When I first wrote about our family purpose statement, we were a younger family living in a different country. I was in the throes of depression, and we were one person short.
It’s not that we’re old hats at the parenting thing now, but I can pretty confidently say we’ve grown and wisened-up a bit in the past few years. We’ve been through a lot, and we’re a little different. More of who we were made to be.
But what’s refreshing is that I look at our purpose statement, and it still rings true. We wrote it to be as timeless as possible, while still being specific enough to be useful.
Our family purpose statement
We will:
Put each other first.
Cultivate deep relationships with one another.
Extend love to those around us.
Live simply.
Be true to who God made us.
Take care of our health.
Be good stewards of creation.
Be lifelong learners.
This summer, Dee of Red Letter Words sent us a canvas emblazoned with our purpose statement. I may or may have not teared when it arrived in the mail.
I love that her talent sits in our living room, purposed as a reminder for us to be who we are. To be the Oxenreiders.
Dee’s family purpose statement hangs in her house as well. Beautiful reminders, they are.
And this weekend, Ree would like to give a Simple Mom reader the chance to get his or her family’s purpose statement printed as a canvas as well. To remind you to be you.
Giveaway
To win your family’s purpose statement on a 20×30 gallery wrapped canvas print in any color from Red Letter Words, please use the widget below (if you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to click over to the blog to enter the giveaway):
Important: Because the cost of shipping something this size is rather costly, Dee can only offer free shipping to a U.S.-based winner. If you’re outside the U.S. and are chosen as the winner, you’ll need to pay for the difference in shipping to your country. Thanks for understanding.
This giveaway will end Saturday night, October 20 (that’s tomorrow!), and I’ll announce the winner soon after. I hope you win!
About Tsh
Together.
Other than “busy” you mean?
Blessed.
Well, the first word that came to mind was “crazy,” but that’s not the word that I hope defines us a few years down the road when ours kiddos get a little bit bigger!
So, I’ll choose “curious” or “learning,,” which hopefully will still describe us a few years down the road.
Thankful
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LOVE!
Grateful….for all the blessings in our lives.
We are loved.
Imperfect. But that’s okay.
Forgiven.
“Striving” to be better to each other and ourselves
Purposeful
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We agonize over crafting a whole purpose statement and now we have to narrow it down to one word?! : )
Grace.
In one word our family is “kind” to those all around us…across the street and across the globe.
This is a fabulous giveaway! Thank you.
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Connected.
Growing
one word: “There”
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Together always… I guess that’s two words!
I want to summarize our family values visibly as a reminder to me as well as the rest of the family.
Oh goodness…only 1 word!
I think it would be ‘together’
Together
wild!
Loud! Lol!
One word to describe our family is “comfort.” Together we stay grounded and rooted in our unconditional love for one another. My family is like a warm snuggly sweater that is like home no matter where we are. And to me that’s comfort.
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Beautiful giveaway! Thank you one word ” Love ” that describes my family!
Blessed
One word for our family: Aware. Aware of each other’s needs, thoughts, feelings and being aware of others.
Loved
joyful
finding joy in all the moments
together, apart
tears and laughter
triumphs and mistakes
lots and lots of loving
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We put each other first, Love the artwork Thanks for an opportunity to win!
Only one word? WOW… I think ours would be: committed
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Hmmm. Read Organized Simplicity twice through last year and still pondering the Family Purpose Statement. If I win this maybe I could get going on finalizing it! One word: Together. Just love being together!
Hmmm….one word is tough. I’d have to say “Snuggly”
Idiosyncratic. We’re just not like any other family I know.
Team. No matter what happens we stick together as a team committed to the Lord.
We just moved to a new home and have wanted to make our mission statement creatively and beautifully displayed. This definitely fits the bill! : )
THIRSTY
We thirst for knowlegde, guidance, love…………
our one word…Brave.
some would call us risk-takers, but we call it “life”…
Honor.
Joyful is the word I would use to describe my family.
Laughter
Funny. My kids and my husband make me laugh on a regular basis, and I love that about them.
In one word: learning. While we love to learn and I want my children, husband, and myself to learn every day for the rest of our lives, I think I mean it more in the sense that we’re learning how to grow and be family more and more everyday. I’m learning what it means to truly love and treasure my role as mommy, I daily watch my husband learn and evolve as a more gracious, caring father and partner, and I watch my children constantly learning what it means to be recipients of this life we have so graciously been given.
Grateful–we have so much to be grateful for!
Definite
ENTROPY — that pretty much covers our life and family these days:)
Environmental
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Love love love! Great idea Tsh!
So very grateful.
Our word would be energetic! Beautiful work!
What a beautiful thing to have in your home.
Ann
one word: loving.
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Growing ( not in number, but hopefully in other ways that count)
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growing!
Joy we strive for joy everyday. We try to find
joy where ever we can. Ann
My husband laughed and said, “travellers” since we are Jesus lovers who do non-profit work overseas but I’d like to think we’re also “thoughtful”.
We are loving
Intertwined. ~lm
Worship. Because if we worship our Lord through all times we should be showing compassion, loving others, respecting them, etc, etc
Fun!
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Adventurous!
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LOVE!
Though I’m a single girl right now, I love the idea of writing a family purpose statement that I can carry through the next stages of my life as marriage and children arrive.
Loved. Blessed.
I love seeing others’ mission statements. I haven’t actually written ours yet …
Blended!
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Endeavor
Eternal
Faithful
Fun!
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Intentional!
We strive for Kindness in all things.
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Loving
If I had to choose one word I’d probably say Striving.
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One word – strong – we have been through a lot, but we are still holding strong together.
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Blessed
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I may need to simplify my purpose statement slightly…
One Word: seekers
We are seekers of Christ, hopefully and prayerfully growing closer to Him each day.
Hmmm one word? Eclectic …
. Thank goodness we’ve blended so beautifully the way that we have so far….
different cultural backgrounds, very different childhoods and different perspectives on life in general (I guess opposites do attract
Adventurous!
fun!!!
Committed
ADVENTUROUS!
One word? TEAM.
Dynamic. It’s changing all the time…
The word to describe my family: kind. We strive to be kind to each other and to bring kindness to others.
messy
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Practice gratitude, kindness, slow-living and always know you are loved.
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one word: “connected”
Blessed!
One word: LOVE(D)
Loved <3
One word: flexible
Unconditional.
Silly! Our best times are when we are just being silly and laughing together.
Shining!
One word to describe my family? yesterday I would have said “drama”. But really, it’s energy. My family has so much energy – it comes out in drama on the bad days, but it is in our relationships and our interests as well.
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What a wonderful idea! This is inspiring me to sit down with my husband and write a “family purpose” statement- I love it. Thank you for the idea (and chance to win this beautiful piece of artwork- if we get it, we’ll hang it directly above our daughter’s “reading nook” in the living room).
funny
Team
Crazy. We love to dance around the house, get messy, and do fun things.
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I love this idea, I was just telling my sister yesterday that I wanted to put this verse: Colossians 3:12-17 on a canvas for each of our families and then I saw your giveaway on Twitter!
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