Gratefulness

John was gone this past weekend on the Our Father's Children retreat for the teenagers who have graduated from the Royal Family Kids Camp for abused and neglected children. While we were thrilled to share him with those boys, we missed him very much! Little John kept asking me in a tiny, little voice, "Where my daddy?" Needless to say, we were doing a little dance when he walked in the door Sunday evening. It never ceases to amaze me how I can be with him 24/7 and he still gives me butterflies! : ) Saturday night we went over to my parents where my sister was watching Ellie, who is a little friend from church. I was upstairs when her daddy came to pick her up. Due to my pregnant hormones and missing my husband I welled up when I heard her downstairs doing the most excited little "Yeah Daddy!" chant because she could not contain her joy at seeing Danny. It made me start thinking about all the precious, dedicated daddies I know and just how blessed their kids are. It also made me hope that I tell my husband often enough just how glad we are that he walks through that door every night after work. Not after making a stop at the local hangout or even taking a break from responsibilities - he just comes straight from his workload at the office to his "workload" at home. I was convicted, praying that each faithful man feels the incredible weight that his daily sacrifices carry with his family, that no decision to spend time with his babies or make a priority for his family is ever in vain, and that my job is to always show gratefulness! Every time John does something for us he could be making a different choice but he's choosing us, choosing his Lord, and changing our lives. It's always easy to see the difficulty of the job I'm doing and always more challenging to stop and look instead at what others are also working hard for. I have taught countless children over the years that gratefulness is a choice and I have to ask myself if I'm making that choice every day and modeling that for my children so that when I am teaching them that someday, they will recognize it in my life. I can't keep John's job of provider, husband, and father from being hard, but I can certainly make sure it's never thankless. Have you thanked your hubby today?