Knit Together in Love

​Many families celebrate and make memories around a shared meal. There just seems to be something about sharing a meal that allows people to relax and it promotes conversation in a way that other kinds of gatherings do not allow. Since we moved to CDA nearly six years ago, our family started having a family meal night together every Friday evening. It is a time when we can share the events in our lives with the people who know us best, along with family meal favorites. My son told

Stephanie Rogge

me once he felt we were most like a family when we were having a meal around the table together. 

When birthdays come around, we don’t give gifts to each other, but we dine out together at each of our favorite restaurants. It is a great way to celebrate another year of life and another year that God has given us together.

When my mother passed away last June, I decided to make celebrating the birthdays of our parents as part of our family celebrations. Our son never met his Grandpa Rogge and was only three when Grandma Rogge passed away. Our daughter never met either of my husband’s parents. Thankfully, our children were able to know both of my parents. Celebrating our parents’ birthdays seemed like a wonderful way to honor and remember them as well as share memories of our parents with our children.

It has been a fun process. My husband has been reaching out to his siblings, asking if they remember what some of their parents’ favorite foods or treats were and also sharing old family recipes. I think it has inspired some of them to start trying out the old recipes again and celebrating their parents, too. They have spent many hours on the phone sharing and laughing about memories of growing up.

Our family is the first family on both sides that claims Christ as Savior. Even though we are not able to share a faith heritage with our siblings and our parents, our children have seen how our relationship with Christ sustains us every day. The way our children have grown up in our household is much different from how my husband and I grew up. The conversation around our dinner table often includes things we have learned from God’s word or how He has worked in our lives. It is a very special kind of heritage that I hope will be passed down to future generations. 

Colossians 2:2, 3 ESV “... that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

​In His Name,
Stephanie