Having a happy family is hard work--don't let anyone tell you different. Even when you try your best you may still have nights where you sleep downstairs on the couch with a fussy baby so that your wife gets a break upstairs. And then when you wake up in the morning with a sore neck and a sore throat, you may still find yourself faced with belligerent kids trying to pick a fight about what foods are available for breakfast. Today began that way. Then, something transformative happened. The kids were good at church--really good. They were a little hungry-cranky on the way home, but once we got some lunch in them we spent the entire rest of the day coasting on good feelings that filled the whole house.
Last week the church had a worldwide broadcast--really a roundtable discussion--whose focus was strengthening families, and this afternoon K. and I spent the better part of two hours watching a recording of it on the web. I wish I could adequately describe the feeling that was in our house while we watched it together. Even when K. and I were across the room from each other, a speaker would make some good point about things that make for strong marriages, and K. and I would both turn to look at each other, not just love in our eyes, but also shared faith vindicated by experience. Young as we feel, we've already begun to experience the joy that comes from abiding by good counsel and know where it has gotten us. Then, with Nora smiling on my lap I would turn my head to see my other three children, their heads leaning together in play, our treasures on this earth. How fortunate we have been, to have been told how to get here.
It's not my usual practice in this blog to get up on the soapbox, but to my Latter-Day Saint friends and family let me just say that if you haven't watched the broadcast, it will be more than worth your time. K. and I had a very memorable Valentine's Day this year, but watching this broadcast about families, at turns both practical and inspiring, was by far the most rewarding thing I've done all week. To my friends and family outside the church, I'll say this much--if you listen to these good men and women talk about families, you will hear the truth.
You can read, watch, or listen to all four parts of the broadcast
here.
