Our family eats almost every meal together, this meal, which we now do every 5 weeks or so, is a focused one of beauty, enjoyment, speaking blessing, and re-focusing our family.
I won't give too many details but we dress up and dress up our table. We get out real wine glasses even for the kiddos. We make pickles, we make Challah bread (YUM and fun to make), we get out our precious cheese. David leads it all and first speaks a blessing over me, teaching the kids what to be as a young lady and Tobin what to look for in a wife. I also read the word and talk about their daddy as the godly man that he is and what to look for in a husband, and what the word says to be as a man. We often laugh and tell stories of our dating days.
David speaks into the kids a short blessing, and then we have a time of asking forgiveness of one another and of God. We wash our hands as a symbol of becoming clean and confessing anything needing to be confessed. We offer thanks for the blessing of the vine (juice or soda) and the bread. We toast and enjoy.
This is a time to be enjoyed, not too serious, but filled with joy in our remembering and reminding of these things. We eat our yummy special 'snacks' and move onto a meal (but last time the cheese bread, pickles and fruit was enough). We clean up together and move on to family game night which will be finished with a special dessert and tea/coffee for all (decaf of course, this might be their favorite part).
So far, this has been a great time of refreshment and focus, we hope to continue this tradition for a long time. It takes planning and work but it is well worth it.
And another new thing, our dinner bell from a fave friend!
This is a bad pic but David made this for me last anniversary and we just got it perfected and hung. He did an amazing job, I was SO surprised!
