Thankfulness and kids work logisitics! (Yes they can go together!)

I went into the lounge earlier to deal with the inevitable carnage of an unsupervised playdough session only to find the playdough NOWHERE in sight. This was worrying! I then found where my 5 yr old had put it, thankfully all in one clump - sealed in an airtight container in the fridge! How sweet is that! That definitely made me feel thankful!

I'm also thankful for the amazing wooden castle with kngiht figures that my friend gave us today, and that my parents helped build it (it had lots of pieces to assemble)! I'd been thinking the kids would like one but haven't had the money to spend on one. My 5 yr old loves it! My 2 yr old's quite excited too :) Hopefully we won't end up in the same situation as its previous owners who fell out over it all the time, hence it being passed on..

I'm thankful that my 2 yr old had an early nap which meant we were able to call the Crucible theatre last minute and get tickets for today's final showing of The Hare and The Tortoise which was on at what would otherwise have been his naptime :) I'm thankful too, that my mum paid for it and the parking! It was good fun and really intimate, in the 'Studio'. Just two actors in it, one of them a talented musician and the other extraudinarily talented at being animated - I was awe-struck by her facial expressions! She was the tortoise. As we entered the theatre there was a bundle in the middle of the set, which we were sitting around, and it turned out to be her! My 5 yr old loved it! Thankful for that :) My 2 yr old was relatively engaged as well; I'm thankful he sat quietly content the whole time, and that we had healthy snacks which helped!

I'm thankful that we're in such a child-embracing church! I took the kids to an informal family prayer activity gathering this afternoon, and am going to make a family prayer appointment for us all where the hope is that the kids in church will receive words of affirmation and hope for their future from their heavenly Father, and the parents will be helped to see their kids through God’s eyes and be able to see the big picture for their children's lives :) Also love the whole no-pressure ethos re parent rota's for covering the children's groups on Sunday mornings :) - to quote the email from the children's groups co-ordinator, "..if there is any reason why you are unable to help in the groups, or if you do not regularly attend here, just let me know and I’ll take you off the rota. Similarly if there are particular weeks that you are unable to do, ..then let me know and I’ll take that into account when putting the rota together." This air of grace helps me want to help and also to feel valued as a person not just as a need-filler :) I would like to think that it won't negatively affect others on the rota too much if some parents stand down for a term or more (meaning others may have to step up more than they otherwise would) because in another season of life we will no doubt have different ones of us helping the others out as situations change for the better or worse in each of our lives. It's a big church with a lot of children and every week seems to be different so I'm really impressed that they manage to remain so flexible and gracious - especially in this area :)

Finally I'm thankful that Josh got his train no probs this am and that I got the kids to bed successfully by myself :) Oh, and that I have an exciting day to look forward to tomorrow!

I hope and pray that anyone reading this (which may well be no-one!), is able to think of things they feel thankful for xxx