Family Dinner Insight

Sitting down to a family dinner is a big deal for us. It doesn't happen every night, especially in the school year, but we try and make it happen as often as possible. If too much time goes by without our time of connection, we have found that we all really miss it and get a little cranky with each other because we don't know what is going on in each others lives. The dinner table is where we get to know each other better.

A few weeks ago, we discovered something really cool, quite by accident, and because only 4 out of our 6 family members were gathered around a homecooked meal. Son M. and Big D. were missing.

As a side note, when Big D is gone it is real easy for me to announce that it is "cereal night" when the kids ask the inevitable "whuts fer dinner". And they are typically quite happy with that because it means there will be zero vegatables or fruits on the menu (unless you count Fruit Loops as a fruit, which my kids would) but anyways, please note that I had actually prepared a meal!

So there we are eating our meal and all is peaceful. No one burps. The lazy susan my dad made for us doesn't get spun around faster and faster so that all the food flies off. No complaints about the menu, miraculously. Things are going great! And then J. pipes up and says, "with M. and Dad missing, it sure is quiet at dinner time."

What a great observation!!

Our "conversators" were gone and we had eaten most of our meal in comparative silence. J.'s little insight was just what we needed to get the ball rolling. We had a fun conversation about how God had placed each person in our family with special gifts and unique talents and how important each of us was.

In our own little family we have a mover/shaker, a peacemaker, a thinker, a conversation starter, a drama queen, and a fun loving little butterfly. And that is only a part of each of the unique personalities represented! God is amazing!