Faith in God and our family are our highest priorities.
We seek to create a warm, loving and safe home environment. We want to enable deep and
solid foundations for our little ones so their lives can be built unto the highest height without worry of toppling or
sinking. We will do this by protecting, loving, nurturing and accepting them wholeheartedly.
We will foster security, love, joy and peace, and pray those qualities over our children. We will do
this by valuing these qualities and guarding our home from things that would rob it of its security,
love, joy and peace.
We desire our children to flourish like trees planted along a riverbank. Bearing fruit in each
season of their lives and being not bothered by heat or long months of drought, where their leaves
stay green and never stop producing fruit. We will do this by teaching our children loyalty, persistence,
patience, commitment, and the importance of finishing what they start.
We will teach our children about the love of God. We’ll do this by telling stories and testimonies of His
goodness as shown in the Bible, in our lives and the lives of others. We will pray regularly together and
seek God’s guidance as a way to allow Him to reveal Himself and His plan for our family.
Our children’s character and heart attitudes are a primary focus. We want to raise our children to have
strong, honest and upright characters with teachable and humble hearts that glorify God. To that end, we will
also strongly and purposefully discipline behaviors such as meanness, lying and laziness. We will help build strong
characters by teaching them the value of, and exhibiting these qualities ourselves. Where we fall short we will
look to God and others to train and equip us to live excellently and with purpose.
We want our children to feel loved and accepted regardless of their behavior. While we will
be clear and firm about what we believe is acceptable and unacceptable behavior and choices,
our love for them will be unmoved. We will attempt to accomplish this by never withholding love or
affection simply because of poor choices. We will communicate our love and acceptance in
the good times and in the bad.
Our house hopes to be one of fun and adventure. When our children get older we hope they will
not look for constant opportunities to go elsewhere, but think of our home as a place to invite others. To
try and accomplish this we will be hospitable, practice the art of entertaining, and have a home
suited to fun activities that will suit children and kids at every life stage.Â
In every day life, we usually know where we’re going before we set out to get there. Or, at least, we know where we want to end up. We start with a destination and then map out (or figure out) our route. We don’t throw random ingredients into a pot and expect prize-winning chilli. If we plan things to do with our finances, careers or grocery lists, why should our parenting and family life be any different?
I believe creating a Vision and Values declaration for your family helps you discover your own priorities, passions and dreams. It gives focus and meaning to the humdrumness of parenting, and helps you to realize that the days filled with diapers, dirty soccer uniforms, and homework are far more than something to be survived. Rather, they’re opportunities to train, equip and nurture your children so they will so they can make a significant and positive difference in their future world.