Sunday is the one day where our family sits down together for breakfast. The rest of the week is a blur, but on Sunday all the schedules align.
On a normal Sunday morning we eat around 8:45 and I am the chef. As Chef Dad, I usually provide French toast, waffles or pancakes. My favorite pancake recipe is “Fluffy Pancakes” from the Allrecipes.com website. I usually substitute the butter for oil, add whole wheat flour to the recipe, and then quadruple the servings and start making pancakes. Pancakes are topped off with mixed berries and maple syrup—nothing quite like dessert for breakfast!
My gang can really mow through pancakes! Even little Joanna, at 3 years old, can eat two or three, and the teenagers, well let’s just say they could keep IHOP hopping! But when we all sit down to the table and thank the Lord for His provision, I take a moment to look around our old farm table and I get to quietly thank Him for all His goodness.
There was a time when Maleah, Maddy, Alaina and Emily were just about to turn 3 just like Joanna, but now Emily is living on her own. And the same can be said, of the boys. It was just yesterday that Andrew, Aaron and Micah were turning 6 like Stephen. But now Micah is a full-time firefighter living in Vancouver, WA and when he comes to visit he brings his fiancé, Elise. It makes me smile. The farm table, once again, gets a little fuller.
As Joelle and I get older and the kids start to leave the farm, what seemed like a small house for all of us, grows a little (emphasis on “little”) quieter and a little bigger. I find myself both looking back at and forward to our breakfasts. It is the one place where my family gathers and reconnects with our past, our present, and our future.
We are always a family and we do share other meals together when it works out, but Sunday mornings are a priority, and now a tradition and a memory-maker.
I would love to hear about how your family connects, so we can encourage each other in the ways we make family important. Drop me an e-mail or post it on Facebook. Who knows, your way to connect might be a perfect fit for another family in our box of good community.
