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 166 – I am grateful that my Charlotte rose, which was planted in memory of Jessica, has flowered for the first time.
Day 167 – I am grateful for being able to see my mum for the first time in more than three months and to be able to give her a hug. The children were so excited to be able to see Nanny again.
Day 168 – I am grateful to be able to bring Nanny to visit Jessica.
Day 169 – I am grateful that Nanny has been keeping the children entertained today so I could focus on various meetings and work through all the things I needed to do today.
Day 170 – I am grateful for fun home learning activities. This week’s theme is music and Sophie enjoyed making herself a drum from a plastic pot and a rubber glove.
Day 171 – I am grateful for pretty new dresses.
Day 172 – I am grateful for time to sit and do some nature crafts with Sophie.
The rose is so pretty – I love that cheerful yellow. The dress is very pretty too.
Thank you 🙂
How lovely to see so much of your mum. I bet the kids have loved having her stay.
It looks like you have had a fab week x
It was so lovely to spend time with her, we had a wonderful time 🙂
Glad you’ve got to see your mum now, and I’m loving the nature masks.
The nature masks were fun to make 🙂
That is a beautiful rose and I am so glad that you got to meet up with your mum
Thank you, it was lovely to spend time with her.
Such lovely photos with Nanny! It must have been so nice to see her again after so long. She looks very happy with the children. I love your nature crafts.
Thanks Sarah, it was wonderful to have that time together.
How lovely to see so much of your mum. I bet the kids have loved having her stay. The photos are all so lovely. It looks like you have had a great week xx
Thank you, it was lovely to have time together and we all enjoyed it 🙂
Charlotte looks beautiful. Your mom looks like a gem. Cute drum and lovely dress
Thank you, my mum is amazing. Was so lovely to spend time with her.
So glad to hear you got to see your mum, and the girls their nan! The pictures are gorgeous this week, lots of smiles. Jessica’s rose is absolutely beautiful – yellow roses are my favourite! Hope you are all having a lovely week! Sim x
Thank you, it was so wonderful to be able to spend time together. I love yellow roses too 🙂
Beautiful rose!
So lovely that you have been able to meet up your mum..the kids must have been so happy!
Lovely dress!
Thank you, it was so good to be able to spend time with my mum.
Aww how lovely to have able to see your mum and for her to see the children. The rose is beautiful and Sophie looks very happy in her new dress. Love the masks looks like a lot of fun
Thank you, it was wonderful to have that time with my mum.
What a beautiful rose, I love the colour. So glad you can see your mum again. It makes a big difference having that contact with family, lockdown was very lonely otherwise x
Thank you – it does make a big difference to be able to spend time with family and I really missed being able to see my mum.
Awww how lovely to catch up with your mum. The rose looks beautiful – very special. Love the activities – the drum and the nature masks sound great fun 🙂
Thank you Cheryl – we had fun with crafting last week and spending time with my mum was wonderful.
How lovely you’ve been able to spend time with your mum and take her to see Jessica, such a lovely rose in her memory. Sophie and Thomas look so happy to be getting a cuddle from Nanny
Thank you, it was so nice to spend that time together.
So lovely that you are able to visit with your mum again; we went to my MIL last wekeend and it was the first time since New Year and she’s been alone since lockdown. Our enthusiasm for home learnng has almost completely gone 🙁 #project366
Thank you. How lovely that you were able to spend time with your MIL. School have changed their approach to home-learning for this last half-term and have themed weeks which has helped give us a little more enthusiasm for it right now.
The rose planted in Jessica’s memory is beautiful! How lovely that your children were able to see their Nanny, they all look so happy together. Your nature crafts are wonderfully creative!
Thank you, we’ve been having fun with our nature crafts 🙂