HOPE Floats

This word, hope, has been used frequently in our house lately.

Afton
I hope that I get to be big helper in class.
I hope the other girl comes to swim class so I'm not stuck with all those boys.
I hope that Jack will figure out that making that sound is super annoying. 

I hope Bobi gets better soon.
I hope that Baby John John is okay.
I hope we can move to be by them soon.
I hope Betsy Lou still remembers me.
I hope I don't have to go to bed early again tonight.

Jack
I hope I get to have a motorcycle when I am 82.
I hope I get on pink or purple today.  (Class behavior chart)
I hope I score like a million goals today.
I hope Daddy can tuck me in to bed tonight.
I hope Baby John John and Betsy still want me to feed them when I get older.
I hope I have nice dreams.
I hope Grandma and Grandpa come down and stay with us again soon.

I hope I will always have a healthy body.

Jocelyn

Not much being said, but it is MY HOPE THAT THAT CHANGES PRETTY SOON!!!!!!!!! (Stressing out about it!)

My Sugar

I hope I pass boards.

I hope I get all my requirements done in time.

I hope I pass boards.

Me

I hope Afton and Jack can learn to be kind to one another, soon, one day, any day.

I hope Jocelyn will start talking, even a little.

I hope Jocelyn's teeth will stop hurting her soon so she can be a happy, well-rested baby again.

I hope my Sugar passes boards.

I hope I am not adding any more stress to his life.

I hope I am being a good example for my babies.

I hope I am being a supportive and loving wife.

I hope my kids will be strong in the gospel.

I hope we figure out if we should sell or rent our house.

I hope my Mom can stay busy and happy now that she is retired.

I hope that Bobi gets better soon.

I hope that Baby John John does well with his surgery.

I hope for a lot of things. 

I thought it would be good to talk about what hope means for Family Home Evening. 

Once we read the 13th Article of Faith we discussed what HOPE really means. Afterwards, my kids were all given a cup full of hearts. They had to write down some of their personal hopes and then we added them to our family cup (The AoF one).

For our FHE treat, we used our now empty HOPE cups to have HOPE FLOATS. (It is my personal goal to start this as a family tradition - calling them Hope Floats instead of Root Beer Floats. If I say it enough, it is bound to stick!)

We had this FHE back in October 2015 - I am just a slacker and haven't finished the blog post, until now.

To recap some of the progress of our hopes - Baby John John's surgery went perfect. Afton is no longer in swim, for now, so she doesn't have to worry about all those boys. Jack is consistently on purple and pink. His Daddy is home most nights now and can tuck him in tight. Betsy will always want Jack to help her, I am sure of it. My Sugar passed his boards. Jocelyn is talking so much now and getting better each day. My mom is enjoying retirement. 

Only some of our hopes have come to light, and we recognize those as blessings in our lives.

Many things, important things, are still on our "Lists of Hopes" mentioned earlier. 

And that is okay. 

We will continue to have hope.