While we were in Greece, Dan, Olive, and I also had a great deal of family time. We served at the refugee center in the mornings then came back to the rental place for Olive's nap. When she awoke, the three of us enjoyed afternoons together as a family. Dan and I realized the pace that we kept in Greece was a very healthy pace. We were giving and serving, but we were also spending quality time as a family unit daily. The pace of life in Washington DC over the last year has been very, very fast and full. Although the fruit of this year has been wonderful, the schedule has limited our family time together. God began to show us that this was not healthy for the three of us.
Since we've been back home in DC, Dan and I have been been very intentional about having family time. Each day after dinner, we've incorporated 15 minutes of family time on the couch before Olive's bedtime. The picture above is during our family time on the couch. We have learned quickly that one of Olive's love languages is TOUCH (just like Mommy) so this picture above is what our family time looks like most of the time! Below, we added stickers but still a lot of touch!
Since we moved to the new YWAM base, we have still been intentional about our playtime but it has been more creative, as it has taken some work to get settled. An example of this is having a worship dance with Daddy in the morning before he starts his work day or Daddy stopping from his outside work to show Olive how to use a shovel of her own. Recently, with Mommy, we have enjoyed taking walks on our new home, cooking together, or picking berries from our recently found mulberry tree.
Something else we recognized a little bit before we went to Greece was that, as a family living in community, Olive never had to play by herself. If I am cooking or washing dishes, there's always another person that is playing with Olive. Perhaps in a more traditional house, the kids would be playing on their own when mom does dishes or is cooking. We recognized that Olive actually could not play on her own for not even a minute.
As parents, we realized the importance of independent play in Olive's development. Therefore, something that we've been working on since we've been back is independent play time. We actually got a new blanket that we only use for independent playtime. I (Carole) plan a fun daily new (newer) activity for Olive so that she is desiring to stay on the blanket and does not get bored. When we started this activity, she couldn't even do a minute by herself! The first time we did it, Mommy had to sit on the blanket and play with her. To reinforce this new behavior, when she finished one minute or two minutes and the beeper went off, we would celebrate with whomever was in the house; parading around the blanket and cheering in sign language! This time became something that then became desirable to Olive. She looked forward to the timer beeping and celebrating what she accomplished playing alone on the blanket. Over the last 5 months we've increased the time and she is now up to 35 minutes on her own on the blanket.
In our unique family- within -a- family situation (a family living in a community house), we find the challenges are different than a single family dwelling. We're learning, as time goes on and Olive grows, what's healthy and Godly for our family. We are learning how to honor our own family while blessing young adults as they learn, see, watch, and grow from our experiences as a family in missions.
