Ever have one of those days? My attempt to count the little things...

I was in the process of thinking of something Inspirational to write on my chalk board and this is the first thing that popped into my brain. LOL. A lot of you know that it's been a difficult two months and an even harder past two weeks. Sickness come and goes. Robert starting another semester at ASU. Art projects to plan. Church callings to fulfill. Housework to be conquered. (Die toilets and dirty laundry DIE) All the while swooping in and preventing a full fledged attack started by something with the name of Polly Pocket. So I have to say that I've been struggling at times with my Faith. It's not that I believe that my prayer's aren't heard or that we haven't been blessed tremendously. It's just that my faith in getting through this, is wavered. Do you ever feel that way? Worry, stress, fear, self pity and sadness can over take you and I'm trying to change the way I think. I'm going to list a few things in effort to Cheer me up a bit. I think it's amazing the little things that are happening around me that have put a smile on my face like for instance this.





She feel asleep in the car and I laid her onto the couch. Looking at her sleeping so Peaceful is one of the many GIFTS that we have as parents. When its been a poopie day and your about to break. You get all the kid's into bed an hour, two drinks of water, where's my blankie, she won't stop singing in her microphone and a bathroom break later. When they finally go to sleep ... go and watch them. It gets me every time. It makes everything seem to be Worth while. Seeing Maddie's growth has also been a true Blessing and Miracle in our family. Maddie graduated from all her in home therapy and she never did have another seizure. I made her a video of her amazing Growth and progress when she turned 3 and I just watched it again and got all teary eyed. You can watch it here. I know most of you have seen it, but I changed up the pictures towards the end. (Partly because my photography improved A LOT since then..hee hee.)

Second appreciate Good friends. I could go on and on oh and one more..ON about how important friends are to me. They listen to me Cry and complain. Tell me when I have a huge hole in my jammie bottoms (Even though I knew LOL) and take a picture of that hole. They all come and smear mud on their faces or bouffant their do's. They come to convention and hide in the curtains while we talk with the maintenance worker about his 3 legged cat AND they plan amazing Surprises.



The occasional Pickling.



My favorite...sneak over to the neighbors HIDEOUS Christmas display and pose for pictures....PRICELESS!

Third sometime you gotta do Crazy things. Like for instance when me, Robert and Monica camped out overnight to audition for Deal or No Deal. It was the craziest thing that I've ever done.... ok since I've been a mom. We were SOOOOOO Tired but it was a blast. We even got to pose with the girl with the big 'ole Afro named Hayley. It's was crazy AWESOME!! I'm so grateful for my loving hubby who came along...oh and ESPECIALLY for those who watched the Atkinson kids. If you wanna know more details..ask me. :)

{Who's number One ? Oh ya this guy is!!!!}

Last is to Laugh. I swear it is what make the world go round. As most of you know..I'm pretty immature..yep I'm ok with that. LOL. I laugh at almost everything. Not that I'm making fun of people (ok sometimes a little) but I try to find Humor in everything. Like for instance when we were at the Grand Canyon. I saw one of these educational signs that they have posted around the park. Different ones with advice concerning safety etc. This one caught my eye and for some crazy reason..I couldn't stop Laughing. I couldn't believe that they would actually illustrate this. I mean what did they tell the artist. "Ok sir we need you to draw a realistic man yakking with his shirt off." HA. On to the next weirdest thing that we saw. Someones thong!! First off it was at the base of the path up to the main overlook of the canyon. What the heck?! How was that possible...BUT it made us laugh. Hopefully this will make you laugh too. :)

Smile my friends and remember:

" A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give."

~Author Unknown