Family Mission Statement

One of the first things that was covered in our initial parenting class at Gladney was providing your family with a mission statement from the very beginning. It was an idea that really stuck with me - part of my job in PR was writing and editing mission statements for companies as they grew and merged, but I had never thought of one in a personal setting.

In the corporate world, everything is (should be) checked back with a mission statement, from new hires to corporate press releases, a company should always reflect the same values outwardly and stay true to their mission statement.

For Heath and I, the mission statement has been a wonderful tool for how we parent, what we teach and model for our children and how we want them to grow. We've added to it as E. Stone has gotten older, and I'm sure it will grow and change as we encounter new challenges, but here it is for now:

"It is our goal to raise our children in an environment that is peaceful and faith-filled. We pray that our children will be generous and gracious, while understanding and accepting of others needs, backgrounds and abilities.

We will strive to serve as a family of disciples, actively spreading God's word and following in his principles, while parenting in a fashion that mirrors His love for us. We vow to protect God's creation by being frugal in our living and recycling and reusing all that we can."

In the next couple of weeks, I'm also working on specifying a verse for each child. I, of course, pray specific things for my children daily, but I wanted to get a glimpse at each of their personalities before I placed them with a verse. I would LOVE to someday have the scriptures as wall art to place above each child's bed. I'm still saving for that!

For now, I have to come up with the verses, stay tuned to see what emerges for each child!