Children grow up too quickly. We've all been told so many, many times.
Is it true?
- I'm in a place where I can say without a doubt this is true.
- Ours are all grown.
- One is married and has a new baby daughter.
- One is getting married in October.
- That leaves us with just one at home.
Use the years well before your children are grown
- Spend time making memories.
- Each of us has a story, or more likely stories, to tell about a great time we've had as a family.
- It always amazes me to hear the little things they remember. It doesn't have to be a trip to Disneyland.
- One of our favorites is Dad reading Sherlock Holmes on the front porch and having the neighbor children hanging out their bedroom windows to listen too. Then they got a dog and name him Sherlock. When we got a dog, they thought we should name him Watson.
We've taken a lot of time to spend time together.
That may sound funny, and quality time is good, but the quantity of time is also very important. It allows for quiet time to just be together. It allows time to reflect on our lives, and time for family members to share joys or needs in their lives that day-to-day life doesn't always offer.
The key to this is to use your time well before your children grow up. You can't get time back once you've wasted it.
Traditions
- We joke that if we do something more than once it becomes a family tradition.
- We have so many traditions that we can no longer do all of them—especially at the cabin that we've rented for 30 years!
- That cabin is one of our more intentional traditions. We looked long and hard for one that we could rent yearly and build lots of memories over time.
But traditions don't have to be that big
- Rice Crispies with ice cream for breakfast—after all, ice cream is just frozen milk, right? (Not an everyday event, but for special occasions.)
- Listening to stories on audio when you travel.
- Dad reading aloud to us most evenings before bed.
- S'mores for breakfast at the cabin.
- I always took a “Rainy Day Box” to the cabin. It had toys that could only be played with on a rainy day at the cabin. Rebekah was telling a friend just a couple of days ago that it was one of her favorite things about the cabin.
So start something fun in your family that can become a tradition.
This is a link to an article where I go into this with a little more detail.
What's next for us
- Well first, we need to lean into what the Lord wants to do in our lives and our children's lives.
- Change is never easy.
- My husband and son are best friends. For all of Eric's life, they've done almost everything together.
- Letting go of a daughter is equally difficult. My husband said, “We've prayed for this for so many years. Now that it's happening I don't like it.”
- Our daughters have never been apart for more than 48 hours in their entire lives.
- Homeschooling has made us a very close family and we have no regrets about that.
Moving on
- We are very grateful for all the time we've had as a family.
- We love our new daughter-in-law, their baby, and our soon to be son-in-law.
- Our son's in-laws are terrific. We have yet to meet our next set of in-laws in person, but we like them already. They love our daughter, so that's a good start.
- We are rejoicing that at this point they will all live within a half-hour from us so we see them often. They are all going to our church too.
Continue to make great family memories
- We are still making memories and so are our children. It's fun to see how they come up with new ways to do it.
- Eric's wife usually takes a photo of them eating together—alone or with friends.
- Matt takes a photo of himself when he leaves for work and sends it to Rebekah. He used to live five hours away.
- We share many different group chats and online photo albums to keep everyone up to date and involved.
Leave a comment and let us know your favorite way to make a memory.