Our Kitchen Table

I don't know about yours, but our kitchen table ought to be promoted to the 7th member of our family. So much happens around it and it just adapts. When I took these photos, I initially thought of them as individual posts to the blog, but when uploading them onto the computer, I saw the common theme...the kitchen table. Big deal? Keep reading...

Here is Grandma Pam (far right) stopping over for a quick, post Halloween visit to give the kids a few treats. She MADE chocolate suckers for each of us, brought over SillyBandz of all shapes/themes - if you have kids above 5, you know what we're talking about and just a quick hug, squeeze and smile for all of us. It may seem mellow here, but watching it up close was kind of funny because the kids were bartering and trading and identifying - they were so excited about these tiny, but largely thoughtful gifts. And the table was there.
Take two. This is our kitchen table with a few extra faces. The kids come home from school and everyone works at the kitchen table. With our floor plan, I'm able to manage them and be in the kitchen prepping dinner or cleaning a snack (or sometimes quickly check my FB page). Mark set up a play date for BOTH girls at our house. Here they are attempting to meld into the routine that we've established. Veronica's friend, Jayla, got it, but Sabrina's friend Molly was bound to stay away from the kitchen table and see every other corner of our home.

This is where I started to see stability and routine come to fruition. I've heard people talk about how life changing, family altering decisions happen around the table - this is where I'm beginning to believe that it's true; at least for us. Though our kids' friends wanted to have a full on play date, they sat with our own children for 45 minutes and did homework and worked and read like that's what everybody does (and since everyone here does - it was all good). I am thinking some of my hard work and persistence in expecting the kids to take on work is taking affect; doing some good - could it be long lasting?

But wait! There's more...
Now this, this...is the piece de resistance! My favorite snapshot around the kitchen table this week, but quite honestly, in a long time! I came home from Zumba at around 8:30 p.m. Now for those of you who don't know, I'm a big stickler on bed times. In fact, so much so, that I firmly believe that the bedtime is the time to be IN bed, not preparing to be in bed. My husband, wonderful as he is, does not share this same approach; in fact - it's not really his mindset at all (yes, this has been a hot button in our household) so...

When I walked into the house and Sabrina & Veronica were in bed, resting (not having just turned out the lights hurriedly jumping into bed) and Dylan was resting in bed and, And, AND Mark and Taylor were well into a bible study, well I was just in shock! Good shock! Like, no words. I mean, give me a break - I'd given up on the idea that when I leave that the house would be cleaned (kitchen was clean) kids would be showered and in bed (they were) and that rather than watching television or working out together dad & teen would be bonding around God's word...

ONLY THE POWER OF CHRIST PEOPLE!!! A miracle happened and the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

So I share all of this to introduce a new adage. No longer do I concern myself with the history of the house we live in or the tales of those families that lived before us. No, now I consider the powerful kitchen table. So the next time you sit to eat a meal and think little of your family's table, perhaps you'll take a moment or even a few and ask not what you can do for your kitchen table, but what your kitchen table can do for you!?!

Nawww, joking, got a little carried away. It's still just a table; it's the people and experiences around it that make it special. And I wasn't going to share this, but feel I must. The name of the table, "Regina". I kid you not...this table was a part of the Regina Cherry Wood Collection. Little did I know when I bought over 5 years ago (before I knew Mark even existed) would it grow to mean so much.