Grateful..

It's 2 am. Our house is very still and quiet as Caleb and the kids are soundly asleep in their beds. I am so grateful for all three of them. Caleb has a quiet strength that I could not begin to express. He encourages me every day with his patience and his desire to love me in the ways that I best understand love. I knew 8 years ago that I loved this man. I knew that I wanted to spend my life with him but I don't think I had a clue of how incredible God's design of marriage really could be. Easy all the time? Not even close, but so rich and full of beauty and Grace and forgiveness. I am grateful for Caleb. And then there is Ava...Oh my little spunky, full of personality little girl. Each day, she amazes me at her words and her thoughts and how she is starting to see the world. She makes me laugh more than any 1 person ever has. She is more social than I would have thought possible at age three. Each day as we get out of the car she will say to ANY child walking down the street (even if we don't know them) "want to come over to my house?" She wants hugs and kisses al the time and will say to me anytime I leave the house "I love you so much!" I am grateful for Ava. And now we have Jay. He has been a bundle of cuddles and smiles. He also LOVES people (specifically me right now). If you look at him, talk to him, pick him up, or waive a toy in his face...he immediately starts to move his whole body in one huge movement. He started laughing at Ava, who gets up in his face and says "Hi baby...it's your big sister" in the squeakiest-highest pitched voice you could imagine. I am grateful for Jay. I am grateful for our community in Atlanta and the friends that God has placed around us here. As we continue to pray for direction about where God is leading us, I don't want to ever stop being grateful for these things. It doesn't mean that I achieve an attitude of being grateful all the time, but it's my prayer that as I read back through these thoughts, they can be a reminder to me.