Family Time

I don’t know about you but I am always ready for more time and adventures with my husband and kids! Over the last year, especially, we have found 3 things to be helpful in achieving this.

1. Big Saturday morning breakfasts.
   I absolutely love Saturday mornings! My husband is home and we are all together. The pressures of the day of lighter since it's finally the weekend. I truly believe being together is something worth celebrating so I make a special breakfast on Saturdays. Some weeks, I let my girls choose the menu which usually means homemade Mickey Mouse shaped waffles and bacon. (Let the kids help too! Yes, it’s messier and slower but they’ll savor the quality time and learn a few things along the way.) Other weeks, I will surprise everyone with another fun favorite. If it's been a crazy week and we are still dragging, I may just add rainbow sprinkles to a bowl of oatmeal which, fortunately, is still quite exciting to my 4 year old and 18 month old. There has even been an occasion where I just let everyone have cereal on a disposable table cloth in the living room for a "Breakfast Picnic" and I added crayons to the mix for the girls to color on the vinyl tablecloth while we ate and chatted. Whatever we do, the point is to draw attention to the fact that everyone is together and we are thankful for that.

2. Keep a stash of party supplies for random PARTY DAYS.
   Let's face it. Even the most scheduled of us get sick of the daily grind sometimes. So what do we do when the day just needs a new pop of color? I keep a plastic container in my pantry full of cheap party supplies and on days that are more drab, I’ll get my children together and we think of something that we are really thankful for and throw a party! I want to celebrate the worthy One who gave us our blessings and enjoy the blessings themselves. My daughter has announced before on a rainy day that it was just a good day to throw a party. Why not? What else is there to do? Sit and mope, watch TV or find reasons to rejoice together as a family? I don't know about you but I'd rather choose the latter! This does not have to be expensive at all. Next time you go to the store, take a detour down the party aisle and grab a $0.50 bag of balloons, disposable tablecloths and streamers. Grab any other decorations that you and your kids deem fun and toss it in the buggy. It cost so little but spending a day decorating and making a colorful mess will bring so much laughter, a new angle of creativity and hopefully, gratitude and acknowledgement of how much the Lord loves His people.

3. More "Nos" for a better "Yes"!
   You've likely heard this before but it is so true. Say "no" more! That does not mean you have to hermit yourself but make your yes count. Last fall, my husband and I found ourselves in a frustrating place. We had a baby under a year old, still nursing, a busy 3 year old, full work loads and responsibilities on top of any church or recreational activities that we wanted to commit to. We were also fighting for a little time to ourselves between all of the commitments we had and there were no moments to spare. We were struggling to find time alone or together as a family.

   Yeah, enough of that. I didn't want to remain in a constant state of overwhelm. Neither did anyone else and I never want to even accidentally suggest that my children are a burden from which parents need an escape, because they are our JOY!

   My husband and I sat down one evening and decided that we were no longer doing ANY of the extra things that brought strain to anyone in our household. We remained, and still are, active participants in our church -that’s important- but chose to release individual weekly extracurricular activities that occurred after 5 p.m. We were involved in incredible groups with wonderful people and hated stepping down, but we were involved at a high cost for our family and it was no longer sustainable for the community we were creating in that particular season.

   Once we took a few steps back we felt such a weight lift off of our shoulders. We were finally finding moments to pour into the most important people in our lives, each other, and were actually able to give more of ourselves when the right opportunities came along. More no made a better yes.

It all comes down to intention. What is my family vision and how hard am I chasing it? What is most important? For us, it is our pursuit of the Lord and raising our family within it. We knew we wanted more time together which meant borrowing moments from elsewhere to celebrate God and cherish each other. Nearly a year later, I am so thankful for each of these decisions that we have made. We are able to be far more present with each other and within our community.