Family Friday - Flip the breaker with us!

We have entered a fantastic but extremely different season.  Our oldest leaves for several months of work in Belize in just a few short days.  Our oldest son just got his driving permit and between Driver's Ed, Biology, Search and Rescue, Trap and Skeet Club, church and skiing the guy will have all the drive hours he needs within about three weeks.  Our Samarah Jo just got a phone so she can talk to her big sis in Belize and Corban just received the surprise of his life - a 6 week old Brittany Spaniel puppy just in time for Christmas morning!

I am sure the pace sounds familiar to many....but sometimes it feels like too much of a good thing!

A few days ago, during a winter storm, we lost power for a couple of hours.  The sound of nothing at all was incredibly peaceful and refreshing.  We sat around as a family and just talked in the warm glow of the wood stove.

We used to gather around with all the busy little bodies in this house and read chapter books.  We read over 125 of them when the kids were growing.....one hundred and twenty-five!  We used to read the Picture Bible every single night and then tuck littles into bed with a kiss and some prayers.  We used to sit around every evening to a hot dinner prepared by mom with the kids helping whenever possible.

Lately, we find it a rare moment when we are all under one roof with all of our different schedules.  We find ourselves eating dinner at different times, with different preferences, in different locations and we really have to work for unity.  We struggle to stay up long enough to tuck the youngest in since we have raised a pile of night owls.  We have been trying to get through the last chapter book for an entire year - one whole year.  At that rate, it would take us over a century to read the amount of books we read in the past 12 years...depressing to say the least.

Through many circumstances lately, I am amazed again at the redeeming and restoring plans of God.  He has our best in mind though we often don't see it clearly.  So, I have been asking God how to redeem our family moments knowing that they can never look like they did when we had sleeper-clad, chubby-cheeked cherubs running through the halls.  By God's grace we are going to aim for some focused family time - Givens style.

Family Friday Nights will begin January 8th and we are going to do our best to make them happen for an entire year.  In trying to recreate the relaxed feeling of the unexpected power outage, we will be flipping the breaker for two hours.  When the weather turns warm again we will aim for the outdoors for sure!

We are planning finger food dinners, favorite cheeses and summer sausage, maybe little sandwiches and apple cider.  We are planning to just talk, laugh and catch up from a busy week.  We are planning to read - maybe we will be able to get through more than one chapter book this year.  We will end our Family Friday night by flipping the breaker back on, playing great music and games or watching a favorite movie.  Want to join us in this Family Friday challenge.  Let's make lasting memories and have the kids look back on the year that we flipped the breaker ever Friday night :-)