It seems like when we were growing up, nothing was intentional. You went to school, talked to the kids there, came home, played with the neighbors, ate dinner, did homework, went to bed. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And don’t forget those essential hours of TV! I certainly didn’t. ahem.

If you managed to get through that routine with any real relationships, you did better than I did. And it’s the easiest thing in the world to continue the cycle with my kids, even though we’ve subtracted school from the equation.

Then we ended up in the world of the intentional. We intentionally decided what our children would and wouldn’t learn. We also had to get intentional about relationships.

That’s hard if you didn’t know how you got the relationships you had, and even harder if you didn’t really have any relationships.

We’ve been doing our play group for a few years, and it has been good for our middle children. But not so much for the youngers or the olders. So we did a few intentional things this fall. Like make the olders serve in a couple groups. And guess what? There are people to connect with over a common goal there! And the kids feel contented and fulfilled working in these groups.

When Annette suggested we sign up for Connections, I had my usual knee-jerk reaction–no. I just couldn’t. I was already so busy, and besides, I’d have to meet new people–that’s just too scary. But then I thought, I could meet new people for Esteban. I had originally thought I’d leave Chanya home with her older siblings, but then changed my mind. Chanya can play in the nursery with other babies.

The concept is simple. Getting together bi-weekly to play math games together. But you see the value of it when you go. You see the same faces bi-weekly. You bond over learning a new math concept, sitting side-by-side at the game table. You also learn about Christian fellowship, and big games, like kickball and soccer.

And, if you’re an old dog like me, you might even learn some new tricks, like being intentional about relationships.