gratitude

at this very moment:

one child is drinking a smoothie for her sore throat while creating some art thing on the ipad.
another child is playing football on the wii and is in heaven (the house could burn down around him and he wouldn't know.) **actually, he just finished his game and ASKED if he could play another game. :-)
another one is in her velvet and satin dress that she wore to church this morning and is playing a princess game on the computer.
{i'm typing this on yet ANOTHER computer}
one child is with his daddy at a store buying a new train to go under the tree. he LOVES trains and couldn't WAIT to get the train under our tree. once we cut the tree down, set it up, put all the lights on, AND the ornaments, we then pulled the train out. it wouldn't work! his face was so so sad. his daddy said, "tomorrow we will go a buy a new train."
the 2 other children are playing outside. they just woke up from naps in their cozy beds and are playing outside with a couple neighbors in their super safe neighborhood.
i'm in my kitchen making dinner. not only for us. but extra to take to friends that just had a baby.

i'm choosing this very moment to be so grateful for the abundant blessings that we have. many time i let these things (technology, "gadgets", disposable money to just go buy another train) to make me sick and annoyed and question what else we should be doing. there will always be a part of my heart that will feel that way. but, i also need to just be THANKFUL. thankful that my kids live in such a safe place - physically and emotionally. thankful that we can make memories with our kids by taking them to buy them something that they will LOVE. thankful for the sweet moments that are allowed in our kids lives as they are able to just PLAY and BE KIDS.