Taking The Kids

Taking the Kids

Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

Life is made up of seasons that ebb and flow, and I found myself in a season of insanity. Aaron was frequently traveling for work during a particularly busy time of parenting and work for me. It was short term and doable, but the phrase “ships passing in the night” was an apt description of our situation. Aaron and I didn’t have much choice in the moment other than to get through it and talk about how to avoid that level of chaos the next time, because there is always a next time. That’s just the way life works.

On the phone with Kendra about something initially unrelated, I explained that Aaron and I weren’t seeing much of each other, and I lamented the fact that our choices—none of them individually bad—had erased the margin I tried to keep in our lives and had pushed me over the edge emotionally.

“Why don’t I take the kids this Friday night for a sleepover?” Kendra asked. A quiet pause stretched for a long moment before I simply said an exhausted thank-you, accepting her unexpected gift without argument.

While my children love her children and sleepovers between our families are a semiregular occurrence, it’s usually a divide and conquer deal; she takes the boys, and I take Jasmine and another friend to round out the trio of our girls who are practically sisters. Her offer to take both of my children overnight left me with an empty house on a Friday night with no place to be and a newly returned husband who had been traveling all week.

Kendra is a defender of my marriage. She, with a wink and a smirk, whisked my kids away to join her family for the night and told Aaron and me to go on a date and have fun. Her family coming alongside mine during a chaotic time is exactly what Paul is talking about in Galatians—seeing and responding to the needs of our faith sisters who are facing a season of weariness.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Be a defender of marriages and families by offering to watch someone’s children for a few hours or overnight.