The words of Lehi to his sons began to open a vision in my mind for our next step. We want a complete overhaul of our family culture—removing the put downs and derision between people, curtailing the media dependence, and accepting the fact that work is a natural part of life that need not be avoided. We want scripture study to be a regular event (already working on that) and we want peace to prevail within hearts and within the walls of our home. We want to engage in more regular physical activity and we want the kids to be engaged in regular social activities so that they have some structured things to be a part of and to identify with individually.
To kickstart this transformation I would like to spend a couple of days over spring break doing some fairly easy hikes in Capitol Reef National Park and we can mix that up with fresh pies in Fruita. When we return from that trip it will be general conference weekend. That will be a foretaste. Between now and June the kids (with the exception of Emma) will need to pick what school activity/club they will take part in next year, we will beat back the chaos and uncleanliness of the house so that we can start the summer on the right foot, and we will establish a morning pattern that includes breakfast before school. Then when summer starts (so the kids can’t try to use school attendance as leverage) we will rearrange the rules for earning media (quite possibly taking church out of the equation) and ending rest of the day media (except in extraordinary circumstances). The goal is that over the summer the kids learn to go a lot more outdoor and in-person social stuff rather than relying so heavily on media to entertain them.
I talked to Laura this morning about this plan and I think she’s basically on board but probably still processing it. As for spring break, I need to find a hotel near the park. I see several hikes we could do but have not settled on any for sure. I am certain that I want to do pie at the Gifford Homestead after a nearby hike. Overall, two nights, a short hike, a medium hike, pie, a scenic drive, and eating out two or three times feels about right.
I also started beating back the chaos in the house by cleaning out our closet floor which was a bunch of trash and a load of laundry at this point. I hope to tackle our bathroom tomorrow.
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