Unusual Families...

I have been told multiple times in my life that my family is "unusual."  This is such a loaded statement and there are probably a million reasons why we could be described as "unusual."  Maybe it's because we like to go to yard sales while we are on vacation or split cupcakes and donuts 10 ways so that everyone can try each flavor.  Maybe it's because we rent metal detectors at midnight in hopes of finding wedding rings or trek down the street in the snow...in our PJ's...on Christmas Eve in hopes we will see Santa.  Maybe it's because we roll down the windows in my Mom's GMC Safari (which by the way is the ugliest mini van on the market) and blast David Crowder at deafening volumes in some of the classiest places or because we like to make random sounds while walking in public places...all at the same time.  Or, maybe people just think we are weird and they use the term "unusual" to be kind.

Yesterday, as we were making the 10 hour trek home from Maine to Maryland, returning from an amazing Christmas and New Year's Break with our families, I found myself thinking, our family is unusual.

We aren't perfect.  We aren't always kind.  We aren't the richest.  We aren't the most prestigious.  We make mistakes...daily.  We say things we wish we wouldn't have...all the time.  We yell.  We fight.  We get frustrated.  We don't always agree.  We are each flawed in our own ways.  Yet we are unusual.

We have a deep love for each other.

We have a deep love for Jesus.

They are the difference makers.  They are what keep us together at Christmas.  They are what cause us to pack into a 15 passenger van with 3 car seats, a pot of sauerkraut soup, and a pot of mushroom soup and drive two hours each way to New Jersey for a Christmas Even Czech Dinner just to turn around a few hours later and come home.  They are what push us to walk into random stores on Christmas Eve Eve and pass out candy and cookies to strangers who are working just to spread some hope.  They are why we stay up until midnight eating food at the Waffle House that inevitably will give us heartburn that night.  They are why we drive 1200 miles to spend a few days together.  They are why many of us break down Christmas morning as we share around the table what God has done in our life over the  past year and why we are grateful for that.  They are the glue to our family and probably what make us unusual in a world where the words "family" and "dysfunction" go hand in hand.

I don't believe a deep love for each other and for Jesus is something that just happens.  I believe that it is something that is intentionally sought after.  My parents are by no means perfect (just sit as fly on the wall when my Dad puts up the Christmas Tree or when my mom gets in an accident with a rental car and you will soon see why).  But they were intentional.  From early on, they made sure that we knew they loved Jesus with everything inside of them and they loved us without condition.  They made decisions based on their love for Jesus for our family...sometimes really hard ones that the rest of the world had no interest in.  They created traditions, memories, and special moments to let us know just how loved we were...daily.  They modeled what it meant to love Jesus even when life didn't make sense and modeled what it meant to love each other even when we didn't deserve it.

We got to spend New Year's Eve with my sister Kristen and her husband John for the first time in a long time.  They probably could have spent it with friends who are way cooler than Nate and I...that wouldn't take much...but they chose to hang with us.  That night, my sister made us a 5 course meal in her home, we played games, we laughed together, we gave our kids baths, and we stayed up late like we were back in college again.  I watched as my sister made that night special for us.  I watched as she loved on her kids despite some really challenging moments involving a little plastic tea cart that Grammy had given for Christmas (long story on that one).  What I saw that night was a little of bit of my parents in my sister.  Her kindness, her ability to create special moments, her unconditional love for her kids, and her love for Jesus radiated out of her.  Her and her husband have a deep love for family and an even deeper love for Jesus.

Maybe we are unusual.  Maybe our family is weird.  But maybe...just maybe...if we stick this thing out...our kids will be imperfect and unusual too.