Sometimes I get these big ideas. My Mom had to talk me out of a few of them throughout my life- like going to Russia to teach children English my freshmen year of college- I still wish I could have done that one!
I think my big ideas have simmered down a bit- I've gotten a lot more sensible in my more wise years. After talking with my visiting teacher (in our church we are assigned to visit & watch over a couple of sisters each month & bring a general spiritual message) I was inspired to do two things: #1 Make Sundays better- more like the Sabbath Day it should be and also an enjoyable day for our young children #2 Grow closer to our extended family- we have siblings & cousins & parents all over the country (and soon to be outside the country). I am working on both those and will post ideas for #1 in a later post.
My big idea has to do with #2. Our boys pretty much know the names of all of their relatives and the general ages and even a few birthdays but I thought it would be fun to try to single out a different relative every week or month or so to get to know them better. I used a Spotlight questionnaire from Primary (our church's children's organization) and had my husband and boys help me with the questions. We asked stuff like nickname, favorite songs, dream vacation, embarrassing moment, shoe size, favorite candy, etc. Then I emailed them out to our family and begged for them to respond. (It may take some bribes, as well, for my Northwestern Piano Performance Grad Student Brother to respond.)
The rest of the idea is that every other week or so we'll pull out a spotlight and try to guess who it is. Maybe we can get out some old pictures of them and tell stories or memories we have of that person. Then we can call them or make them a card and send them their favorite candy or something specific like that to show them we love them.
And that's my big idea for the day!
Tara, look at you! I didn't know you had this separate blog! What fun. You truly are AMAZING. I love your "big ideas" -- you are inspiring! My kids also have cousins EVERYWHERE so one thing we did was post a large map on a prominent wall and tape each family's picture up with a string pointing to where they live. There's also a little notecard stating each person's name in each picture. It's helped my kids keep some of their 50+ cousins straight, and they've learned quite a bit of geography in the process! (This is how 3-year old Curtis learned all the states, and is now working on the capitals!) I love the "spotlight" idea -- we might have to try that one!
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