Kass Tomany, February, Heart Attacks
This month I wanted to focus on expressing my love in
detail to my family...so I decided I would "heart attack" a door for my
husband & each of the kids. My plan was to put up a new heart every
day during the month of February with something I love about each
person. (note to self for next year-do not use the floppy doilies, but get a bunch of cute patterned scrapbook paper instead-I was retaping up these babies all month!)
Just one of my favorite quotes that helped motivate this goal-
"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal
with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of
what is most important—and what is most important almost always
involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how
much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them
know.... We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection
shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our
relationships with those who mean the most to us." President Monson
Each day as I worked on this goal, I would find myself looking closer at the people in my life who mean the most to me. This way I hoped the heart-for-the-day would be specific, genuine, & meaningful. I spent more time focusing on what I love about my little family, rather than what I want them to change or improve. (BEST perspective to live by EVER!)
The hearts included a variety of things like physical traits..."I love your darling freckles!" to talents, personality traits, and values they demonstrate well.
It was an awesome experience! I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed it, including me. Midmonth, as I observed that the hearts were impacting some more than others, this project led me to the library to check out the book, The 5 Love Languages of Children (an easy read that I highly recommend) by Gary Chapman & Ross Campbell. We also had a Family Home Evening on love and learning our primary love language. We went online to 5lovelanguages.com & everyone took the survey to discover the ways they understand love best. It was lots of fun & I have lots of work ahead of me to remember & implement what I've learned this month. I sincerely hope to live every day with no regrets with how I treat others, especially this crazy crew I am lucky enough to call my family!
I love reading about your goals/projects. I am so out of my league here with all of you incredible ladies! Thanks for sharing! Until next month, when I am reading a chapter book out loud to the kids.
10 comments:
Kass- What a great idea! I love when things that are so simple have long lasting rewards, oh and random, is that a blue door? I love it!
So great! Seriously, what a fantastic idea. Good job.
What a wonderful project. It is great that you could see the differences in your family members' reactions, which directed you to the five love languages. You are a sensitive, perspective momma! Thank you for the Pres. Monson quote. I look forward to trying the five love languages quiz with my family
This was a perfect Sunday read for me. Yesterday I "battled" with the oldest son-- battle, meaning, back and forth escalating reactions to ridiculous behavior. Thankfully Jennifer's husband popped in at the right time and showed off the staples in his head and that seemed to cool us both off. Last night, before we had prayers I asked him, "when we argue and react like that, does it make you feel like we don't love you?" He nodded first and I assured him that we did love him a lot. He's said he's going to try not to yell. You never can assume they know. Thanks Kass.
So many awesome things here! I love that quote, thank you for sharing that. What a fun idea! I bet your family loved reading those everyday. I think we will check out that website for FHE this week. Very insightful mama you are.
I love this! Especially having the kids take love language quizzes. I have such a hard time figuring out what my kids need. What a great service!
Firstly, I loved that family picture you posted. What a fun family. I love the sweet notes you left. And a takeaway for me would be to do that love language quiz for FHE with my family. That would be fun! Great job!
I love how you did one every day. I bet those kids couldn't wait to see what was on their door! I am definitely checking out the love language book. What a great resource! Thank you!
When I saw this idea, I was impressed that you would write one thing for each person each day--not sure I could pull it off! You are such an awesome mom and I was so impressed by your amazing family at dinner the other night. You're my hero--I hope I can be as patient and kind with my family as you are with yours cause it shows in your amazing kids! Thanks for taking the time to meet up. It was great to catch up!
Really cute idea! I'm going to write a quick note to each of my kids today. Thanks for inspiring!
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