Fabulous Five

Several months ago, at the end of each day, I started writing down five things that made me smile that day. It is so easy to get lost in the busyness of doctors appointments, therapies, school, work and all of the other things that we fill our plates with, and I wanted to take a moment to appreciate all of the little things that bless my life each day. After a few days of keeping this "joy journal" I found that I was starting to focus more and more on each of the moments that bring me joy and less on the exhaustion and frustrations of the daily grind.

While many of those moments are precious and private, I would like to take the time to share some of those moments with you occasionally, so without further ado, I bring you today's Fabulous Five. . .

1. I love watching my children play together. As with most siblings, they certainly have their moments of fussing, fighting and general discontent, but more often than not, they play so well together, and look out for and are compassionate towards each other. One of the things I love about having children so close together in age is that they are each other's best friends and I hope that they are always as close to each other as they are now.

Jacob and Lukas playing with their Leapsters (or as Lukas calls them, "Lobsters")

Jacob, Lukas and Evan playing with cars (taken a few weeks ago)

Maren and Evan snuggling on the couch

2. "You're beautiful mommy," "Thank you for this wonderful dinner mommy," "Mommy, you are the best cook ever." My kids tell me things like this every single day. Why? Because their daddy has taught them to love and appreciate me. . . and boy do I love and appreciate that! Richard has always been wonderful at complimenting me and taking note of the things that I do for our family. When we first started dating, I remember feeling uncomfortable at times at how freely he complimented me. I wasn't used to having someone shower me with praise constantly. Now I have such a deep appreciation for this expression of love. I never doubt that I am loved and important to my family and I know that, the spouses of all of my children will be lucky to know, all the time, that they are loved, appreciated and important.

3. As I was working on some pre-surgical paperwork this morning for Evan's upcoming surgery, Maren came running into the room to tell me that something was wrong with Joshua. I followed her to the opposite side of the house where I could hear Joshua crying in the hallway. As I rounded the corner I saw him laying on the floor outside of the bathroom and immediately realized the cause of his distress. Apparently he had decided that the kids' potty seat would make a nice necklace and was wearing it like a "pageant sash." His arm was stuck and he couldn't get it off, thus causing the distress. Like the loving mother that I am, I immediately ran for my camera trying to hold back the laughter! Once our photo session had come to a close, I knelt down to free him from the potty seat. It took me about five minutes to finagle him out, but soon he was free and after some hugs and kisses, I disinfected us both (and gave the potty seat a good cleaning. . .ew) and all was well once more!

Joshua, the potty king

4. Every night before bed we have a family song and prayer and then, before we tuck each of the kids' into their beds, we have individual prayers with them. I love listening to toddlers pray. There is such a purity and innocence in everything they say and occasionally I even find myself needing to stifle a chuckle at something funny that they have said. It is one of my favorite times of the day and it is a wonderful illustration of why we are commanded to be "like unto little children."

5. My kids LOVE to sing. I catch them singing multiple times throughout the day. Sometimes it is songs that they have learned and other times they just make up songs about what they are doing (they come by it honestly as I tend to sing about everything). Today I found Jacob in the playroom, playing by himself with his cars, singing "I am a Child of God" at the top of his lungs. It always brings a smile to my face when I hear the kids sing, but my smile grows even more to realize that they know this truth. . .that they are children of a loving Father in Heaven.