One of the most wonderful things about travelling as a family is that you discover how much you enjoy the company of your spouse and children. As David and I stand together in love and unity, our children enter a sphere of harmonious relationships where they learn to care properly for each other. It’s a joy to watch.

Delaney and Brioni cuddling up, February 2011
Our girls are building the foundations of the most important friendships of their lives — their relationships with their sisters.

David and I have been determining to deliberately share the same stories in life. We want to share the same events, be influenced by the same relationships and know each other’s hearts.

For long periods of our marriage, we lived almost separate lives. We shared a house and meals, but the vast chunk of our day was something that we couldn’t share with each other. We had different careers, separate social lives and polarised views on life.

Now we want to live in unity with each other. We want to be completely one mind so our children are secure, our spirits are pure and our hearts are devoted to each other. The best way to start making this reality is by sharing the same influential events, even if they’re just little things.

In a practical sense, this means that we don’t split up the family just for convenience’s sake. Wherever possible, we stay together, shopping together, working together, and sharing our tasks. After we are apart, we deliberately reconnect, sharing what’s been happening and reciting the anecdotes that touched our hearts.

Playing together, February 2011
Our girls are choosing to play together, even when there are other children around.

I’m usually close to our camera, so I record our days with photos. But David is the videographer and uses our little Flip to make movies. I truly appreciate it when he videos his adventures to share with me later.

We’ve found that as we pursue this utopian unity, our girls are also loving each other in a special way. One of the best ways I can illustrate this is through this impromptu video David took today while we were briefly apart from each other. He was videoing the girls at the end of a bushwalk when they saw me and Delaney and were joyous to reunite as a family unit.