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 208 – I am grateful that Thomas had a lovely birthday and absolutely loved his presents and cakes.
Day 209 – I am grateful for some fun Mummy-Sophie time building a den together in the woods.
Day 210 – I am grateful for some new additions to our fairy garden.
Day 211 – I am grateful to find our den still standing on our walk today and that Sophie was able to show it to Thomas.
Day 212 – I am grateful for getting to watch caterpillars transform into butterflies. One of the butterflies (which Sophie named Bella) settled on both me and Sophie after being released and spent ages sitting quite happily on us before flying away which was amazing.
Day 213 – I am grateful for a fabulous virtual Girls’ Brigade/Boys’ Brigade get-together – so lovely to see everyone’s videos showcasing their talents and the Explorers/Anchor Boys rendition of ‘Our God is a Great Big God’ was a highlight. Grateful too for my husband’s video editing skills and technological wizardry helping make these kind of events happen.
Day 214 – I am grateful that the children had fun in their miniature brick pit.
Aww! What lovely photos.
The den in the woods looks fantastic and so lovely it was still there a couple of days later.
Seeing the butterflies emerge sounds so interesting. x
Thanks Kim. We had fun building the den together. Watching the butterflies emerge was fascinating.
That’s a really good den, lucky to find it still there. It always amazes me how many groups have managed to make zoom or online events work.
Sophie was so pleased that it was still standing 🙂
Love the denbuilding and glad Thomas had a good birthday. I’ll never tire of watching butterflies emerge #366
Thanks Mary, it is amazing to watch them, isn’t it? 🙂
Aww just look at that lovely little face, admiring his birthday cake! Glad Thomas enjoyed his big day. The butterfly is so beautiful. Your fairy garden is getting prettier and prettier. The den in the woods is great fun.
Thank you, he was so happy with his cake. I do love our fairy garden and it’s lovely to watch the children playing with it 🙂
I’m very impressed with the den you made! How lovely that it was still there a couple of days later. The butterfly is beautiful. It must be wonderful to see them transform. I think I would feel a little sad when they flew away.
Thanks Sarah. It is a little sad when they fly away but it’s amazing to be able to have a few days of being able to watch them up close.
Happy belated birthday Thomas.
How nice to find your den still there, and great to have one on one tile to make it
Thanks Elaine, it was nice to have that time together 🙂
Happy birthday, Thomas! OoOoO cool, a den! The fairy garden is adorable. Wow, so cool to watch metamorphosis in front of you!
Thank you, it was fascinating watching the butterflies emerge.
Glad Thomas had a good birthday!
How cool that the den was still standing. The butterfly is lovely!
Thank you, Sophie was so happy to see it was still there 🙂
Aww lovely to see the kids having so much fun. The butterflies are beautiful and it’s so lovely that they sat on you before flying away to freedom. The den looks great too and the video is very special. Lots of great memories made ! 🙂
We have been having fun together. I’m going to miss these moments when Sophie is back at school again.
Happy Birthday Thomas, glad to hear he had a fabulous day
Thanks Kara, he had a lovely day 🙂
Mine love den building. I think its a great activity that encourages kids to get lots of fresh air! Your fairy garden looks fab, its coming along really well.
Thank you, we’ve been enjoying adding to it 🙂
Such fab pictures and that cake looks amazing! So glad Thomas liked it and had a fabulous birthday! How fabulous watching the caterpillars turning into butterflies… they are such beautiful, graceful creatures, I always smile when I see one. Don’t seem to see too many these days! Hope you are all having a lovely week! Sim x
Thank you, I love watching butterflies too and it was amazing to see them emerge from the chrysalides.
Happy belated birthday to Thomas! Looks like it has been a fun filled family week #project366
Thank you Laura, we did have a fun week 🙂
I love getting involved in den building with my boys! The brick pit sounds interesting!
It was fun but the bricks did get scattered around the garden after a while! 🙂
Aww, such lovely photos. The den in the woods looks fantastic and lovely it was there for a couple of days. We did the butterflies thing and it’s so fascinating xx
It is fascinating watching them isn’t it? It was our second time doing the butterflies and I’m sure we’ll do it again.
Happy belated birthday Thomas. What a lovely lot of activities this week, the den looks great so pleased it stayed up for you. We have also done the butterflies such a wonderful thing to do.
Thank you, we had a fun week 🙂