At the start of 2016, inspired by a friend, I started a daily gratitude challenge – posting one thing that I was thankful for each day on Instagram. I enjoyed it so much that when I reached the end of that year, I carried on and have kept going ever since. Finding one little thing to be thankful for each day has now become part of my daily routine and I’ve loved seeing friends joining in along the way too.
Finding little things to be grateful for isn’t always easy, especially when living through scary and uncertain times. I have found though that trying to find something, however small and trivial, to be grateful for has helped me through some of the hardest days of my life.
My eldest daughter Jessica, who died in April 2018, was an inspiration to me throughout her short life. She had so much strength and such a wonderful zest for life. Her godmother described her once as a “joy carrier” and it was the perfect description for her. She was a little ray of sunshine, full of smiles and gave joy to all who knew her. I am, and will always be, grateful to be her mummy. She taught me to enjoy the little moments and to make the most of everyday because tomorrow is never promised. And even though having to live life without Jessica is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do, I will continue to look for those little things to be thankful for, and keep going with this challenge in honour of my beautiful brave girl.
Here are my grateful moments from the past week:
Day 82 – I am grateful for my lovely Mother’s Day cards and flowers.
Day 83 – I am grateful for the beautiful sound of birdsong in the garden.
Day 84 – I am grateful that Sophie (and Daddy!) had so much fun playing with oobleck for our science session.
Day 85 – I am grateful for sticks. Sophie had fun using them to make a den for her toys.
Day 86 – I am grateful that we can still join in with some of the children’s groups and classes via video link. Sophie loved joining in with Thomas for this morning’s Tiny Talk class.
Day 87 – I am grateful for a little small world play to help bring some of our home learning to life. Sophie and I have had fun making a little explorer ship and sailing it in the tuff tray to recreate Christopher Columbus sailing to the Americas.
Day 88 – I am grateful we were able to see my in-laws on their golden wedding anniversary while maintaining social distancing with the children being able to enjoy running around in Grandma and Grandad’s garden.
I hope you had a lovely mother’s day. I can imagine it is bittersweet at times. It has been nice to see the brighter weather and hearing the birds tweeting in the trees. Looks like Sophie is having lots of fun enjoying the simple things xx #366
Thanks Susan, it was a nice day albeit bittersweet x
The kids were really excited that we have some blue tits nesting in our garden, gives them something to focus on
Oh how lovely to have blue tits nesting in your garden 🙂
Aww! What lovley flowers you got for mother’s day.
Oobleck is so much fun isn’t it!
That is wonderful that the children’s classes are online. Technology is a wonderful thing. x
It certainly is, I’m very thankful for it at the moment!
Oooh the flowers are lovely. I love your Christopher Columbus play activity too. Great idea ! I’d never heard of Oobleck, so I will go and investigate !
Oobleck was a lot of fun – Sophie really enjoyed it 🙂
How lovely that you were still able to see the in-laws on their golden wedding anniversary! I love Sophie’s little stick house. The photo of the two of them enjoying their activities together is so lovely. I’ve been enjoying the bird song this week too!
It is lovely to listen to the birds singing – so soothing right now.
great den she built and love the two of them with the tv programme, very cute.
Must have been hard social distancing for the wedding anniversary as the kids would no doubt have wanted a cuddle.
Christopher Columbus sounds like fun education.
It was hard especially with Thomas – he kept trying to run over to Grandma and Grandad and didn’t understand why I kept picking him up and moving him away. Sophie understands better why she needs to keep her distance but still hard for her not to be able to cuddle her grandparents.
It is great how so many resources are being made available online. Looks like you got to play outside a lot last week. Can not beat a good science project.
So thankful for technology right now – it’s been amazing being able to join in with so many of our regular activities online.
Beautiful flowers!
It has been nice spending time in the garden and seeing the birds.
Kids can have so much fun with sticks can’t they?
It is nice to get out into the garden – I always feel so much better for doing so.
Such simple but precious things to be grateful for.. Glad you were able to celebrate the wedding anniversary.
Thank you – it was nice to see them even if it was from a distance.
happy mothers day to you, how lovely you were able to celebrate your grandparents wedding anniversary, hope everyone is well
Thank you, I’m glad we were able to celebrate with them even if it was from a distance.
Happy Mother’s Day! Looks like you have been having plenty of fun outside.
Thank you – it’s been nice to be able to get outside in the garden so much.
How lovely to be able to have a safe celebration for such a big occasion. I love the idea of the online classes: we are doing PE with Joe ever day and are worn out!
Ah yes, I’m with you on being worn out after PE with Joe. I do love joining in though!
Those are lovely flowers and bird. Oobleck sounds like fun
We had a lot of fun with the oobleck. I really must do it again 🙂