ThirtyFor30

Sitting here tonight, drinking some Theraflu, hoping to feel like a new person in the morning, and reflecting a bit on the week.

The week was a good one overall. Uneventful and productive in the school department. Today we had home school swimming at the “Y”. Or the “U”. Or the “W”. Ellie referred to it as both of the latter today. 🙂

Yesterday marks one month to the Waddell and Reed half marathon in Kansas City. My good friend Nikki and I have been training for it and I have been really excited about it up until this past week. We did eleven miles last Saturday, and they felt great, but I had a variety of pains as they day went on. Ran five on Monday and my legs felt like a couple of dried out old rubber bands – no flex at all. Got new shoes that night because I’ve been feeling like it was that time again and was hoping they would fix my problems. Ran Wednesday morning and still had pain (but that could have been residual from Saturday) and decided to rest Thursday and today. Anyway….I’ve just been discouraged because I’ve been pain free until this week but now I can feel my knee all the time and it’s really bummed me out. I’m hoping tomorrow’s run is good for both Nikki and me (and that I don’t regret the Theraflu I’m drinking right now when it’s time to get up).

Matt and I have been trying to do our Thirty for 30 commitment. We started last Tuesday night by going to the park. Wednesday night we played a game as a family. Thursday night Matt took the girls out shopping for birthday presents for me (that counts, right?). Friday afternoon I took them all to the zoo, then two of them had a birthday party and the other two went out to dinner with Matt and me. Saturday was a bit of a bust…I ran that eleven and then came home and immediately started getting ready to go over to Kansas City for the afternoon/evening with Matt for my birthday, so we didn’t do anything really as a family. Sunday we did something….but I can remember what. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights we played games. Last night we had a ministry meeting at our house, so we weren’t able to do anything. Tonight I kind of watched Kit Kittredge with them, though I confess I was in and out of the room. So, we’ve not been perfect, but we’re making an honest effort. I don’t know that I’m seeing any major behavior or attitude changes from the girls, but I have noticed myself being disappointed on the nights when we haven’t been able to do something together, so that’s something.

Anyway, I think that’s it for me tonight. Going to go fall into my cold-medicine coma. Have a blessed weekend, all!

~ Sara

We’ve never been very good at playing with our kids. Matt and I are both pretty task-oriented and both always manage to have quite a bit going on. We love our kids and enjoy being around them, especially as they have gotten older and we can have actual conversations with them. But to sit down and play games or with toys….not so much.

We have discussed this shortcoming of ours many times over the years. We have gone in spurts of doing well. But our default is to retire to the computer…or the smart phone….or the television….or a book…and live parallel lives rather than integrated lives.

So this weekend, after another discussion of this nature, I was praying about this and felt like the Lord gave me an idea: Thirty For 30 – thirty minutes of interactive, fun play a day for 30 days…to see what it does to our relationships, our hearts, our home.

It’s a simple plan but a huge one. We started last night with a trip to the park where Matt played tag with the big girls and I pushed small chicks on swings. Tonight it was a tearful game of Skip Bo (who knew that was possible?!). I look forward to what the Lord will do in the next thirty days. I’m praying it will be something great for our family.

What about you? What do you do to make family fun a priority in this crazy world of raising kids?