FAMILY STRENGTHS

Melanie Easton – FHS 2400 – Creative Assignment

FAMILIES ARE ALL DIFFERENT

EASTON FAMILY – you wish you had our DNA.

Families are all different. Different sizes, different demographics, different ethnicity. There is no better family than ones own. This is the one that blesses my life every day!

This is what makes us great:

Family is not an important thing, it's everything.

1990 +1 1992+2 &

3

1994 +4

1997 +5 2002 +6

1988

This is our

family.

We go to choir concerts, football games, baseball games, dance concerts, track meets, talks in church, voice recitals, and assemblies…why? We want to be there for each other… through good and bad.

We support each other.

A family needs to work as a team, supporting each other's individual aims and aspirations

We laugh together.

We are pretty good at laughing together. Hopefully, by now, they know that dad is the BIGGEST tease on the planet. They get that life is not meant to be serious.

Life would be waaaaay to long, and boring if there wasn’t a way to release stress.

So why not laugh???

Our extended family is important.

This is one side of our family…

This is the other.

Not only on holidays, but every Sunday, we go and spend time with the extended family. These crazy people are still a very big part of our lives. We are there for each other on a daily basis. It can get kinda crazy, but we are there for them, they are there for us. Worth every second!

We worship together

One reason I know that we are close is because of our religion. Families are important in the LDS church. We have tried to be a good example of that. I have been lucky to be able to stay at home. We pray together, we read together. It might seem a bit funny to others why this is so important. But, we have tried to teach them that God lives, and what better way, then by showing them that WE BELIEVE!

Conclusion

There are many different ethnic families, and each family has their strengths. They can do all the research they want, but each family can create their OWN family strengths and weaknesses. After reading the chapter, I think a lot of the strengths and weaknesses have to do with social classes, but I also feel it has mostly to do with where your priorities are. I know that in our family nothing comes greater to us than each other. We are not perfect, far from it, but we do try to love each other through the good and bad. Rob and I are important to each other, which in turn makes the kids believe they are important to us, and each other. We aren’t anything greater than just middle class, which we consider a blessing, but I feel that is because Rob and I work together making wise decisions financially. Marriage is also important. There have been times when maybe divorce could have been easier, but we married each other to stay together. We try HARD. I think that’s why our kids try HARD. I believe that family strengths can only be a strong as the weakest member. I don’t want to ever be the weakest link.

Here is my absolute favorite thing I have read in our book so far:

“for upon the welfare of the home depends the welfare of the commonwealth.” -Ellen Swallows Richards

I believe this! Our concern for this country should rely upon the strengths of our families. If our families fall apart, so will this country. I will not allow my family to fall apart. I will not be the weakest link in our family, or the country. I won’t stop now.