A Dream Family

I'm guilty of focusing on the things I don't have and not remembering all the blessings God has given. Regena shares a guest post as she remembers her blessings.

A Dream Family
By Regena Weaver

Recently our oldest daughter shared a dream with us. That in its self is not unusual. In the
past 8 years I have frequently given an open ear to what went on in her sub-conscious
brain. Often it was shared, between sobs, in the middle of the night, and was colored by
her current fears of wolves, cobras and such like. Those were nightmares.

This was markedly different. In her dream our family was gathered around in the family
room, engaged in quiet activities such as reading, embroidery, singing while rocking the
baby. A cozy domestic scene. “We should do that sometime,” she said wistfully.

Is it co-incidence that this came at the close of an especially busy summer time? Family
time revolved around garden activities, and outdoor games. During the long daylight hours,
leisure time catered to bike rides and hot-dog roasts, not embroidering beside the fireplace!

However now the garden has been put to bed for its winter hibernation. Darkness descends
hours before even a tired first grader's bedtime. Bike rides and baseball practice hold no
appeal in the sometimes sub-zero weather. Various times since that dream our family of
six has spent a leisurely evening in the family room, sometimes with a roaring fire in the
fireplace. “Yes,” our daughter agrees, “this is almost like my dream.” Teaching them the
basics of playing crokinole (Is this a calm thing when there are 2 and 4 year olds
helping?). Reading Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse aloud to the three older ones.
Perhaps we are a “dream family” . . .

Actually, we are! God has blessed me with a loving Christian husband, and four healthy
children. We have a warm house. Our freezers and basement shelves are full of last
summer's garden bounties. Our Christian friends would rally around us should we face
reverses in life. Even our closest neighbors, though most of them are decidedly not
Christians, are of that staunch neighborly “would-do-anything-to-help” sort that are read
about in books from half a century ago.

To many of my contemporaries around the world, and no doubt many I meet when I go to
the local grocery store, mine sounds like a dream existence. What does it matter that the
paint is chipping on our dining room walls? Why wonder how we'll cope with the
demands of our very welcome and anticipated 5th child into our already busy domestic
schedules? Why worry about the one broken pane of glass in the family room window,
when the plastic/storm window combination keeps the winter air out for now?

We are richly blessed. We have a dream family!

 Regena and her husband of nearly ten years call a 6 acre property in rural eastern Ontario their home. It's a perfect place to raise vegetables . . . and children. She has no claim to fame other than being a daughter of the heavenly King.