Ever since I moved I have had a lot of depressing thoughts about life, even through Christmas. And feelings of hopelessness. I think the Enemy has been attacking me to get me to fail at my mission of being a righteous, God-fearing mother of an eternal family who partners with a righteous husband to lead our children back to God. We’ve had success in overcoming our recent trials with this move and new job so now the Enemy has attempted to get me to downplay and overlook that success. I had my three older children with us during the holidays and then they left and that got me feeling sad as well. I mean, it hit me, that eventually all the kids are going to leave and my house will be an empty nest. (I’ve got to focus on the fact that I will be able to dedicate a ton of time and even a whole bedroom to family history work like Elder Scott’s wife did when her kids moved out!). In addition to that challenge, after the holidays I sometimes find it hard to get back to the grind. That’s the enemy again, attacking me any way he can to get me to just feel stuck in the past, frittering away my time, and not actively doing things to teach my children and nurture some great things for the future. Well, no-siree! I am not letting him win!

I find inspiration and hope as I connect with my kids by reading to them, teaching them to cook, having a devotional with them every weekday morning for homeschool that is greatly expanded over what it used to be when we lived in Utah, and watching videos about finding joy in family life. I’m also working on some craft projects, like upcycling sweaters, finding sources for farm fresh raw milk and eggs, reading great books to myself, and listening to podcasts! I’ve been on my strict diet again of no grain or sugar so I’ve had to find joy in sources other than food. It’s been a challenge but so worth it as I fit in the same size or smaller as when I got married.

Anyway, I thought I would share some fun videos I found about the joy of marriage and family life. I’ve been following the Duggars and the Bates for a while, but recently I found some other big families out there who do YouTube videos. Of course, You don’t have to be a big family to enjoy happiness in marriage or family life. It seems though that big families are more likely to make videos or have videos made about them so I am sharing these.

So the top video is from the Hoffmann family. They are LDS and have 9 girls and 1 boy, including two sets of twin girls! They have a blog, allboysbut9.com and a YouTube channel with the same name.

Then there are the Bates, of course, who aren’t quite as famous as the Duggars, but just as attractive and fun! I love the video  that shows their annual Valentine’s Day party.

Ok, now for the Rebacks. They have a ton of kids too! 15 in the video but they recently had 1 more.

Here’s a video from Lyette about stay-at-home date night ideas. I am always wanting more of those, especially ideas of movies to watch at home that are decent, and promote family culture, not just boy-meets-girl, boy-chases-girl, boy-breaks-up-with-girl or marries girl. We hardly every see what happens after marriage!

Here’s a great video from Lyette about teaching boys to be gentlemen, and then the video below is about teaching kids to do chores.

We watched War Room last week, if you haven’t watched it, go watch it. It is a great Christian move about how to get through the struggles of married life. The star, Priscilla Shirer, is a minister in real life with a master’s degree in Bible studies. We watched it using vidangel.com last Saturday for our date night. It was amazing! I am starting to convince my husband to make future date nights of watching lots of videos about budgeting Dave Ramsey style, and Bates and Duggars and Hoffmans. I am weary of watching “escape” entertainment from Hollywood, even from the classic era of the 40s and 50s, that although wholesome, doesn’t give me any practical skills or inspiration to live the realities of Godly-based family life. I am thinking of getting a season pass for the Bates show, Bringing Up Bates.

I also found some great videos on people using Dave Ramsey’s budgeting system. So here’s a video from a sweet family about that.

I’ve also been finding some great videos on Biblical-based courtship and marriage to study and share with my older children. I hope you enjoy all of these! It helps to watch things about the ordinary but basic parts of life, such as prayer and family life, to give us a vision of life as a family-based, Godly-based, amazing journey. I don’t feel alone when I know other moms are out there doing these things to “fight the good fight.” Go watch  War Room to get a vision of the power of prayer that you can use to build your marriage and family!