My 4 Blessings

It seems that all too often in the busyness of life I forget to remember my little blessings. Especially these 4 blessings. They bring joy and happiness into our home. They make life. 

Lately Caitlyn is a little show off, the class clown for sure. She has inherited her dad’s love for life and laughter. She LOVES to laugh. The other day I was trying to fold up a large queen size blanket with Savannah. She immediately jumped in the middle of it, standing up while we were trying to fold it around her. She was laughing hysterically thinking it was sooo funny. Of course my motherliness jumps in and I start to get after her for getting in our way, and making it hard to clean up the mess. She was oblivious to anything I was saying. All she cared about was laughing, having joy, and playing this great game of getting folded up in the blanket.

She finally just had me laughing and thinking…. does it really matter?  Smile with your kids, laugh with your kids and just enjoy  them. The best part is that if she can get me to laugh she laughs harder. Which then makes me laugh harder, which makes her laugh harder and it just continues….. that good hard laughter that feels so good.  It releases all stresses and frustrations I’m feeling with the kids, it makes me realize that I am way too serious sometimes.  We as mothers just need to laugh more.  Maybe that’s why God sent her to me.  To tell me to lighten up, to have fun, enjoy the moment, and to be a kid. 

We need to be a joyful mother, full of love for our calling, our kids, for life.  “Men are that they might have joy.”  Sometimes I wonder if I’m sucking out all their joy or adding to it. Will they remember me as a mom that had fun, that laughed, that was truly happy in her calling and responsibility of a mother. Or one that was always frustrated with the messes, stressed, thinking too much, giving out orders and jobs and forgot how to smile.  I know I’m not completely there yet… but I hope someday they can say they had a Joyful mother.  I’m trying to evaluate things as we go along. Are we experiencing joy together as a family?  Did my kids express joy today?  Are they happy?  Has my husband been able to smile, relax and laugh?  Am I doing more smiling than scowling?  Am I smiling around my kids? Will they want to be a mother or father because they saw how much we loved and enjoyed it. 

Lately I’m grateful for a little girl that is making me ask these questions.

(The layout above was made from my friend Christy’s awesome collection. You can find it here.  Cherise’s blessing templates can be found here.)