Our Family Goals

As parents we have always had goals in mind for our family, but we have never taken the time to write them out and to share them with our children so that we can make efforts to work towards them together.  Over the last three years or so Chris and I have really felt burdened with the need to make more intentional efforts in our family, especially in regards to the importance of raising Godly children that will impact the world for Him.

So, this last weekend Chris and I  finally got around to putting some goals down on paper and writing out a plan of action.  God's hand truly guided us and blessed our efforts. 

First of all, wonderful friends came to us with the offer of keeping our five treasures so that we could go on a Vision Retreat.   They already have six children of their own, but are such servants and wanted to bless us in this way.  They were excited about their time with eleven kids and planned lots of great fun and food.  Thank you SO much H family for making this weekend possible!

Secondly, God gave Chris and I clarity and unity of mind and heart in setting goals and making realistic plans for attaining our goals.  We spent much time in prayer asking for His plans to be evident, we spent time in prayer for each of our children, we spent time digging into God's word to find appropriate foundations for our goals, and we had LOTS of wonderful discussion.

We are very excited about sharing these goals with our children and putting plans in place to work towards meeting them.  As time goes by I will likely share some of our ventures in relation to all of this.  In the meantime, here is a list of books that have been highly influential in our parenting over the last three or so years:

• God's Word
• Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham
• Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna
• Keeping our Children's Hearts:  Our Vital Priority by Steven and Terri Maxwell
• Large Family Logisitcs by Kim Brenneman