Monday, September 21, 2009

7th Annual Rieben Family Founder's Day

September 21st is one of the most important and celebrated days of the year in the Rieben household. It is a day that we look forward to all year long. This is the day that our family was created. Today we celebrated our 7th Annual Rieben Family Founder's Day!

Seven years ago, I knelt across an altar in the Washington, DC Latter-Day Saint Temple and was married to my amazing husband for time and all eternity. As we walked out of the Temple that day, hand in hand, a brand new family of two, we knew that the Lord had great things in store for us.


As we began to welcome children into our family our anniversary became more than a celebration of our marriage, but a celebration of our family as a whole. We wanted our children to grow up knowing that marriage and family are ordained of God and so "Family Founder's Day" was born.

Each Founder's Day we celebrate where our journey began as well as each member of our family. We also introduce our family theme and scripture for the year. For the next year, our family will focus on serving our fellow man.

Theme:


"Because I have been given much, I too, must give."


Scripture:


"And behold I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17)


We celebrate all of the different countries and cultures that make up our family:

Beautiful, handmade wall hanging from Uzbekistan

Sunflowers to represent our children from Bulgaria and Ukraine


And, of course, no celebration is complete without cake!

Finally, we celebrate the love, faith and commitment that our family is founded upon and we thank our Heavenly Father for His amazing and beautiful plan for our family.



Happy Founder's Day!