Roller Coasters

Without a doubt the hardest thing about moving from Omaha to Cleveland was the fact that our two sons opted to remain in Nebraska. We like to joke about the fact that while most kids grow up and move away to college, we did the opposite. But Jordan and Josiah like to come to Cleveland to visit - partly because we plan lots of things for us to do together. Their favorite thing by far is to go to Cedar Point (which is a huge amusement park for you non-Ohio readers). So on their first visit here, guess what was on the top of their list of things to do? Now Jeff is never too thrilled about going to amusement parks - roller coasters make him sick. Personally, I enjoy roller coasters and the boys and I spend a lot of time talking while we are standing in line.

As the Wednesday for our Cedar Point trip drew closer, Jeff announced to the boys: "I think that I'm going to skip the trip to Cedar Point this time. I'll just stay here and you all go and have fun." He thought the boys would be fine with that after all they were still getting what they wanted - roller coaster heaven on the banks of Lake Erie. Out of the blue, our oldest son Jordan who was 21 at the time blurted out, "I thought the reason why we came to visit you guys in Cleveland was so that we could all spend time together"! What could you say to that? That one comment changed our perspective and Jeff had a change of heart and we all headed to Sandusky!

The next letter in our HEART acrostic is "A" which stands for "arranging activities". A family needs to work together and play together. So many times in our families, each member of the family goes their separate ways instead of hanging out together. Of course you need to find balance. In order to put this into practice it takes intentional planning. It is okay to give your children a chance to plan the family activities as well. It could be anything from planning a trip to Cedar Point, cleaning out the garage together or raking leaves for an elderly neighbor - be creative! I think you might find that your family will have lots of fun with the service events as well. Unless we become more intentional about arranging activities together, family life becomes its own runaway roller coaster.

Let me know about some of your arranged activities?