My Family

Do you have to be gone for a while to completely and fully appreciate your family?

I don't know, but I think that is exactly what has happened to me. Maybe it has a little to do with the fact that I have grown up a little bit and got rid of that nasty teenage habit of looking down on my parents and siblings. Or maybe it has to do with the fact that I look at them and imagine if this is the last holiday season that I get to spend with them in the U.S. for a while, what do I want to remember?

We were washing dishes last night. Janalee was making cookie frosting, and my dad and Jim were in the other room playing their guitars. The whole family was singing "the Revelation Song" (look it up if you don't know what I am talking about, because it is a really good song!). Now usually I hate taking part in these group sing things... don't ask why, its probably just because I have a bad attitude. Anyway, last night, I was pretty much like, "oh, what the heck," and joined right in. WOW! let me just say that I have a pretty amazingly talented family! Harmonies off the wall, and a beautifully powerful song mixed together?? YOWWEE! Needless to say, it was beautiful. I think its moments like that I will miss the most. Moments of absolute and total abandonment to the music of what is going on around me (figuratively, although this was literally).
There is something of the beauty of heaven that is reflected in my family I think. Maybe sometheing of the beauty of the church as it ought to be. The harmonies... yeah, you catching on?
Anyway, those are the moments that I want to remember when I'm old and moved away. Those and the silly moments like all standing around and shooting the breeze in the kitchen, the little girls spending the night at my house and making steak and eggs for breakfast, or tromping in the timber. I can't even explain in this short space how those times make my heart thrill.

I just hope and pray that I can learn to enjoy them more and more every day.