I planned our week and meals with hedgehog Fern and Angus
by my side. The kitchen was quiet except for the rain
out my window--that I absolutely enjoyed!
Fern had just taken a bath and I was given the job
to "hedgie-sit" her while Nicholas cleaned out her cage.
When planning the week I take in account not only for
our physical food, but plan for our spiritual food too.
My favorite thing about being together around the table
is the conversations we have.
We talk about school and friends, but mostly about
God and the world we live in.
We read from the scriptures and talk about the questions
that we have pondered throughout the day, or during our family scripture study.
But best of all I love how we build up each others faith
through our daily conversations.
At ALL costs I protect our evenings. It takes something
pretty important to take us away from this essential family time.
I always set a simple table and light candles
to show my family the importance of this time.
I found two amazing quotes that have guided my meal planning
this week:
"It is important for family members to make an effort to be
home for dinner, if possible. If any family member is consistently
absent from dinner for any reason, it may be time to make
changes or adjustments that will allow family members to have at
least one meal together during the day, if possible.
It takes lots of unhurried time to nurture and enjoy our families.
Children grow up, and parents grow old.
There is not enough time to put off loving." (here)
Doesn't your 15 years old son fill your water
glasses up with his motorcycle helmet on?
"Our modern culture is trying to convince us that time spent
on dinner preparation is wasted time, and that we need to
multitask during mealtime to keep up.
Not true. What we need is to find ways to make cooking food
and eating together fit into our busy lives.
It is not a lost cause, but it does require a unified effort." (here)
Speaking of everyone around the table,
life without Mr. Nielson is sad.
I miss him terribly and realize how connected Christian and I are as
we parent our children, the decisions we make,
and for comfort- both physically and emotionally.
Anytime I am sitting next to Mr. Nielson whether at church or during
a movie or in the car, he grabs my left hand
(the hand that needs the most TLC from the accident) and rubs it.
His constant kneading seems to break up scar tissue and my
hand feels more pliable and flexible. It hurts so good.
He's been doing it for so long now
I don't even think he thinks about it...it's just automatic now.
Yesterday during our church service, Oliver sat next to me and
grabbed my left hand and began rubbing it-- just like Christian would do.
Either Mr. Nielson told him to do it, or my kids notice I'm lonely.
