• Home
    • Resources
    • The Gospel
    • Statement of Faith
    • Church Finder
    • Homemaking Courses
    • Privacy Policy
  • About
    • About Me
    • Sponsorships
    • My Church Home
    • The Bar Podcast Network
    • My Favorite Blogging & Podcast Tools
  • Start Here
  • Free Library
    • Sign Up for Access
    • Enter Library (password required)
    • Meal Planning PDF
  • Resources
    • All Resources
    • Homemaking Courses
    • TH Gear – Mugs, T-Shirts, Tote Bags & Sweatshirts
    • Amazon Shop (Books, Home Items & More!)
    • Journals & Notebooks
    • Etsy Shop
    • Free Library
  • Top 10 Book List
  • Support
    • Patreon Support
    • One Time Donation
    • Sponsorships
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Thankful Homemaker

Gospel-Driven Encouragement for Homemakers

  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Homemaking
    • Menu Planning Made Easy Course
  • Marriage
    • Marriage Series
  • Motherhood
  • Christian Living
    • Spiritual Disciplines Series
    • Sermon on the Mount
  • Homemaking Courses
  •  

25 Ways to Enjoy Your Family

by Marci Ferrell
Christian Living Marriage Motherhood Titus 2

413 shares
  • Facebook205
  • Twitter

I’d love to help you simplify your meal planning. Check out my new menu planning course here.

If you're encouraged by the podcast & blog consider becoming a friend of Thankful Homemaker at Patreon

Summer is upon us, and I know how quickly our schedules can fill up. We can easily get caught up in a flurry of activity and miss out on enjoying our time together as a family.  #familytime #ssummeractivities #summervacation

Summer is upon us, and I know how quickly our schedules can fill up. We can easily get addicted to activity and not enjoy our family time. @mferrell

Summer is upon us, and I know how quickly our schedules can fill up. We can easily get caught up in a flurry of activity and miss out on enjoying our time together as a family. 

Summer is upon us, and I know how quickly our schedules can fill up. We can easily get caught up in a flurry of activity and miss out on enjoying our time together as a family.  Click to Tweet

Below are some ideas adapted from Little House on the Freeway by Tim Kimmel. This book would be a great read to start your summer. It’s a helpful, practical read and just a good reminder that there are many things we can be doing but we don’t have to lose our calm and joy along the way.

 

Mr. Kimmel helps us to see how Jesus had a hurried life placed upon Him, but there were things he did specifically that enabled Him to maintain joy and calm in the midst of it.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

~ Psalm 90:12

I’m sharing the ideas below for summer but they are year-round activities.

I’m usually the planner in the family, so I’m going to print out this list and work some of the ideas into our weeks this summer. Even though our kiddos are adults, I can still work some of these in with them and with my grandbabies.

If you’d like some date night ideas with your spouse, check out this post and this one for questions to work through as a couple. There are some helpful family conversation starters here for those dinner nights at home.

25 Ways to Enjoy Your Family:

1. Eat dinner together as a family.

2. Take your wife on a dialogue date.

3. Read your kids a classic book

4. Memorize the Twenty-third Psalm as a family.

5. Hug each family member for twenty-one days in a row (They say that’s how long it takes to develop a habit, whether or not that’s true, it’s a great habit to start.)

6. Pick three nights (or more) of the week in which the television will remain off.

7. Pray for your spouse and children every day.

8. Plan a vacation together.

9. Take a vacation together.

10. Sit together as a family in church.

11. Take a few hours one afternoon and go to the library as a family.

12. Write each member of your family a letter sharing why you value them.

13. Take each of your children out to breakfast (individually) at least once a month for a year.

14. Let your kids read a story aloud to you or the whole family. 

We have only the time allotted by God, and none of us knows when it will run out. Every Christian life runs by His divine timetable and against His divine clock. We do not know how long He will hold open the door of a given opportunity or of our entire time of service. “Be careful how you walk,” Paul counsels, “not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). God gives us many things without limit – His love, His grace, and many others. But His gift of time is strictly measured.

~ John MacArthur

15. Put together a picture puzzle (five hundred pieces or more)

16. Encourage each child to submit to you his most perplexing question, and promise him that you’ll either answer it or discuss it with him. Don’t be afraid to work through their hard questions about their faith. These are good opportunities to learn together. 

17. Tell your kids how you and your spouse met.

18. Call your wife or husband from work just to see how they’re doing.

19. Complete a family tree and teach your children the history of their ancestors.

20. Get involved in a family project that serves or helps someone less fortunate.

21. Spend an evening going through old pictures or videos of family vacations. Put together a ChatBook from the photos on your phone.

22. Praise your spouse and children—in their presence—to someone else.

23. De-clutter your house together.

24. Become a monthly supporter of a Third World child. Write them letters together as a family or assign the children different turns each month to write and send a picture. (We support a child with Compassion.)

25. Give each child the freedom to pick his favorite dinner menu at least once a month.

Final Thoughts:

My last thought is the reminder of how special bedtime rituals are as a family. My children are grown but my son was back home for a short season, and I still loved just sitting in his room with him chatting together and kissing him goodnight.

We can get so busy and forget to cherish these moments together. Give your children the sweet gift of the sense of calm and peace before bed. If you don’t have a bedtime routine established, I encourage you to start one. Maybe it’s stories, praying over them or singing them a song as you tuck them in. I still have memories of my grandmother tucking me in at night and singing sweetly to me.

Let’s slow down the pace if we’re feeling hurried and take the time to determine our priorities as a family. 

There are some simple options from this list that you can incorporate daily to get those moments to sit and just be with your kids and your husband. Again, figure out what good things you may need to say “no” to so you can say “yes” to the best.

“The more scarce something is, the more valuable it is. Gold and diamonds would be worthless if you could pick them up like pebbles on the side of the road. Time would not be so precious if we never died. But since we are never more than a breath away from eternity, the way we use our time has eternal significance.”

~ Donald Whitney

Recommended Resources:

Little House on the Freeway by Tim Kimmel

90 Family Dinnertime Conversations Starters

20 Questions to Help Build Intimacy in Your Marriage

Enjoying Ordinary & Special Moments with Your Spouse {with 70 Fun Date Night Ideas}

90+ Family Dinnertime Conversation Starters

 

Related posts:

  1. Simple Ways to Share the Gospel as a Family
  2. 90+ Family Dinnertime Conversation Starters – PDF Printable Cards
  3. Homemaking 101 Series: Simple Ways to Get a Jump Start On Your Day
  4. EP 25: The Family Dinner Table


Free Resource Library

Get more posts like this in your inbox!

And while you’re at it, you’ll receive access to our FREE library of resources to help you in your homemaking!.

(I will not spam you. Read my privacy policy.)

« EP 75: The Lord Appoints Our Portion
EP 76: 25 Thoughtful Father’s Day Gift Ideas »

Comments

  1. weston says

    at

    🙂

WEEKLY HOME CLEANING SCHEDULE SIDEBAR AD

Welcome to Thankful Homemaker

So thankful you’ve stopped by for a visit. Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit a bit. I hope to remind you that contentment in our role as homemakers begins with finding our satisfaction in Christ.

read more…

Ultimate Homemaking Binder Side Bar Ad

Categories

  • Bible Study
  • Christian Living
  • Holidays
  • Homemaking
  • Marriage
  • Menu Planning
  • Motherhood
  • Podcast
  • Time Management

thankfulhomemaker

Marci Ferrell
Patience is our ability, under the control of the Patience is our ability, under the control of the Spirit, to persevere and endure in times of suffering or hardship.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Come listen in (or read) EP 118: Cultivating Patience with One Another at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
By affliction, Christ . . .⁣⁣ shows us our em By affliction, Christ . . .⁣⁣
 shows us our emptiness and weakness,⁣⁣
 draws us to the throne of grace,⁣⁣
 purifies our affections,⁣⁣
 weans us from the world,⁣⁣
 and makes us long for Heaven.⁣⁣
~ J.C. Ryle⁣
⁣
Read more of Trusting God in Your Trials at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wi I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wives, and mothers.  How many times do we focus on our needs that aren’t met?  Unfair situations or circumstances?  Self-pity is a selfish tendency that takes our eyes off Christ and puts them on ourselves. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
We forget that “God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Are we able to give God “thanks in all things”?⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Come listen in to EP 105: Practical Steps to Overcome Self Pity at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)⁣
⁣
#rootedinChrist #rootedintheword #christian #christianity #thankfulhomemaker #bedeeplyrooted  #christianblogger  #christians #treasurechrist #joyinchrist #inchristalone #deeplyrooted #martynlloydjones #selfpity
Grab a free copy of my weekly planner 🥰⁣ ⁣ Grab a free copy of my weekly planner 🥰⁣
⁣
Weekly Menu Planning Free PDF is at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"God's written Word, the Bible, is God's greatest "God's written Word, the Bible, is God's greatest earthly gift to his people, second only to the living Word, Jesus. And because the living Word perfectly lived out the written Word, we are blessed beyond measure. Jesus fulfilled every precept found in Psalm 119, keeping the principles and commandments of this psalm, and he did so on our behalf.⁣
⁣
Our failure to live wholeheartedly is covered by Jesus, who lived it perfectly for us. Ultimately, he is Psalm 119 in human form, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14)."⁣
⁣
~ Taken from Sing a New Song: A Woman's Guide to the Psalms by Lydia Brownback⁣
⁣
With my whole heart I seek you;⁣
let me not wander from your commandments!⁣
I have stored up your word in my heart,⁣
that I might not sin against you.⁣
~ Psalm 119:10-11
Accept the cost of good deeds in time, thought, an Accept the cost of good deeds in time, thought, and effort. But remember that opportunities for doing good are not interruptions in God’s plan for us, but part of that plan. We always have time to do what God wants us to do.⁣
~ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness⁣
⁣
Listen in to 10 Things Helping Me to Manage My Days as a Homemaker at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
I’m sharing a walkthrough of various tools and s I’m sharing a walkthrough of various tools and systems that help me to get things done. It’s a practical episode, and I hope to encourage you, if nothing else, to take a look at how your days are going and ask yourself some simple questions like:⁣
⁣
What is working and what is not working?⁣
Where do I find myself wasting time?⁣
Where can I make better use of my time?⁣
Can I simplify my days or various tasks or automate them?⁣
⁣
These are just a few questions to ponder, and there are many more you can ask, but the main one is to seek the Lord and ask him, are you a good steward of your time? Is your desire to honor Him amid your days and in how you spend your time?⁣
⁣
Many more than ten systems or tools help me manage my days, but these items top my list. I’ve shared more in detail on some of these in past blog posts or podcast episodes, but I wanted to put together an episode that walked through how I use each one.⁣
⁣
An episode like this one is more helpful to me than you because it helps me to think through my days and systems and tools and determine what is working for me and what isn’t.⁣
⁣
Listen to 10 Things Helping Me Manage My Days as a Homemaker at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Who doesn’t want to save money, time, their sani Who doesn’t want to save money, time, their sanity, reduce stress, eat healthy and avoid the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner?” It sounds great, right, and we’d all love to do it, but how do we get there?⁣
⁣
Menu planning is the answer to all those questions above. We have a jam-packed episode today filled with tons of tips, examples, and ideas, so stick with me, and I know there will be something that will appeal to each of you in some way.⁣
⁣
Listen in at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Though gradually, though no one remembers exactly Though gradually, though no one remembers exactly how it happened, the unthinkable becomes tolerable. And then acceptable. And then legal. And then applaudable.⁣
~ Joni Eareckson Tada⁣
⁣
Come listen to EP 70: Finding Forgiveness After an Abortion at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Access the FREE Library!

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Thankful Homemaker · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy & Disclosure

Copyright © 2023 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Email