family week: being together

Let me tell you a little something about my family. First, the most important thing to my family is our faith in God. He's number One. But after that, family is the thing. We put the family, as a unit, before each member, and when one person has something to do on their own, the rest of the family supports them. And because family is so important to us, we make a real effort to do as much as possible together. We spend a LOT of time together, and sometimes it looks and feels like this:

But even though it can make things a little crazy, we find that it helps much more than it hinders. Here are some things that we do together:

Laugh. If you can't tell from the photo above, we have a lot of fun around here. We play games (we're new Farkle fans), tell jokes (at the dinner table...at least until mom makes it stop), watch movies (gotta love those Minions), and enjoy silliness...together.

Serve. My dad is a children's pastor, and all of us go along to many of the times that there are things going on for kids. Everyone has jobs that they help with, and we all contribute in some way. We've learned that serving the Lord (with gladness!) is something that we are called to do...together.

Eat. This is a food family. Some of us enjoy eating more than others do, but you can bet that when we are around, there will be food involved. When you share a meal with someone, it creates an opportunity to connect, and our family really connects over food. Nearly every night we sit down for a home-cooked dinner...together.

Talk. Sometimes my family talks a little too much, but talking and discussing things is good. We talk about what we're reading, things we're working on, what we're worried about, how our faith walk is going. We talk a lot...together.

Celebrate. Holidays and birthdays are a favorite time here. In recent years there have been fewer extra people that come to celebrate with us (many family members have moved or passed on), but that doesn't stop us from doing things up big. Even the small stuff! We love to honor people and special times...together.

Spend Time. There are a lot of busy things in life, and often they pull us away from each other. We make a conscious effort to reduce the number of things that will do that. We take turns with our schedule so that the family calendar doesn't get too full of activities, especially those where we aren't all participating. To me, this idea of spending time together, even if it is doing nothing, is what keeps us a family. We do life...together.