My new favorite hymn

I recently attended a homeschool conference up in the Seattle area. At the end of the conference we sang this hymn to the tune of "Be Still My Soul" (Finlandia). I wonder why I've never head this hymn before. It describes what so many Christian families have lost and must regain.

"A Christian Home"

O give us homes built firm upon the Saviour,
Where Christ is Head, and Counsellor and Guide;
Where ev'ry child is taught His love and favor
And gives his heart to Christ, the crucified:
How sweet to know that tho' his footsteps waver
His faithful Lord is walking by his side!

O give us homes with godly fathers, mothers,
Who always place their hope and trust in Him;
Whose tender patience turmoil never bothers,
Whose calm and courage trouble cannot dim;
A home where each finds joy in serving others,
And love still shines, tho' days be dark and grim.

O give us homes where Christ is Lord and Master,
The Bible read, the precious hymns still sung;
Where prayer comes first in peace or in disaster,
And praise is natural speech to ev'ry tongue;
Where mountains move before a faith that's vaster,
And Christ sufficient is for old and young.

O Lord, our God, our homes are Thine forever!
We trust to Thee their problems, toil, and care;
Their bonds of love no enemy can sever
If Thou art always Lord and Master there:
Be Thou the center of our least endeavor:
Be Thou our Guest, our hearts and homes to share.

A Family Hymn Book

I have various projects I'm working on. One that I want to start is creating a family hymnal. My plan is to put the hymnal in a three-ring binder, and divide it into several major sections: A Christmas section, a Resurrection section (Easter, though I don't like to use that name because of its pagan connotations), a Thanksgiving section, a Patriotic section, and a non-occasion-specific section (which would, of course, be the largest section). Within each section, all the hymns would be arranged in alphabetical order, without being numbered. That way, we could continue to add new hymns to the hymnal without disrupting a number-system.

I'm going to print these hymns out with a free music program I downloaded some years ago. I may even tweak the arrangements a bit.

There's more I'd like to write about this project, but I've run out of time so I'll just post what I have here.

The first hymn I'll work on will be, of course, Amazing Grace.