The Key to a Successful Family

For Austin's birthday I gave him a crashed hard drive... yep, I'm pretty awesome like that.  "Happy Birthday Hunny!  Now you get to deal with Apple support for 2 hours, with no resolution, hurray!"  Luckily, he doesn't blame me for this unfortunate event (it's kind of a long story) but it has taught me a lesson.  "If it ain't broke then don't fix it!"  This ole adage has rung true to me in more ways than one.  

Recently I've been doing a lot of soul searching... ok, not really, I guess you could call it "motherhood searching"?  I've found blogs in abundance and books at my fingertips with words of wisdom.  The "how to's" and the "how not's" of dealing with chaos.  At times I feel overwhelmed, underwhelmed, excited, nervous, and scared... all at the same time.  I think it's a disease, "Pre-adopt-sia".  I hear it's pretty serious but I haven't broken out into hives, so I guess I'm only in the beginning stages.       

While I've found many helpful articles and videos, that I'm sure I will use as various spices to add to my brew of goodness, I'm drawn to a very basic and simple ingredient that has proven to be the key to successful families through generations of time.  Have you guessed it?  

What?! you don't believe me?  Ok, maybe "Nerf wars" is code for "family play time" or "family together time" (but that sounds way more boring, right?).  A few years ago we visited my cousin and his family for Christmas.  The moment we walked in we were under attack.  I had to karate chop my cousin to the floor and make him cry like a baby before he handed over his weapon (ok, not really... he's kind of a big time Army soldier... ).  Anyways, needless to say, it became quite the sporting event during our vacation.  It was pretty hysterical and, in the end, we felt bonded to them very quickly by having that silly family time together.   

I'm not saying that "Nerf wars" will solve everything (just most things... hehe) but I do feel very strongly that having family nights where we dedicate time to our children will be very important.  Our church (as well as many other churches) strongly recommend doing this.  I love the idea of having a night dedicated to family fun where we can play a game, have an activity, fill our spiritual buckets, go on a "field trip", etc.  I've heard it can sometimes be a disaster, (children not wanting to participate) but that's where the nerf guns come in handy, right? (oh, should I not say that? oops!)  Anyways, time and again this notion of "family time" has proven the best medicine for broken families and the best supplement for healthy ones.  Old adage or not, family time is the glue that keeps families together and besides... who doesn't like a little play time?