The impact

"A happy home is but an early Heaven"

For the 3rd part of this project I choose to focus on happiness. I choose to focus on this topic because I feel like too many times life happens without me enjoying it. My mom once told me "Life isn't just to be endured, but to be enjoyed." I seem to have forgotten that in the midst of raising 4 kids, so I felt I needed to focus on finding happiness in my life again.

Everyday I thought about and wrote down something that made me happy that day.

Some of the ways I found happiness in my life were:
my son wanting an extra hug and cuddle before bedtime;
driving my van after giving it a good clean out, and not seeing dust on the dash;
watching our bunny do "binkies" across the floor,
seeing the joy on our daughters face as she rode her bike by herself for the 1st time;
family prayer where we were all together and the spirit was present;
having more regular Family Home Evenings and having one of our children teaching us from the words of the apostles;
and having conversations about the gospel in our everyday lives and seeing how looking for the happiness in our lives is there when were following the commandments.

This summer we've stayed home, but had more family time as we've gone on adventures. We've picked raspberries while we hiked, hunted for fossils and played in a stream together. Spending more time as a family away from the distractions of the world has been an wonderful experience for me.

When the kids are struggling to remember what they like about each other I remind them that our family relationships can last forever and we need to remember to treat each other kindly. True happiness will come when as a family we're showing love and kindness to each other.