FHE Sibling Spotlight

Spotlighting individual siblings for Family Home Evening is something we've done in the past and wanted to get back to.  So this week, we celebrated Autumn, our soon-to-be nine-year old.

When I do this, I like it to be a total surprise.  This time around, it was pretty casual.  I found this "Autumn" garland at the store and picked up her favorite candy.

When FHE began, we sang a song of her choosing, and then I asked each family member to say three things they love around their sister. We went around and around until we had all said at least three things.

She was already beaming before we got done with that exercise, but to top it off, I had a letter from her former teacher that she had never read before, that absolutely sang her praises. I read that letter for the whole family to enjoy.

It was a simple, but enjoyable FHE that had everyone feeling good about each other (thank goodness!)

The next day, I actually received an email from the mother of one of Autumn's school friends.  She told me that her daughter had gone to school with ringlet curls in her hair and that she felt self-conscious about it.  Upon seeing her, apparently Autumn paid her this sincere compliment: "You look like Belle from Beauty & the Beast!"  Autumn's words completely changed how her friend felt about herself and she came home totally satisfied with her hair-do of the day!

Her Mom was so happy that she just had to share that story with me.  I was pleased by Autumn's good act, although not surprised.  However, the thing that happened next did surprise me.  In the same breath (or same email) this Mom-friend offered to babysit for me so that I could go to my remaining weekly pregnancy appointments, which will be such a help to me.

Now, I'm sure that my friend might have been planning to offer her services to me either way, but in that moment, I felt that her kindness to me was somehow a direct result of the kindness that my daughter showed to hers.  And I was suddenly super grateful and feeling blessed by the goodness of my girl.

It's kind of neat when the goodness your children do, comes back to you.  And maybe that's the joy Heavenly Father feels.

If you'd like to see what we did for our first Sibling Appreciation Night, click here.