What Does It Look Like? - Family Traditions (Part Quatre)

What Does It Look Like? - Family Traditions (Part Quatre)

BUT BOOKS ARE NOT the only trick in my family tradition bag.

Ava will receive her next family tradition on her first birthday. I began a project for my godson in 2006 that I plan to continue for Ava Lynn. Taking well-known Bible stories from both the Old and New Testament, I have written what I call biblical Truth Nuggets. Essentially, I personalize the teachings for the children by explaining the stories in plain terms. I discuss how their faith will be tested at school, how their witness will be a positive or a negative influence for their friends, and how their every decision is a reflection of their character. Ava’s Truth Nuggets will make Bible stories not only understandable but personally relevant. Ava will know that she belongs, and she will know what spiritual insights we share through the learning of our faith.

The most recent tradition I created was delivered to Shauna on her first Mother’s Day. This gift, which I call our family heritage album, is to be handed down to every daughter or son when he or she becomes a parent on his or her first Mother’s or Father’s Day. I wrote a short story, introducing our future generations to their ancestors, beginning with Martha Jane Anne Dishner Sanford, my great-grandmother. Accompanying her story are a number of pictures, including one of her on her wedding day when she was eighteen years old and another taken a few months before her death at the age of ninety-six. I did the same for my grandmother and my mother and then inserted pictures of me. My story is blank—to be written by Shauna upon my death. And so on, and so on. Ava and her grandchildren will be able to see five or more generations of women—women whose same blood runs through their veins.

But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. (Exodus 20:6)

Yep, Ava will know that she belongs and maybe even where she got her sense of humor or chubby thighs as she flips through her Blessings of Generations family album.