They want to hear you laugh. They want to have fun with you and know that you enjoy them. Your kids love you. Your family loves to see your delight.

They love to hear you laugh and be free of the cares of the day.

I have never been that much of a “laugher”.  I find things funny, chuckle inside mostly, and move on. I am slower natured and have a lot on my shoulders, so laughing seems to take too much energy that I don’t have.

BUT, to my kids who tell me a joke or something they think is really funny, my reaction is that I don’t care.

And that makes me sad.

I love my kids. They make me happy. They are the apples of my eye. I would do anything for them…you know, like die for them.

But, but rarely are we called to physically die for our kids…except on the daily basis of putting our selfish desires aside by caring for our kids and putting their needs first.

Some of us may have more melancholy personalities, but we can choose to be joyful and happy. We can choose to let others see how much we delight in being with them. Even though my kids are my heartbeat and I treasure our days together. We are together all the time, but I am not sure how often they see the joy I take in my family and my home radiating from me.

Because I am tired. Life has been difficult for several years and I am just plain tired. The weight of the trial we went through has worn me down. The weight of homeschooling, the farm, bookwork, my businesses and normal daily household chores has worn me down and stuffed my joy way down.

But, I have a choice. I can choose to be joyful. Choose to serve with a servant’s heart. Choose to let them see that I love being their mom. Choose to think happy thoughts. Choose to go about my daily duties in a happy, joyful way. Choose to have a good attitude. Choose to be thankful.

I can choose to pray when I am doing the mountain of laundry. Even though there are just four of us in the house, farming makes you change your clothes more often…because you don’t like to smell like the barn, you know? I can choose to pray for the one whose clothes I am working. I can choose to praise God that I have a family to do laundry for. We were told we would never have children, so I am very blessed!

And one night it hit me….we enjoyed staying up late and watching old movies. Then everyone was hungry again right before bed. Dad was out of town on business so we crawled into my bed to read a book. Then we started talking about the seasons and months and the boys starting telling me about the “in between month days” ~ What????

You know, Mom, the extra days on the calendar that are blank…those are the in between month days so you can catch up on what you had left over to do in the month.

What??? Have I failed this bad as a mom and teacher that my kids think you can use the spaces on the calendar to make up time?

Well, they change the time twice a year so why not the calendar? That is what adds up to make a leap year, mom.

I was getting worried. Seriously.

Then I started laughing. And laughing. And laughing. And they kept on being serious as could be. This went over forever. I went from laughing to being seriously disturbed that they believed to laughing beyond control at the thought of the in between months that they *thought* existed.

So, at the late hour when it was beyond time for sleep, I whispered to my youngest…are ya’ll serious? Do you really think that the blank spots are extra days?

He looked at me so sweetly with his big eyes and said, Aww, mom…we were just kidding. We wanted to make you laugh because we haven’t heard you laugh in so long. And you laughed and laughed and that made us happy.

Wow.

Have I been that overwhelmed and busy that my kids have missed my laughter and my joy? How much have I missed out on in all my busyness. Snuggles and laughter with my precious children.

So, I resolve to be more joyful. To be happier. To let my delight in my family show.

To laugh more.

Be happy, moms. Stop and be thankful for what you have. Choose to have joy. Choose to laugh.

Go have a tickle party.

As I think of the people suffering and all the loss in the Philippines, I want to treasure my days and my family. I want our home filled with laughter and joy.

Pray for the people in the Philippines and those helping them. You can donate to help through Compassion International and Samaritan’s Purse .

 

See where I am Linked Up!!