Bringing Them Together

My kiddos do a decent job of getting along and hanging out. My boys seem to buddy up together a lot and then my girls seem to hang out a good bit together. Sometimes they will all join in and do something as a foursome, but as time passes and each kiddo finds their own space that togetherness has become more sparse. (Add in the fact that Miss Elizabeth has this tendency to grate on the boys nerves and this makes getting them to come together even harder.) Even so, they will all willingly participate in family games like soccer (we have a special soccer ball that allows Sarah to play with us) or lately, a game called Fishy Fishy when Bob and I suggest that we all do something together as a family. 

Usually, at this point in their lives, their togetherness is brought on by Bob and I suggesting an activity. That is until the boys got back from Ohio and brought their knowledge of a game called Dungeons and Dragons home with them. My four kids have been playing this game together non-stop for the last three days. They all get up early to play together, rush through their mandatory daily tasks, skip meals to play, and stay up way past their bedtime. There is no fighting coming from my bedroom (which is where they have chosen to play because they have the most space to spread out), no annoyed kids, no one huffing away in a tizzy over some upset word or action. It has just been my four kiddos playing together hour after hour. Literally, hour after hour.  No one is asking to play or be on electronics during the day. No one is playing with friends either. They are all just choosing to hang out together in my bedroom day and night. 

I cherish these days because I don't know how long this bond over this game will last before one of them gets bored of it. And I don't know if there will be anything else like this to bring them together like they are right now in the years before they start leaving our home to go out on their own. Certainly, it has been a year or two since they have all played together like this. (Which at the time was spent building with Legos.) 

It is so fun to hear them playing together. I cannot even put into words how happy this togetherness has made me. Just a week ago I felt so broken and fractured as a mother, as a family. This game has eased some of my worry and doubt. It's funny how life works sometimes. It's funny the things that take our brokenness and make us start to feel whole again. 

Sarah is fully included in this game as well and is just as excited as the other three kids to play. Hour after hour she plays this game never getting bored. I am so thankful that she is able to share this bond with her siblings. To be fully included in something.

Andy has been scouring the library for different D&D books as he is the Dungeon Master. (Don't ask me what that is because I don't have a clue. I think it just means Andy is in charge of the game.) He bought a book he really liked off of a used book site that is helping him as well. 

Even Josh is playing and hasn't gotten bored. I am shocked as outside of soccer things rarely hold his attention this way. 

But it doesn't matter the reasons. All that matters to me is that my kids are creating memories and building ties together in a way that hasn't happened for a long time. With some of the changes going on in our house this is a very welcome blessing, and one I don't take for granted. 

I also think that given all of the stuff going on between me and one of my sons that this is God's way of showing me that everything will be alright in the end. This is His way of letting me know that things aren't as bad as they seem, and that over time, it will get better. This is His way of showing me that the stranger who walked off that plane a couple of weeks ago and into my arms really wasn't a stranger, but my son. And even though he may have seemed like a different kid when he came back to me, underneath at his core, he is the same young man I know and love so very much.