Life is So Good

The reality of my life is that beds are rarely made, shoes are spread out all over my floors, my dogs leave little stinky surprises in corners, musical instruments are forgotten and the television is too loud. I send folded, clean clothes up to rooms and many times those piles are never put away and mysteriously end up in the dirty clothes pile for the next week. Sometimes a whole week goes by without me ever making a homemade dinner (gasp)!

The reality of my life is that my kids are not perfect...and neither am I! My marriage has been hard and my children aren't always obedient.  We have overcome many challenges and know we have more to tackle in the future. We have learned to forgive, pray for each other, show patience and love each other despite our imperfections.  We laugh a lot together and we love to play together. We still love to all pile into a bed and talk and laugh till we push someone out; more often Jon was throwing kids out. We do our best not to gossip about others. We have scripture study most nights during the school year BUT summers are hard! I hope the Savior comes between September and May when we have it going well. We recommit to what is good and try to stay positive about new efforts to get back on track.  Many times the parents are asking for forgiveness from the kids. Kids are jealous of each other. We all have our down days, but get up  the next day renewed and dedicated to feeling better. We disagree about what to wear, what to watch on TV, what a "date" is, who to date and how to spend money. Sometimes when we are selfish we just disagree LOUDLY! Sometimes arguments produce tears.

The reality of my life is that we have Family Home Evening and kids listen and participate AND we have Family Home Evening where kids lie down and sleep. Sometimes we giggle uncontrollably during prayers....oops.

We work well together and we genuinely compliment each other. Sometimes when Mom and Dad are doing all the work, kids get a scolding and they respond with stomping, rolling eyes and sighs.

All of these things produce happiness. We are a real, imperfect family in training to be a better family.

The reality of my life is that despite our weaknesses as a family and as individuals WE ARE AN AMAZING FAMILY!

and

without question or

hesitation

LIFE IS SO GOOD!!!