Friday, March 03, 2006

A "Real" Family?

We have been called many things over the last few years. Some folks call us crazy, strange, odd, weird, insane or other unflattering adjectives. I cannot, nor will I, dispute these labels. It is how we appear to God that matters, not how men perceive us.

On the other hand, some have called us a "real" family. Interestingly enough, each time we have been called that, it was by a child who was struggling, or their parents. Twice, children who were being disrupted were brought to us by parents who told them along the way that they were going to see how a REAL family worked. The third time I am aware of was from a teenage relative who had been visiting. His home life was less than ideal, and he made this comment to his grandmother with tears in his eyes, as he left.

This begs the question, "What IS a "real" family?" Why do some folks consider us crazy or odd, while some consider us "real"? I do not have the advantange of seeing into other people's homes and lives, so this is hard for me to determine.

So, I will pose the question to you, our readers. What do you think the characteristics of a "real" family are?

2 comments:

4given said...

All of my children 5 years and under (there are 4 of them) say that a "real family" is us because we feed them, give them something to drink, eat together, play tiger, hold them alot and paint their face with face paint, and daddy gets dressed to go to work and mommy gets dressed to stay home. My older children say that a "real family" is our family because we eat together, talk together, go to church together, pray together, read the Bible together, and do fun things together.

ramona said...

Sounds like fun. Wonder if our teens would let me paint their faces?! ;-)