Tea time...and thoughts on being intentional

My 10 year old daughter and I had tea last night. We have tea together every Monday evening after her brothers are in bed. We are slowly working through the book Growing Little Women, capturing teachable moments with your daughter by Donna Miller and Christine Yount. My daughter put this tray of tea things together while I was putting her youngest brother to bed. Didn't she do a great job??! She loves beautiful things and has a very particular idea in mind of how things should look. We usually wear hats to tea time, and wore them last night. It is fun to have a little "dress up" time with my daughter who is fast becoming a young lady and no longer a little girl.To be perfectly honest, I do not always have a good attitude, initially, about tea time. By 9:00 PM I am tired and looking forward to a little time with my husband. Often there are still dishes that need washing and clothes that need folding. And the couch calls my name so loudly! But once we start our tea time I am always so glad for this time to intentionally input values and character qualities that are important to me into my daughter's life. Our conversation often goes down rabbit trails and we have so much fun talking about all kinds of things!

God has impressed on me so much during this last year the importance of being intentional. Before we know it we are going to wake up and our daughter will be 18. I don't want to miss out on the opportunity to truly know her. I sense this need to be intentional about building relationship with my sons too, but I feel it more acutely with our daughter. Perhaps because she's the oldest? I am learning that building relationship is seldom convenient, always time consuming, and infinitely rewarding. My sisters and others with older children have told me that teenagers often open up and want to talk late at night. This is hard when you still have toddlers/young children who wake up early. Lord help me to intentionally choose relationship at every opportunity! Even when it's late and I'm tired. It is such a privilege to be entrusted with the thoughts and feelings of another person, especially one of your children. So with that in mind, I'm already looking forward to next Monday's tea time!