Ten Things I Love About Our Family

Okay, real life here: every single day, there's something to complain about - if give in to it.  Around here, there's no shortage of interruptions, messes, arguments, attitudes, and mishaps.  Plenty to go 'round.  But there's also plenty to be happy about - If I'm paying attention to it. 

Back when I was pregnant with Rebecca, I had to Choose Joy - I had to choose to look around every day and find things that were blessings in my life, so I wouldn't be overwhelmed with the grief.

So here's 10 things I really love about my family and my life... and I'm going heavy on the pics for this post - you've been warned. 

1. We spend a lot of time together.  

If we could find a way for Jeff to work from home, we would pretty much spend all of our time together.  Most of our days are spent at home, and when we run to town for a trip to Tractor Supply or Lowes or extra groceries, we like to go together as a family - unless Jeff and I are running off just the two of us so we can have uninterrupted conversation.  

I love that our family is together most of the time, although that does lead to arguments and a lot of mess, noise, and pushing each other's buttons.  Let's just say I'm really glad we have a large enough house and property that we can spread out. And we do.

Even Christopher's Baptism on his Sixteenth Birthday was at Home

2. Interesting coffee mugs is one of our love languages.

This really doesn't need further explanation, but I do really enjoy it.

Can you guess who these were gifts for?

No, I didn't pick out this mug for myself but I don't mind using it!

Some of our best friends gave us these one evening during coffee & Bible time

3. We like to read Calvin & Hobbes.

Like, a lot.  Jeff has passed his love for C&H on to the kids, and they can be found reading our favorite edition several times a week.  It's literally falling apart.  And at the dinner table, it's not uncommon for C&H storylines to be repeated from memory and enjoyed by everyone. 

4. We're chicken people.

I mean sure, we were in it for the eggs at first.  But it didn't take long for us to see that although we're not saving much money on the grocery bill, we're gaining so much more than sustainable food. Through raising chicks and chickens, the kids are learning the value of hard work and caring for animals.  

We also hope to raise goats one day, but that's not going to happen in our current location (to the relief of our neighbors, I'm sure)... Right now we have the chickens... and 2 dogs, 4 cats, and a hamster. 

I'm lookin' at you, chick

Happy Hens

5. We like impromptu adventures.

It's been a long time since we lived overseas or traveled through 30 countries with just our backpacks... so our adventures definitely look different since the kids came along.  We've been known to decide on a road trip at the last minute... and scrap our plans for the evening to hang out with friends. Adoption - that was an adventure! I love that our family is always up for shaking up the schedule to spend some fun time together.

My favorite travel partner for the last 20 years

What a road trip in the van looks like

Jeff's Mustache "adventure" lasted about half an hour 

6. We like to make things.

I can look around our home and property and list many things Jeff has built, with the help of the kids.  Putting together furniture, or finishing a piece of handmade furniture with Jeff is one of my favorite things to do.  This past year he started researching rocket stoves made with bricks.  The kids jumped on it with him as he experimented, and now they know how to use a rocket-stove with very little "fuel" (small kindling) to cook a meal without the use of electricity or gas.  

Our friends bought him bricks for his birthday for his second rocket stove

Our chicken Tractor Build Last Spring

She pulled this from the scrap wood and burned their names with a magnifying glass

7. We work together to make things happen.

Big families can make really big messes in an alarmingly short amount of time.  But when all hands are on deck they can also clean up really quickly.  As the kids have gotten older, I've been amazed at what we can accomplish together: meal prep... cleaning the kitchen... packing for a trip... setting up for a big party... major yard clean-up... preparing for Shabbat... as cliche as it sounds, we say it often: "teamwork makes the dream work."

Jessa is often Maggie's little garden helper

Lilly hand-lettered every sign and label for Maggie's birthday party

8. We are a Family of Writers.

Obviously, here I am, writing a blog post. (wink) And I actually have a few books in the process of being written / edited / published.  Jeff is also a writer and I finally convinced him to start a blog... maybe one day he'll have time to write the devotional book he's been talking about for as long as I've known him.  

But now we've entered this really cool season where the kids are also discovering their love for writing, and they're building their skills.  Several times a week they will tell me what chapter they've finished on their book, or pitch an idea for a story... Lilly just finished her first draft of her book, and we're in the beginning stages of editing. For a while now, I've known that we are a family of writers, and I've known that God will do something with it... I'm waiting to see how He weaves this all together.

I didn't want to stage a photo of us writing, but hey look - here's another mug!

9. We read the Bible together every evening.

This is -hands down- the best thing we've ever decided to do with our kids.  For years we would come up with different things to do during "family time" in the evenings - always including some kind of devotional reading or children's story book Bible or some portion of scripture.  But last year we decided to read through the entire Bible from Genesis to Genuine Leather as a family.  And it was simply life-changing.  In January we started again, and it's been another amazing adventure.  I'm forever thankful for this.  Like I said... life changing.  This is the one thing I recommend to everyone - just read the Bible - start at the beginning. 

No, we don't have Bible time on the broken picnic table - this is a photo I used on  my
"professional" blog I left behind.

10. We keep sabbath and Biblical holidays.

When Jeff and I came back from China just 4 weeks before our wedding, we had a lot of decisions to make: where were we going to live?  Work?  Attend church?  (We had plans, but God had other plans - it's a long story for another day). The one thing we kept coming back to is first let's ask God to show us where He wants us to plug into church, and then we'll go from there.

Then for years - basically our entire married life - we have based everything we do on what does the Bible say?

Then a few years ago, we began to ask God to show us clearly His truth from His Word, without the lenses  we'd used to read His Word our whole lives.  We began to ask what does the Bible really say?  And we committed to do whatever He said do.  

And that has led us to keeping Sabbath on Saturdays and celebrating holidays (holydays) like Passover in spring and Sukkot in the fall... and there's so much more I can share about this, but suffice it to say - it's been life-changing.

Our sukkah during last Sukkot (feast of tabernacles)

BONUS! (I had to add one more)

11. We have an open door.

This evening when Jeff found out a co-worker may be passing by our side of town, he invited him to stop by for coffee.  He didn't ask me first.  He didn't have to.  This isn't to say we don't have healthy boundaries, but we've found a comfortable balance of welcoming people through the door.  

One of the things we've always loved is having a few people over at a time for meaningful conversation and fellowship.  Most evenings, some of our best friends join us for coffee & Bible time in the evenings.  Sometimes it's more than one family. Often, a friend from around the corner will stop in unexpectedly and join us for dinner and stay for a cup of coffee.  

Yes, it's often exhausting.  Yes, it cuts into our personal time.  And sometimes we have to say "hey, it's just going to be the Hazies tonight."  But we find a lot of joy in sharing this life with others - I kinda think it's just how it should be.

Some of the Best guys in the world - Hangin' Out before Bible Time

So there's a bunch of things I love about our family.  I guess when I hear the kids getting crossways with each other, I'll pull up this blog post for them.  (wink) Before I know it, they'll all be flying the nest, and this list will be treasured memories.  We'd better appreciate these moments while we have them.

Shalom, ya'll.

Shannon