This first week of 2007 has been completely blessed…yet also fairly normal. The activities haven’t changed so much, so it must be something inside me. I am appreciating every moment of my life.

My children wake in the morning and come out of their bedrooms, hair all over the place, sleepy looks in their eyes and all I want to do is cuddle them. I feel so happy every morning to begin my day seeing them.

Living in Australia my eldest is on summer holidays from school; my middle daughter will be entering school in late January also. Every day we play, we have fun and I have finally realised when I am out in the backyard just playing with them, that is exactly where I should be. I don’t need to be in my office working, or cleaning the house – I just need to be fully present playing with them. The irony of this is, that now when I tell them I need to do a little work they will happily play together, without interrupting me. They are secure in the knowledge that I will be all theirs later this afternoon.

This week we all made fruit salad together. Up until now I haven’t given them much responsibility for household stuff…or only when they really wanted to help. But that little bit of cooking was so much fun and we all enjoyed it…I just need to leave a little longer than normal to get it done! I also realised how fortunate I feel that I can choose when they take on more responsibility. There are many families in many countries who need the children to be helping out or even working. I think for me the time has come, for me to give them more responsibility…after all I don’t want them growing up now knowing how to do anything

So when I look back at this week it has been so enjoyable – doing the same old thing. All it took was for me to look at it a little differently. Hopefully this is something you can take away and use in your life.