The Gratitude Post

I'm writing a weekly post to express gratitude for everything I have been blessed with in my life. Will you join me in sharing just five things you are grateful for this week?

This week I'm grateful for:

Visiting Family: This weekend I get to see some family that I haven't seen in almost two years and I'm super excited! They haven't even met Piper yet, so it's going to be a great visit.

Meeting Shannon: It's nice to have online relationships with other like-minded adults, but nothing can replace pure human contact (and I don't think anything will ever replace it). I'm fortunate enough to meet Shannon of The Artful Mama in person in all her glory. I hope this will be the first of many meetings.

Other Kids: At home, Heidi and Piper have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old to play with and at church there are dozens more. Even though some aspects of other kids' influence over my children scares me (hey, I was a kid once), I am glad that they have social experiences besides me. I can only take them so far and I know that some day, their friends will be just as important to them as I am.

Days Outside: After so much on and off rain, it has been really nice to have Heidi and Piper outside every day for hours. I love that they are spending so much time in the fresh air, with nature, even though they do have a lot of fun indoors too. I look forward to even more fun outdoors in the months to come.

Cloth Diapers: I am so, so, so glad that I use cloth diapers. Even after all the "issues" I have had with them, at the end of the day I still love them. I love how I never have to care about putting a diaper on for a short period of time, not knowing whether or not they'll use it, and being able to wash it instead of throwing it away even if it isn't used. Actually, I generally love that no matter what happens to them, I can just wash them and use them again, regardless of how dirty they might get outside. I especially thank my inspirations for cloth diapering: Kirsten at Our Small Tribe, Stephani at The O'Hara Family and Terri at Random Mama Brain. You're awesome and I'm so grateful for you!