Family Home Evening Meeting Notes

Here are the meeting notes from our Family Home Evening tonight.

6:30 - Call for everyone to gather in living room for family home evening
6:31 - I hold Nathan while he whines about having to sit still
6:33 - Nathan disappears out of the living room
6:34 - Jeremy appears in living room, asks where Nathan is, I don't know where he went. Jeremy goes searching
6:35 - Jeremy yells out back door for Nathan to get back in here for FHE
6:36 - Jeremy threatens to lock Nathan out if he doesn't get in here for FHE
6:37 - Jeremy goes and gets Nathan and brings him in. Jeremy and I work on settling things down while Nathan and Alexandra fight to sit on my lap
6:40 - We begin with a family prayer
6:41 - Announce the opening song, "Wise Man and the Foolish Man". Start singing song.
6:42 - Samantha refuses to sing because we are singing it wrong - the other verse comes first. We insist we are singing it right. Athena offers to look it up in the book. Jeremy says that for tonight we are singing it this way no matter what.
6:43 - Sing song the way we are singing it
6:45 - Athena teaches lesson about Christ being the rock for our foundation. I try to keep Nathan and Alexandra calm for 3 minutes while they wrestle over who is going to be on my lap.
6:48 - Athena finishes lesson. Jeremy gives me a primary song about faith to play on piano while family sings nicely.
6:49 - I play prelude while Nathan runs out of room, Jeremy chases him down, and Samantha leaves room because she doesn't know this song.
6:50 - Jeremy comes back into room holding Nathan down (Nathan is screaming) and Jeremy moves Samantha in front of piano so she can read the words. Jeremy pulls Alexandra off piano bench.
6:51 - I play prelude again. Samantha gets mad that she still doesn't know this song. I finish prelude and everyone just sits there while Nathan fusses on the couch.
6:52 - I insist that I am not playing prelude again and when everyone is ready I will play
6:53 - Everyone SEEMS ready, so we take a big breath and Jeremy and Athena start singing when I play
6:54 - 1/3 of the way through the song, Jeremy chases Nathan out of the room
6:55 - 1/2 of the way through the song, Athena starts dancing in place and saying she MUST use the bathroom. 3/4 of the way through the song Samantha says, "I can't read the words, you are going too fast!"
6:56 - song is done. Jeremy has brought Nathan back in to play the FHE game. Athena announces we are going to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. I pull Alexandra off the piano bench.
6:57 - Athena and Samantha start off the competition by engaging in a friendly game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Samantha wins 4 out of 7. Athena has a fit because she doesn't want to be out of the game.
6:58 - Nathan beats me in Rock, Paper, Scissors.
6:59 - We have a showdown and Samantha wins the whole competition. I pull Alexandra off the piano bench.
7:00 - I help Nathan say the closing prayer and we all split.

Does this sound familiar to anyone??? Or are we the only family that is conducting business like this on a Monday night. I'm not going to give up on having Family Home Evening, but sometimes it is such a circus that you just have to throw your arms in the air and say, "Is it worth it?" I told Jeremy, there is probably some comfort in knowing that in at least 1/2 of the homes in our neighborhood, this is going on at the exact same time in each of those homes.

I did make brownies for dessert and I'm sure that we will all have a happy moment together while we fill our bellies with fatty chocolate. Then I'll go work out. Hmph!