JOY IN THIS MOMENT

Recently I read an incredible book called “The Lifegiving Table” by Sally Clarkson. One of the things she does every year is have a Christmas Tea as a way of celebrating her friendships. She invites her closest friends over every year around Christmas as a way of thanking them. I thought that was a great idea and something I could do. So I made a list of my closest kindred spirits and sent out an invitation. My mother-in-law is amazing and had the girls the whole day of the Tea so I could prepare both my home and the food and then they also spent the night at her house so I could rest the next morning. That was a wonderful gift and I’m so thankful for her because it allowed me to also really enjoy and be refreshed by the evening. And it was so much fun. We started out mingling and then filled our plates and mugs and sat around our dining room table and chatted all together for almost three hours. I had a few questions lined up to help conversation flow and to help us learn from one a

Lately, I’ve been trying to ask Sophia what she would like to do that day. I want her to have a wonderful childhood and I want her to enjoy her days. Of course we won’t always be able to do what she wants, but if it’s something tangible, than I want to do that with her and for her. I thought, what if the things we fill our days with really aren’t what she wants to be doing. So the other day the one thing she wanted to do is play the “pop-up” game which is the game “Trouble”. Some times I utilize snack time as a time to do something with her that is harder to do with Liza- like a craft, or read a longer story, because Liza is preoccupied with her snack. So I thought maybe we could play a game at that time but it didn’t work out. And as the day went on we just didn’t get to it. That night as I was giving her a bath, I told her we were going to do something really special. She lit up, “what Mommy?!?” “We’re going to play the pop-up game in your bed!” And we did. And had so much fun. When