You hear the word intentional a lot lately around the blogosphere. I think it is a GREAT word. We should want to be more intentional with our children, with our marriages, friendships, and even our work or ministry. The more intentional we live our lives the better.

I have a real heart for helping families be more intentional. We live in a time where many families seem to be doing everything separate. We run here and there and fill our calendars to the brim but often have little time for great conversations or connection.

If there is anything that will get your family connected it is time. There is NOTHING that can replace time. We can’t replace it with material things or money or a packed calendar that has our children in every extra activity we can think of. If you want to have real relationships with your family, you have to spend the time with them. It has to be a priority. Here are some ideas to get you started!

Learning about God together - family devotions, bible reading time, and prayer. I saw an article recently that shared the statistics on youth leaving churches in young adulthood. The number was as high as 85 to 90 percent! When they did a survey with the children that stayed in early adulthood, real faith lived out in family life was the common answer. Having a family that lived the Word together! It didn't matter if the churches had a youth group, or didn't. It didn't matter if the church was entertaining or not. This was the thing that kept them in church the most! Moms and Dads, we cannot afford to fail in this area!!

Family Nights - Special themes for the winter or summer, unplugged weekends and more!

Date nights - Special date nights with your spouse and/or with your children.

Play Together - Board Games, Movie Nights, Working Puzzles, or Build something together.

Cooking together - There are so many great kid's cook books and Pinterest is FULL of ideas. Most children love to cook with their parents. Make sure cleaning up is done together too, it teaches responsibility!

Playing a sport or exercising together - this could be as simple as a daily walk, or bike riding together.

Doing ministry together - you could sponsor a child, help the widows in your neighborhood, or even go to foreign soil for a missions opportunity.

I have started a blog called Together with Family where I hope you will get practical tips on living family life with intention and purpose. I will be talking about all the ideas mentioned above and more! We have such a short time to be with our families, our children grow so fast. I’m now a mom of one teenager and 2 soon to be, there was a time (seems like yesterday) that I had three under the age of 5 with two of them in diapers. I know first hand how quickly time goes!

When you do family life together with intention and purpose, you will create a home life where joy and commitment to one another grows! Family life should connect you to one another, not pull you apart! I hope I can share ways to do just that!

Blessings,

Angela, togetherwithfamily