Sun shiny day

It's a bright, bright, bright sun shiny day!! I have been out enjoying my family for the weekend. Lots of special time just talking to my kiddos, taking pictures(soon to come), playing at the park, and getting some sun(burn). The sun is shining and my spirit is high! I am very excited for my last week of class to hurry and get over and finals to quickly pass next week. Meaning that my kids will have more undivided attention and more time for what makes us happy as a family.

I have decided to make my family happy i need to cut out the computer some. I spent so much time being wrapped up in my "virtual world" and my bloggers lives that i was letting mine go just a little. I am busy enough without all my blogs and social websites. Spending hours looking at them only takes away from my family and what little precious time i have every day. I have learned so much from my bloggers stories and the balancing act their parents have to do.. and i will never stop reading, but i have to live my own life.

I am so thankful for my health, my husband's health, my children's health, and all the the joy they bring to me. Over the past couple of weeks i have been working on strenghtening my marriage and relationship with my husband and children. It seems like sometimes we are so used to doing things seperately that it becomes the norm and it can be difficult to get back to the four of us for family time. Turning off the TV and getting out and spending time together. It doesn't have to cost money it just needs to be us together...and only us!! I miss my husband vey much...before kids we spend 24-7 together and now it seems like a struggle just to get a minute together. We are both consiously trying to make time for togetherness both with and without the kids.

School has taken up so much of our time that i feel like every second i am either studying or doing housework that i couldn't do because of school. Relax time is rare...but i have decided i can skim some time away from the internet and use it for my family time. I was using the computer to wind down or relax instead of spending it with my family. For the past two weeks i have been checking emails only once a day or less and it is amazing how much more i am getting accomplished and how much more connected i feel with my husband and children. I am a stay-at-home mom but rarely do i have/make time to just spend enjoying my children. I miss that one=on-one time and know that my children crave it.

I now have more time for my husband and children..time to play games, cuddle up and have family movie night, or go to the park and play. It is fabulous and seems to be really helping. I am trying to put them first and myself second. I think it is very important to make them a priority. I still want to take time for myself but just smaller pieces of my day. I want my kids to remember their childhood and all the times we did things together...i want them to remeber all the family gathering, games, jokes...togetherness!

Hailey and i volunteered on Saturday at the Rescue mission and served dinner. It was truly a humbling experience. After hearing their stories you want to do more. So many think of the homeless as crack heads and worthless people and that is not the norm..not at all! I was worried at first if it would be okay taking a 6 year old girl to a men's homeless shelter at night..in downtown...with all men...but it was so great to see how she did and the friendliness of all the men. When we first showed up the men were listening to church and worshiping...the music was wonderful to hear. It made hailey's eyes light up!

Then once we started serving dinner the men were very excited to see a child there helping They truly appreciated it and seemed like for a second they forgot where they were. They said "thank-you" and hailey said "your welcome" ..and some small talk also. It was hard for me seeing that when the food ran out the people were still hungry and we had nothing to give them. One of the servers didnt clean the potatoes out of the spoon and one man was so upset about it..that could have been enough to fill his belly. We have decided that when ever we can we are going to take them dessert. We can't afford to feed them all but i don't see why we can't give them some brownies or cupcakes on occassions to make their day a little sweeter. It's gonna be a sun shiny day..i can feel it!