reality check

At the end of each day, I try to ask the lads what the best part of theirs was.  Sometimes the younger lad responds with something that may have happened yesterday, last month, or six months ago (such is appropriate to his stage of development, I've read.  His concept of time is circular.), but often the elder lad's response is "playing with you."  Then he sometimes asks if we played together, so I recount our day together: "we had breakfast/lunch/snacks/dinner together; read stories; built that Lego McDonald's; baked cookies; drew pictures; went to the library..."

(Often this list might also include "did laundry, vacuumed, dusted, and/or cleaned the bathrooms" or some combination thereof.)

While there are many demands on my time each day, the most important, most meaningful use of it is interacting with my bambini -- even if we're not "playing together," per se.  I may not be able to spend all day every day building with Lincoln Logs, playing hide and seek, or tossing a ball back and forth (nor should I, really, as I'm not here to entertain them all day long but to help form them into the people they are called to be), but I know the investment of time I make doing these things with them is one that will yield immense intangible benefits. 

Children learn through play, so as much as I am able to channel my inner child and play with my bambini, the better off they will be.  It's what I have devoted this season of my life to doing.  It won't last forever.  I've come to hope for that response each night: "playing with you."  It's my reality check.

I pray the relationship we have been developing will provide the basis for a long-lasting bond from which these children whose care has been entrusted to us will operate from a standpoint of trust in us and in Christ, knowing that we are here for them and that they are valued beyond measure.  I know the dynamics will change over the years, but I pray we will always find ways to have fun together.