Don't you just love that?

A while ago my husband brought a book home called "Don't You Just Hate That? 738 Annoying Things" by Scott Cohen. It's full of silly things that bug us in our every day lives. For example:

1.Wondering if the appetizer you're sharing with a friend is being divided evenly?

84. Finding an old "To Do" list, most of which remains undone.

181.People who don't remove their Christmas decorations until March.

And so on.....

Chris and I had a fun time reading these late one night. But the next day I started thinking-how hard it would be on someone's mind to spend so much energy searching for the negative, the bad and the depressing? What a downer! In this "glass is half empty" world, we need to seek out the happy, the pleasing and the wonderful.

I decided to devote some posts here and there to things I find uplifting. Here goes:

Don't you just love...

When your child wakes up with a smile?

Spending a lot of effort on dinner for your family and everyone LOVES it?

Laughing really hard with a good friend?

Snuggling with your sweetheart?

Watching the glow on your kids' faces when they hold a sparkler?

I hope you will take some time today to find a few things that you love!

P.S. I don't know how to put a caption on the picture here yet. This is Ben and Hannah 2 years ago on the Fourth of July.

In Honor and Praise of Mothers

Last year I purchased a wonderful book entitled "Errand of Angels: In Honor and Praise of Mothers". Elegant paintings of mothers and children paired with insights and quotes from various authors fill its pages. I was leafing through it this morning and read this gem of thought:

" Don't get so involved in the duties of your life and your children that you forget the pleasure.

Remember why you had children." --Lois Wyse

How easy it is to forget the real purpose of what we do in the home each day. Yes, having an orderly and tidy dwelling helps create a feeling of calm and peace, letting the Spirit of the Lord be with us. But often times I focus mainly on how many tasks have gone undone. The list of chores overwhelms me quite a bit. More than quite a bit. I wake up a lot of mornings and think, " How on earth can I do everything I need to??!" But I am happy to be reassured by this quote from Lois Wyse that the most weighty concern I should have is this- am I enjoying my little ones? Do they know that I enjoy them? Or do they feel second place when it comes to my priorities? I hope Benjamin, Hannah and Max never look back on these years and remember their mother worrying more about an imaculate home than worrying about their feelings, interests and needs. ( I doubt they'll think about the imaculate part-- my home is rarely imaculate. Did I just type "rarely"? I meant never:)

Moms, let's strive a little less on having a kitchen floor you could eat off of and a little more on feeding the hearts and souls of these precious people Heavenly Father has loaned us! I'll try if you will.

Hello

In the words of Summer Wheatley," Well, I never thought I would make it here today." I have enjoyed many other people's blogs ever since I entered the cyber world. I didn't plan on having my own, though. I always supposed that keeping up a blog would require too much time, commitment, etc. But I have so many thoughts running through my mind all the time and so many fun things to share that I decided to take the plunge!
Even if no one reads this other than my husband, Chris, I think it will be fun to try something new. Hopefully we can have fun together.