Happy Life

Sometimes when I’m at work and I miss my kids or it is late at night and I feel lonely, I pull up Facebook and I look back over my pictures.  It is such a wonderful thing to have your whole life in pictures right there and all you have to do is scroll down or look at the different albums.   

I did this recently, and besides an occasional silly face by Jolie or Joe, do you know what I saw? Happy, smiling, thriving children.  I am so blessed beyond my worth.  Our children are healthy, smart, funny, kind, helpful, beautiful, and in all honesty I could look at their pictures all day.  I know most moms feel this way, and I am so blessed to have been given a mother’s heart.  If you know me, you know my world revolves around my children.  Their needs, wants, and happiness are put first.  Some people see this as a sacrifice, but I do not.  I love my family.  I love spending time with them.  I love playing with them, making memories with them, being silly with them, getting dirty with them, etc.  This is the way I was raised, and I love that that is a tradition I am passing down to my children.  I pray that my children have a happy childhood.  I know that they will probably need therapy for a few things, but hopefully not too much.  Do not get me wrong, we do have rules and certain behaviors are expected of them.  I am sure some of the people that know us, believe we may be too strict or expect too much, but our ultimate goal is to make them Godly people who will thrive in their adult lives.  

The next thing I notice as I look over the pictures is the many faces you see in the pictures as well: their grandparents, their cousins, their aunts and uncles, and their friends.  I truly believe it takes a village to raise a child.  Sometimes I reflect on the “village” we have created for them, and it makes my heart glad to know that they are surrounded by people that love them, pray for them, and want the best for them. 

As I look back over the pictures, I know you can not fake the happiness you see.  It makes me feel as if maybe sometimes we might be doing something right.