Giving Thanks

Spring always tries to win out as my favorite season over Fall....but then it see-saws back and forth weatherwise between lovely and horrid, and Fall wins out. I was having a hard time one morning finding the shine in our day, so I decided to do what I had heard someone say one day, to find the thing that was overwhelming me at the moment and turn it into a positive mantra. This particular morning, I had been alone with my dear children for six days (kurt was out of town), the weather had kept us cooped up, and me getting my energy from time alone--well, I needed to be alone! I took that feeling and decided instead of having that "I need to be alone" mantra in my head, I would go through our day making it an awesome thing what we had going on. I decided I would be thankful for time with my children, as not all the world's parents are blessed with this, and I would also not always be blessed with time with them. I would take this time that was previously overwhelming me and make it my mantra for the day. I am visual, so to keep it with me, I wrote it on the easel board that sits in the house. After a while, I had obviously shifted to the thankful mode, because I added the next two entries, "kurt's love" and "change" (I LOVE CHANGE, by the way:)). Sometime that day, Owen asked me what was on the board, and I explained that mommy had written down some things I was thankful for, which then led to explaining thankful to him. I offered that I could write anything he was thankful for on the board, too. You can see the things that Owen yelled out, and his voice caught Alex and Emma's attention and they then chimed in with things they wanted on the board. I could explain them all, but they really all kind of stand alone and give a glimpse into what was going on in our lives right then, so I'll leave them how they are, just things everyone was thankful for that day!