The week after Easter I decided to take a few days off to
rest and recover from the busiest weekend of my year. Easter is always a lot of work for me, but in
the most rewarding way! So I felt I
deserved a few extra days to recuperate and take lots of baths and naps and
just rest. So that’s exactly what I
did. During one of my long, beloved
baths I ran across a blog post from Jen Hatmaker that really resonated with
me. So I decided to follow her lead and
make some lists for myself and get some renewed focus. My first list was of all the things that I’ve
been neglecting and that need to be done.
Not work stuff, because I’m really trying to leave work at work. So these were all personal things that I’ve
been neglecting. It felt good to just
get those things on paper and out of my head so I could move on and think about
other important things and so I could make some realistic plans to get those
things taken care of. My second list was
of things that I want to do around my house.
When my house is in order, my mind feels more clear. I crave a clear mind! So I now have a long list of house tasks and
luckily I have a 12 year old who needs to make money for her mission trip so I
foresee those things getting taken care of in the near future, much to my
daughter’s dismay. My third list was of
stuff that makes me feel good. This is
my selfish list of “me” things. This
list included simple things like hanging out on my back porch at night with my
husband, girls nights with friends, cooking, blogging (it’s been a looooong
time since I’ve done this one), and spending time with my family. So I made a decision to incorporate at least
one thing on my “me” list into every day.
I decided to initiate “Family Night” once a week. My family is already at that point where some
days we are all going in a million different directions. So I wanted to set aside one night a week to
just be with my four most favorite people.
I wanted the kids to look forward to it as well, so I got them
involved. Each of the girls got to pick
a different part of the evening. Well,
Taylor was gone when we were deciding so Alan chose dinner (pizza), Molly chose
dessert (chocolate ice cream), and Ava chose the activity (family talent
show). Last night was our first family
night and it was SO great! Pizza was a
great choice because there was nothing to clean up. We got a late start because of gymnastics and
Alan working out of town, so at 7:30 we sat down for some pizza and chocolate
ice cream. Then came the talent
show! Molly Kate danced and sang “Firework”
and was quite entertaining. Ava followed
that with a lovely dance/gymnastics routine.
Taylor did a few “magic” tricks like the disappearing thumb trick. I asked each person for a different word and
made up a song on the fly using the words, and Alan finished up the show with
showing off his strength and doing pushups.
We are one talented family!
My most favorite part of the evening came after we awarded
Ava first place in the talent show. We
sat down as a family and prayed together.
Each person shared one thing they wanted prayer for and then each person
prayed for someone else’s need. It was
the most amazing thing. I don’t know
that we had ever prayed together like that before. It brought tears to my eyes to hear my four
year old ask for prayer for a better attitude and more obedience. And then to hear her pray for her sister’s
need was incredible. To hear my 12 year
old pray that her dad would hear God more clearly during a new season we are in
was just so pure and genuine and really blessed my heart. It was the greatest hour and a half of my
week and I can’t wait until next week.
Looking forward to quiche (Ava’s choice), peach cobbler (Taylor’s
choice) and family movie night watching Tangled (Molly’s choice).
How does your family spend quality time together?
