FHE for newlyweds


yoyoteacher
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I am hoping to find some ideas for FHE that can be used with my husband. We are both converts and have limited experiences with FHE ourselves, but it is a habit I want to get into with him so we keep going once we begin to have children. Monday went okay, we were sealed on Saturday so we read the family proclamation together and discussed the messages there,  but I think having some ideas to help us as we start would be so good. 

Any advice or resources? 

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Believe it or not? 

About a decade back, Hasbro unveiled its new advertising campaign: "Family Game Night". According to Hasbro, families would benefit if they would all take just one night a week in order to sit around and play games with each other. When they first launched the campaign, they even had an offer going where buying Hasbro games could get you free pizza. And when The Hub (now Discovery Family) launched, they even had a "Family Game Night" game show wherein families competed in events themed around Hasbro games. 

In other words, Corporate America had finally embraced FHE. 

Hasbro offers a selection of "travel" games, games that are small, portable versions of their full-sized games. Two-player offerings include versions of Battleship, Connect 4, and Hungry Hungry Hippos. 

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24 minutes ago, NeedleinA said:

:twothumbsup: Wonderful for you both!! Do you live close to a temple?

We are about 2-3 hours from a few temples, depending which way you go. We live in the St. Louis temple district, but as it was closed for cleaning we decided to go to Kansas City. It was very special, and a very happy occasion. 

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I'd start with simply doing a scripture study session.  Not just reading a chapter or two, but studying a topic.  Find some good commentaries by General Authorities.  Then go through some discussion on it with the scriptures.  If there are some things you don't quite get, write them down and ask someone you trust.

When you get further along in the knowledge and experience in the faith, then move on to something a little more involved.

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Congratulations!  The Family Home Evening manual may have ideas that you could make work without kids.  Here are random ideas off the top of my head:

1) Start now to build a collection of lessons for when you have kids. (You may be too busy once they arrive...) :)

2) Play games (if you like playing games).  We played games in my family and I miss it (and it's not about the games, it's just about spending time together).

3) Spend time learning each other's hobbies - even if you don't like them - but with no contest or judgement, or expectation of continuing participation, just with the intent of appreciating each other's interests.  For example, maybe he likes some video game, so you play it with him (whether you want to or not), let him teach you how, and the things he enjoys about it, he has to understand that this round of play isn't about winning, it's about sharing.  Then another week, maybe you like scrapbooking, or something artistic or crafty, and you teach him what you do, why, how, what you like about it, what you don't like - again, it's not about getting it right, it's about sharing.

4) Have the difficult conversations.  Maybe this is too serious for FHE, but all too often I hear about couples having troubles later because they never talked about serious stuff early on - and if you're going to have serious conversations, starting them off with a prayer and an opening hymn sounds like a good idea to me. :)

5) You could study the scriptures together.  Maybe write your thoughts in a journal for your future children.  Or maybe any thoughts for them, not just about scriptures - random things that they can read before you die (as opposed to normal journals).

6) Do some genealogy.  At the very least, get yourselves and your parents in familysearch.org, but I'll bet you could do a lot more - it's much easier with FamilySearch than it was in the days of paper and microfiche...

7) Whatever it is that you guys think is fun and will help you be happy as a couple and a family.  Mix it up - do fun stuff, spiritual stuff, family stuff, project stuff, etc.  Variety can keep it interesting - it doesn't have to rigidly follow a pre-defined outline.

FWIW.

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1 hour ago, yoyoteacher said:

 It was very special, and a very happy occasion. 

That rocks, congrats again! My wife was a convert of about 2 years before we got married, so our early years had a lot of Gospel Principles (basic, fundamental) discussions. 

Our early years were highly informal FHEs. In fact it felt a lot more like date night with an appetizer of the gospel. Later in life with kids now, it is more formal: song, prayer, review of the week events, etc. 

Some ideas:
1. BYU TV or Mormon Channel show. Then discuss something about the gospel you saw/learned.
2. Join up with another couple for FHE, makes it a little more formal. 
3. Go to the church: Go play basketball or do service (clean the kitchen or foyers there) Probably need to borrow a church key, but hey, the building is a ghost town on Mondays.
4. Write down your experience at the temple being sealed. Write everything you can remember, felt, words by officiator, etc. before you forget them.
5. Go to a place with other Rockin members of the church and join in a discussion with questions/topics... psst, I now a place in particular... you are here now!
6. Invite a senior couple over from the ward. Senior couples are wonderful resources of knowledge and fun. You ask young married couples things/questions, well they are still trying to figure things out themselves. Invite a senior couple over and they have figured things out most of the time and have solid answers instead.
7. Nature hikes, hold hands and count your many blessings.
8. Sunday before, check out some videos from the church library. Watch some. 
9. Go through "Gospel Principles" manual and try to teach each other parts. Teaching someone else reinforces what you have learned.
10. Go on splits with the missionaries.
11. Service, service and more service. 
12. Skype a family member you haven't talked to in a while, saw hi and let them know about your beautiful sealing. 
13. Write the parents of the missionaries who taught you the gospel and say thanks for sending their children out. 
14. Try a new food and cook together. Simple Foods to Try thread

so on and so on... Have fun, enjoy each other. Yahooooo!

Edited by NeedleinA
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9 hours ago, Vort said:

When you have children, remember that a $2 piece of rebar and a blindfold can lead to a great object lesson on holding onto the iron rod.

And I'm having visions of a blindfolded child swinging rebar around.  Maybe this object lesson should be done in the yard... :)

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2 hours ago, zil said:

And I'm having visions of a blindfolded child swinging rebar around.  Maybe this object lesson should be done in the yard... :)

No, the rebar is ten feet long and stationary. Or if it's a shorter piece, the parent is holding the other end and leading.

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On ‎3‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 9:14 AM, yoyoteacher said:

I am hoping to find some ideas for FHE that can be used with my husband. We are both converts and have limited experiences with FHE ourselves, but it is a habit I want to get into with him so we keep going once we begin to have children. Monday went okay, we were sealed on Saturday so we read the family proclamation together and discussed the messages there,  but I think having some ideas to help us as we start would be so good. 

Any advice or resources? 

My kids are all grown, so one thing my wife and I do is get books from various GA's and read them together.  We then discuss it as we go and learn the principles contained therein.  We also read them on road trips.  You might try Elder Bednar's books "Increase in Learning" and "Power to Become."  There are several free books by Elder H. Verlan Andersen on the internet.  You can also go to archive.org, type in "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" in the search engine.  It will bring up hundreds of books, magazines, and many Church related publications you can download for free.

 

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Guest MormonGator
On March 11, 2016 at 2:25 AM, Jojo Bags said:

  We also read them on road trips. 

I strongly second this. If FHE falls on a road trip we'll have the one not driving read something church based or we will listen to it on our iPhone app. 

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1 hour ago, MormonGator said:

I strongly second this. If FHE falls on a road trip we'll have the one not driving read something church based or we will listen to it on our iPhone app. 

My wife has to do the reading.  If I read while I'm in a moving vehicle, I will flip my cookies.

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