Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Family Night!


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?