Kid's Club tonight, Men's meeting tomorrow evening, Austin's accountability group meets the next evening, the youth group have a planned activity the next evening, Stephen wants to hang out with a friend the following evening, there is a church service the next evening, then Thomas' accountability group wants to meet.
Kid's Club follows, Stephen's accountability group meets, Thomas and I meet with a couple for counseling, Thomas has a meeting to review church documents, there is a dinner for the ladies, Thomas needs to look at a job, and the vicious cycle repeats itself over and over. (This is a random scenario.)
Where in all this rat race does a family find time to connect? We have to fight valiantly for it. So we set aside one evening a week as "Family Night". It is on the family calendar and is an appointment not to be lightly negotiated.
We all get to sit together around the table and enjoy the meal and each other. It is one time when we can sing together. Oh, the glory did roll! We just about mastered Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded at our last session.
Because of our current living situation, it is difficult to sit around the table for any meals except the evening meal. And Sunday lunch. But if someone is gone for the evening it doesn't feel like it's worth the effort it takes to get the meal on the table (a little ways from the kitchen) for the rest of the family.
My whole being cries out against the disjointed mealtime situations, but the body part of my being is often too weary to comply with the spirit of my being. A table needs to be set up or the food carried half a mile (exaggerated) every time we eat and, especially in the morning, it is all I can do to get a meal made.
Let all these male creatures dive in and devour it after that. Sit on the couches, sit at the bar, or just stand by the kitchen sink. But I prefer contained eating where dirty plates remain on the table instead of the couch, floor or coffee table. And even more than that, I enjoy the coming together, the waiting for one another to come or to finish eating, the conversations that happen together, the cleaning up together. It's empowering rather than draining.
Can anyone relate?
What are mealtimes like at your house?
A visiting preacher at church, a new dating couple, a friend/youth girl home from Hillcrest for a couple days. An invitation to lunch. Singing at the old people's home this afternoon. The possibilities are large but my strength is small. A day of rest this shall be.
For lunch I made a rice and chicken dish, cooked broccoli and cauliflower and served applesauce with it. Grandpas went to the elderly pastor's place for lunch with other elderly ones from church. They reported an enjoyable time.
Thomas and the three oldest boys went with others from church to sing for those at Hampshire Center this afternoon. They received a plaque from the residents, saying they were the preferred volunteer group of the year.
The boys brought their Byler cousins here this evening to record some singing for some of their other cousins. Especially for the little cousins- children's songs with motions.
This has been a cool, breezy day. Grandma Lapp called for help to cover her flowers. Can you believe they are calling for frost on May the 16th?! We set our potted plants indoors overnight but the rest is at the mercy of nature.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. Mark 2:27
