When lights are out

    An interesting situation has gradually become clear over the last couple of weeks. Our youngest 3 share the biggest bedroom and they are conspiring when the lights go out. Bridget and Megan have story time and prayers and go to bed first. We read a novel, currently "Anne of Green Gables", to Emma and Rachael in the living room and they get to bed usually 30 minutes after the little ones. Not surprisingly the evening plans seem to begin when Rachael enters the room.
    After the kids go to bed I usually get a few things done and then I settle in to watch TV or read a book. There are plenty of nights that Jim or I have to tell the girls to stop talking or turn off flashlights. I assumed this was the standard bedtime talking but it turns out that the girls have planned activities when the lights go out. One night I discovered them out of bed with flashlights, cleaning their room in secret. The next week the same thing happened and they confessed that one night each week they clean in the dark.
     Rachael, Megan and Bridget all made TVs and remotes out of construction paper which they hung by their beds for Friday night movie nights. And last night was apparently exercise night. I found Rachael and Megan doing push-ups on their bunks after lights out.
   As much as I want them to be falling asleep, I don't think that I can complain about cleaning, exercising and pretending to watch movies together as long as they are relatively quiet. Truly I am enjoying that the girls are doing this together. So often I find myself worried and disappointed about how they treat each other. So it makes me glad to see and hear them working and playing together. They are forming sisterly bonds all on their own in the darkness of their room.