Reason #469
Friday nights are killer. By 5:00PM every Friday I am spent. My energy has been expended, and I'm just ready to go home and relax. I think this is a sign of getting older. I used to look forward to Friday nights so I could go do something. Now, I look foward to Friday nights so I can go home, put on sweat pants, and lay on the couch to recoup. And Saturdays are now the days I have set aside to mark off my to-do list. I can't even explain how excited I am that after next Saturday, my to-do list will shrink dramatically. I can return to sleeping in late and being picky about how I spend my weekend time. But as much as I look forward to each weekend, I've been looking forward to and dreading this one all together.
I am up to my eyeballs in wedding crafts this weekend. The good news is that everything will be all finished by the end of the weekend, the bad news is that everything needs to be finished by the end of the weekend. Fortunately, I am not alone in this venture as my mom has willingly stepped in to help me out. She is the most productive woman on this planet, so I have no doubt we will get everything accomplished as planned. Before we got started, my mom, dad and I ate dinner. We pulled out leftovers from last night's dinner and warmed up our food one by one. We sat down, Scout included, held hands and prayed together. This isn't anything out of the norm for my family as I grew up eating dinner with them every night. For quite a while last year, and the last part of 2011, this was the norm for me. My parents would invite me to eat dinner with them every night. It was an unspoken agreement we had. Some nights I would eat, some nights I wouldn't, but I always looked forward to dinner together. Because for those 30 or so minutes, it was just us. We could just talk and be real. They would listen, they would give advice, and I always felt better after dinner. Some nights, we would sit at the table for at least an hour and talk. But those conversations were always valuable and needed. They were wanted, too. It's amazing what a little dinner table talk can do for a person and how it can change the course of your whole night. The Lord used many of those conversations to speak truth to me, give me hope, remind me of how loved I am, and encourage me to keep moving forward.
Well, it's been a while since we've had our little family dinners. Aaron is out of town this weekend, and with the incredible amount of wedding tasks to accomplish, I was more than thankful that my parents were willing to spend the evening helping me. I was also grateful to get to have dinner with them again. It's always a sweet time for me.
I talk about my family a lot, I know. When it comes to them, I realize that anything I say will not be a surprise. In fact, I've already said most of it at least once. But it's times like these that I just praise the Lord I have them close by. I can't imagine going through these big changes in life alone. Good or bad, they have always been there. To celebrate, to have fun, to keep company, to help out, to symapthize, to support, to encourage, to feed, and to walk with me through every phase of life. What a blessing that is!
And so family dinners are starting to look a little different for me now, but whether it be my parents, or my soon-to-be-husband, I am thankful for family dinners. For time to sit, to eat and fellowship, to build stronger relationships, sweeter memories, and for the opportunity to share that time each day with people I love dearly. It's precious to me, and, in my opinion, there's no better way to kick off your evening than sharing a meal with the ones who mean the most to you!
#469 - Because of family dinners!
"For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” - Matthew 18:20
I am up to my eyeballs in wedding crafts this weekend. The good news is that everything will be all finished by the end of the weekend, the bad news is that everything needs to be finished by the end of the weekend. Fortunately, I am not alone in this venture as my mom has willingly stepped in to help me out. She is the most productive woman on this planet, so I have no doubt we will get everything accomplished as planned. Before we got started, my mom, dad and I ate dinner. We pulled out leftovers from last night's dinner and warmed up our food one by one. We sat down, Scout included, held hands and prayed together. This isn't anything out of the norm for my family as I grew up eating dinner with them every night. For quite a while last year, and the last part of 2011, this was the norm for me. My parents would invite me to eat dinner with them every night. It was an unspoken agreement we had. Some nights I would eat, some nights I wouldn't, but I always looked forward to dinner together. Because for those 30 or so minutes, it was just us. We could just talk and be real. They would listen, they would give advice, and I always felt better after dinner. Some nights, we would sit at the table for at least an hour and talk. But those conversations were always valuable and needed. They were wanted, too. It's amazing what a little dinner table talk can do for a person and how it can change the course of your whole night. The Lord used many of those conversations to speak truth to me, give me hope, remind me of how loved I am, and encourage me to keep moving forward.
Well, it's been a while since we've had our little family dinners. Aaron is out of town this weekend, and with the incredible amount of wedding tasks to accomplish, I was more than thankful that my parents were willing to spend the evening helping me. I was also grateful to get to have dinner with them again. It's always a sweet time for me.
I talk about my family a lot, I know. When it comes to them, I realize that anything I say will not be a surprise. In fact, I've already said most of it at least once. But it's times like these that I just praise the Lord I have them close by. I can't imagine going through these big changes in life alone. Good or bad, they have always been there. To celebrate, to have fun, to keep company, to help out, to symapthize, to support, to encourage, to feed, and to walk with me through every phase of life. What a blessing that is!
And so family dinners are starting to look a little different for me now, but whether it be my parents, or my soon-to-be-husband, I am thankful for family dinners. For time to sit, to eat and fellowship, to build stronger relationships, sweeter memories, and for the opportunity to share that time each day with people I love dearly. It's precious to me, and, in my opinion, there's no better way to kick off your evening than sharing a meal with the ones who mean the most to you!
#469 - Because of family dinners!
"For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” - Matthew 18:20