Black Bean Soup

Last night Zion completed a rite of passage. He, and his new spoon skills, joined in on our family tradition of black bean soup on Friday night. Friday night is a special night in our house. The work week is done. And, like our Creator at the end of His work week, we rest from sundown on the sixth day (Friday) through sundown on the seventh day (Saturday). Many of you might find that odd, but it is a tradition that repeated each week of my childhood and my husband's too.

As a kid, Friday night was my mom's night to rest. Saturday would bring the challenges of getting us all to church and feed us afterward. So Friday night was her chance to unwind. She would head off to take a bath, which was mostly an excuse to put a locked door between herself and us =) My dad then took charge of us. He read us the "Little House on the Prairie" series. And we played many loud, rambunctious games of "tickle monster". I'm sure every dad out there plays a similar game whether you call it, "bear", "lion", or no name at all. All that is needed is a ferocious father and giggling kids. I just liked that it was the one night of the week that I knew my dad was ours for the evening.

In our house we are still growing our traditions. Black bean soup is a keeper. We've also experimented with serving soup in our china bowls and adding candle light and silver. Sometimes we video conference with our families, who are also winding down from their work weeks and welcoming in the Sabbath. Sometimes the tickle monster shows up. The evening usually ends with family worship. Elise sings songs from church while Zion runs off to bang on some blocks. It is just the beginning of a tradition. But I hope that my kids someday remember this weekly event as warmly as I do.