Gratitude Study – Week 2

So we’re in to week 2 of the Gratitude Study and I can already say it is making a huge difference in my perspective on every day things. Not that I was some sort of Negative Nelly beforehand (I pride myself on being fairly positive anyways) but every now and then, even the happiest of the bunch has a hard time seeing life’s small gifts when they present themselves. Cataloging them has been a therapeutic way for me to reflect on the blessings I have all around me.

It was a bit of a harried week at our house. I can honestly say there were two or three really bad moments for every good thing I have written on the list. What satisfies me about doing this the most is now instead of remembering all the sibling quarrels, messes & spills, witching hours (you know those hours between 4 & 7 when your children turn in to someone else), or mindless back talk. I’ll now think of all these sweet moments highlighting the love we share for one another. Moments that may have only lasted for a few seconds or maybe lasted longer but had been weighed down with stress and angst and may never have seen the light of day again. Until now, you glorious gratitude list you I hope these are the things my children remember about our lives as well, …. but just in case they don’t … they’ll always have these 100o gifts written down to remind them. That is why my 1st gift of the week is:

6. This list – When I reread my words from last week I realized the only thing stopping me from being the type of mother I want to be was ME. I took stock in my own words and paid attention to what I was saying. I wanted to bake for my kids. Healthy delicious things, the kind of things kids at school talk about and parents ask you to bring to bake sales or family get togethers. Fast forward 7 days and I have baked 3 dozen muffins, one whole wheat applesauce cake and a batch of zucchini brownies! Yay Me! If you know me, you know I’m not a baker. I love to cook but never really figured out the whole baking part. So Yay to this list for being just the thing I needed to get where I want to be. I’m not there yet but I am clearly on my way. (Psst, I’ll be sharing my recipes soon I promise. Just spending my last few days w/ the Hubs before he takes off again)

8. Goodbye Running Kisses – There really is no easy way to describe these. Click here, Goodbye Running Kisses , so you can see one for yourself and then imagine getting about 15 of these in a 6 minute time span. Pure Bliss! I laugh every time I watch this and see him in those big ole socks.

9. Time w/ the Mr. – It seems as if my husband has spent about 75% of his summer away from home. Fortunately for all of us, we’ve had him all to ourselves these last few weeks. Not because he wasn’t scheduled to be some place else, but because small gifts kept him here. A stubborn workaholic who chose to have his wife drive him to Arizona since he wasn’t able to fly, a last minute change of plans, a meeting rescheduled. All things I am eternally grateful for. To make the most of our time, we’ve planned as many 10. Date Nights as we could squeeze in. (Also, the reason I haven’t been updating as much – he’s been taking up all of my blogging time) Classics on cable, movies on Demand, frozen pizza, chatting till midnight, all the things parents with super little ones and no babysitters do to be together. It’s been awesome Even after his hectic schedule slows down we plan to keep Tuesday night dates a part of our regular schedule. It’s Tuesday right now! and I’m looking forward to a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon with my Mr. tonight.

11. Late Plumbers – We had the plumber stop by this week to flush our A/C and check on our water softener. Folks always seem to underestimate how long it takes to get to our house and as a result, they always show up about 15-20 minutes late. The plumber was no exception. And instead of being fussy or upset I am grateful. In those quiet moments when the house was clean and the kids were amicable, we laid down on the floor and the kids asked me to tell them the story of dinosaurs. They listened so intently, rubbing each others backs as I talked and REALLY listened to what I was saying. It was one of my favorite moments of the week and set the theme for the rest of our days. We checked out 6 dinosaur books from the library and have been learning a little bit every day since.

12. Lunch Dates -

13. Meeting New Friends
14. Opportunity Knocking
15. Happy Accidents
16. Story Time at the Local Library

More on those things later, I feel myself going on and on and fear I might be losing your interest. All in all, it was a GREAT week. Still so much more to tell you & so little time to type … what was your biggest (or smallest) gift this week?

Tagged as: being positive, being thankful, counting blessings, creating happiness, gifts from God, gratitude journal