Fifty Two Weeks of Joy

I’ve really struggled with this blog entry and I’m not really sure why? I’ve written a few versions and have deleted all of them. So here goes nothing…  Recently I had the opportunity to spoil my husband. Which is rare, he’s usually the one spoiling me and the boys. It’s not very often I get the opportunity to nurse him back to health. However, recently he had some dental work done and was pretty out of it. I took this as my opportunity to make sure he was well cared for, because he deserves it! As you’ll see in the pic below, not only did he get spoiled he got flowers that week.  I’m quickly learning if I want my marriage to improve, I need to be better about serving my spouse. Maybe the key to a happy marriage is excellent customer service? Maybe that’s the key to happiness in life, in general?  I mean have you ever met an unhappy Chick Fil A employee, yeah me neither! Probably because serving their customers is their pleasure. Maybe if society chose servi...

One of my favorite things is unexpected kindness. I love when I witness someone being kind to another person, or when someone is kind to me, but my favorite is being the unexpected kindness.  Have you ever been in a store and seen a mom struggling to keep her sanity and wrestling her children? Trying to keep toys out of the shopping cart, children in the shopping cart, all while looking for the baby’s pacifier. Have you ever been the bystander who offers help? Distracting the older kids while mom takes care of baby. As a mom we love when other people offer help instead of judgement. Trust me on this! We know in that moment our children are being overwhelming, we know it’s disturbing your shopping experience, and we can sense your judgmental stairs.  Life can be hard and parenting can add a bonus challenge. You are raising tiny humans with the same emotions but no control because they are young and haven’t mastered emotional control. Honestly, I know plenty of adults w...

I recently quit Facebook. At first it wasn’t really for a particular reason it just kind of just happened. I didn’t check it one day and survived, and then didn’t check it another day and again survived. So, I kept the trend going. Then one day I did check it for the first time in days and guess what I was immediately disappointed. A comment on my newsfeed had me upset and frustrated. As I sat there staring at my computer screen, I knew I had a choice to make I could either take the comment personal and continue to sulk in disappointment. Or I could close Facebook ignore the comment and move on. Thankfully I chose the latter and let me tell you it feels so good.  Taking a break from Facebook has shown me that I actually do like my family and friends. Basically, I just don’t like their opinions. HA! Don’t get me wrong I think Facebook can be great and I actually admire people who have a different opinion. I really do enjoy agreeing to disagree. However, I think having less opin...

Goodbye 2018. I am praying 2019 will be an even better year. Oscar and I kind of joke that odd years don't tend to be good to us… mom died in 2011, Eli had medical drama in 2013, Oscar broke his hand in 2015 that was the same year Eli ate a battery, and my grandfather passed away in 2017… Odd years aren't our best years.   However, looking back I’ve learned those years also brought us blessings.  We found out we were going to be a pregnant with Eli in 2011. 2013 I did my first blog 52 weeks of joy. 2015 we found out we were pregnant with Isaac. In 2017 we went on our first real family vacation to Cancun and it was wonderful!  Maybe the key to happiness really is changing your perspective.  The odd years in the past did bring us heartaches and I don’t want to down play any of that. The hardest part about life is death. Illness and disappointments aren't much fun either, but even in the midst of the "bad times" there were still blessings and I will forever...