day i told pace it was family home evening, he asked, "what is family home evening?"  now he knows.  it's fun, we learn about jesus, and we do it together.