A Night in the Life of the Mellingers

Editors Note: This week on the Family Life Blog, we are getting a closer look at the Mellingers. Jared and Meghan have joined together to provide us with little windows into their marriage, their family, and their own hearts. Check back each day for the next installment.



What’s the Mellinger home like? Well, a quick glimpse at our Monday evenings might help you get the picture. A typical Monday is likely to look something like this:

• Ben yelling, “Let my people go!” to Pharaoh Ryle.



• Ryle, the “Good Samaritan”, bandaging up a wounded Ben who had been left badly hurt on the roadside.


• Lily as Baby Jesus, or Baby Moses, or any other baby in the stories.

• Jared standing as the towering city of Jericho while Ryle and Ben marched around him 7 times, until he crumbled to the ground (at which point Ryle and Ben also “crumbled” and piled on top of Daddy…not quite how the story goes, but I guess they were taking some artistic license.)!

• Joseph (Ryle) helping Mary (Ben with a pillow stuffed in his shirt) onto a donkey (Jared) to travel to Bethlehem.

Now the reason you would find these things going on isn’t because it’s a non-stop Bible story bonanza around here…but because Monday nights are typically family nights for the Mellingers. We include several things in family night, but by far the most loved part of family night for the boys is when we act out a story from the Bible.

We usually keep this part pretty simple since the kids are still young…I (Meghan) am the narrator and I call out everyone’s lines to them, Jared plays any roles that require some muscle (Goliath, donkeys, etc), Ben plays anyone who gets to yell or is disgruntled (Moses, big brother in Prodigal son parable, etc), and Ryle being the oldest usually gets to play the most central role. It really requires very little effort or prep, but it always results in lots of laughs and the boys even learn something along the way (Jared usually quizzes them when we’re done).

Besides acting out stories from the Bible, family night will also usually include pizza or maybe breakfast for dinner; a game (Uno and Memory are popular choices); singing a hymn (we are currently learning Before the Throne of God Above); brief prayer; and sometimes a special treat like a trip to Coldstone Creamery.

Now, just so I’m clear…there’s no great acting going on here (we’re not the Floods!) and we can’t sing to save our lives (we’re definitely not the Stigoras!), but we are creating some sweet memories and having a blast together.