What it Means to Be a Graham Comes from Home

personal propaganda;my reminder that "happy" is what I want to be

family snapshots and some of our G collection

The Dining room wall; subtle reminders that home is a place of safety and peace, and a place where we will calmly perservere

Past family themes grace our walls, the artistic expression of what home means to me, and one of my favorite photographs of me adoring John

The start of the family G collection, and one of the first expressions of family propoganda

I fondly remember wallpaper in the kitchen of the home I grew up in. Aspen trees on a white background. I cannot look at Aspens without thinking of home. And when I drive up the canyons near the Spruces or see a grove of Aspens wherever we've been in the world I have felt like home was near to me.

That's because the things we see in the place where we live helps define who we are. Our identity is molded-subtly and dramatically-by what we experience as we grow up.

I have long felt that what our children see as well as feel while they are home with me would largely define who they would become. A feeling long ago assured me that my responsibility was to safeguard the eyes, ears, hearts and minds of my children when they are within the walls of our abode. As the kids have grown I can see why this has been such a deep and abiding impression. We have among us an artist and a musician; one who remembers everything he sees and another who remembers everything she hears-the good, the bad and the ugly. What a tender reminder of the love their Heavenly Father has for them to be sure I knew I needed guard what was seen, heard and felt at home.

Thus, I am careful with our music. I am careful with our media. And I am most careful of the statements we make in the visual images surrounding our children at home.

I affectionately call it "family propoganda". It covers our walls and subtly speaks to the little (and big) hearts we nurture here. While we have owned many homes, and have used different messages at different times, some messages remain constant no matter the home; the messages about what it means to be a Graham...

-We believe in God, and we honor Him. We love and reverence His son, Jesus Christ, and will follow His example.
-We believe in and cling to the promise that if we depend on God first, and follow the teachings of Christ, we can be together forever, literally; and that promise is made and bound in the temple of our God.
-Our family is everything. No matter where we live, we have each other; and that matters most.
-We will stand up for our values; honesty, compassion, integrity, loyalty, virtue, knowledge, faith, and we will practice them in our daily lives.
-no matter how we got here, we are all meant to be together, as one family, forever.
-a rich heritage and an interesting legacy is ours; the experiences we've had in the places we've lived have shaped us for a purpose, and we will be grateful for them and reminiscent of them so we can use them moving forward.


all the sayings, the paintings, and the nick-knacks visually remind me and mine of these things. And I am not apologetic for filling my childrens' eyes and hearts with the identity I hope they will embrace.