Creating our Family Mission Statement

My family is taking part on Amor’s Advent daily devotional to prepare for Christmas.

The first disruption for 24 Days of Disrupt was to “Create your Family Mission Statement.” ‪

It was weird at first, but after watching the videos on the blog, it became a lot less intimidating.

We used the family rules poster we have for ideas; lingo from the ‪7 habits that Mia has been learning at school, and took turns answering questions about what is important for us. We put it all together in a beautiful sentence that little D created.

We also added and defined some values that are important for us.

It reads:

“We will serve God through life’s journey with humor, compassion, love and respect for one another.”

Respect: Listening, seeking to understand, caring and serving one another.
Humor: Laugh at ourselves, see life with optimism add jokes and fun.
Compassion: Think of others and reach to those who are hurting.
Adventure: Seek experiences, try new things and don’t be afraid to fail.
Affection: Kind words, hugs, snuggles, and besos.
Family: Time together.

We hope this will continue helping us create a family culture that will help us guide us in the same direction during the holidays and on years to come.

Related articles

• December 1: Family Mission Statement

Disrupting Our Night with #24daysofdisrupt

Last night it was Disrupt your Night in the #24daysofdisrupt. It was an incredible experience for our family.

The challenge read:

It is so easy to get into the routine of our Monday nights. Tonight, instead of turning on electronics, spend the night without electricity. Light candles and spend the evening in simplicity. This activity will help you see through the eyes of a family who lives without basic amenities. This evening, ask God what action He is calling you to on behalf of those who live without this luxury that we consider a necessity.

At first it was really difficult. It was Monday after all. We come back from work, school, swimming and since we are about to go on vacation to Mexico we needed to pack, not to mention decorate the house because we are running out of time.

When I told my family, let’s open the second door of our Amor Advent calendar in the morning I already knew what it would be about (after all, I had something to do with it). After much complaining from my older son, and a lot of screaming from my daughter (she was afraid of the dark). We proceeded to turn off the lights. I told them we would only do the disruption during dinner and we would then continue decorating the tree.

As we began lighting each candle, something wonderful began happening. The winning stopped, the screaming turned into cheer and our family sat at the dinner table in peace. During this time we took the opportunity to revisit the first disruption and Danny asked our children what was really important to them.

I was fully expecting (particularly from our four year old daughter) answers  like my friends, my toys,  my kitchen, leaves (she is obsessed with leaves, thanks a lot Autumn).  Instead we got things like generosity, kindness, learning, and not stabbing people— OK, so this last one is a bit creepy, but again we were in darkness. My son added things like family time, music and patience. He’s a teen, so no surprises there.

After dinner we moved to the living room, then our son read to us the story of the Gift of the  Magi from the blog post. And we discussed Matt. 6:25-34 and the ways in which God has shown his favor and what response should we take in return.

Our family was united, we had a draft to our Family Mission Statement sitting on the coffee table, and more importantly we were being family. The hours went by flying — talking, laughing, staring at the candles.  Yet,  like I promised them, we turned back the lights before bed to do some Christmas decorating while listening  to our favorite Holiday songs. Everyone was in bed earlier than usual — another positive side effect of turning off the lights for an evening.

While we had the opportunity to pause our daily scramble and we recognized that we would like to do it more often, we recognized what a blessing is to be able to turn on the light to run to the bathroom and not crash with the furniture or trip on our black dog for example.

I almost forgot, today is #GivingTuesday here is my #unselfie

Confession on the First Day of Advent

The day escaped us. We didn’t do our family Mission Statement for Day 1 on 24 Days of Disrupt.

We knew it was important and my family has been hearing about #24daysofdisrupt since the day we were still planning beach days. But at the end a series of events simply didn’t allow us to carry it through.

In the past we created the “Thursdays family hangout” which it was supposed to be the time to really evaluate what it was important for us. We quit when it became too hard to keep with our schedules.

 And this is exactly why it’s important to create a Family Mission Statement. To have a map. While we have a true North in Jesus, without an actual plan our best intentions fall short and it’s easier to give up to the urgent instead of what is truly important.  Not necessarily true for today though.

For today I choose to extend grace to every member of the family, including myself. We’ll revisit this challenge, hopefully soon.

 In the meantime we’ll keep on opening the doors of our Amor Advent calendar, opening our Bibles and praying for God to truly leave our hearts open and disrupt our Christmas.

Still, being that I don’t like not doing my homework, these are three things I consider important in my life which might or not be added in some sort of Mission Family Statement:

1. To go passionately whatever God may call me

2. To stand for social justice

3. To act in compassion and love

“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. (Psalm 37:4-6 NIV)