Today I was home with eight sick kids.  Yesterday there were seven, and the day before I started off with only four!  A couple hours into that morning I had to go pick up dd17 from school because she was sick, too, and the rules are that they couldn’t let her go home herself, so we had five sick kids home by noon. 🙂

It’s actually been a nice period – I’m not glad everyone is sick, but it’s nice to have everyone home at once.  My living room is filled with kids lined up on blankets on the floor (their choice – they seem to be enjoying the chance to camp out together) and on all the couches – our homestyle infirmary!  But after a couple of people responded to me mentioning having eight sick kids home today, I was thinking about how easily it could be turned around to be something to grumble about.  It reminds me of a kids’ book we used to have – there was a dual storyline; on the top of the page was the positive interpretation, and on the bottom of the page was the negative interpretation of the same event.  And that’s really how life is, very open to our interpretation of things.

Many years ago I started keeping a gratitude notebook.  I didn’t do this consistently – it’s been on and off since I was about 18 or 19.  Since moving here, I’ve gotten out the habit of writing a gratitude list every night before bed, just because I didn’t think to keep a notebook next to my bed when we moved (got to do that now that I’m consciously thinking about it!).

But even so, I’ve still tried to make mental gratitude lists, and often will write things down when I have a scrap of paper in front of me.  Tonight I was writing some things in my planner at the end of today, since I had empty space in today’s date, and decided to share some of them with you.  Don’t think I have a perfect life and nothing to focus on but the positive – I have challenges just like everyone, but it  helps me keep my spirits up when I focus on the many blessings I experience every day.

As you’ll see in my list below, I don’t write about the big things – being able to walk, talk, see, breathe – which are in and of themselves so huge and amazing that if we really thought about the significance of them, we’d never find anything to complain about.  I write about the smaller mundane things.  We all have lots of these, but sometimes we have to attune our eyes to seeing the blessings around us all the time.

• no missiles fell in northern Israel today (they’ve been raining down in the south these last few days from terrorists) and we don’t have to live with the fear that we have thirty seconds to get to safety
• kids are all sick but are sleeping a lot and with the exception of one, not complaining much
• was able to salvage most of the carrots that were beginning to get soft due to heat
• ate three healthy and nutritious meals today
• dh took stroller down the stairs of our building for me when I went to the park with the littles so I wouldn’t have to carry it
• took the littles to the park and enjoyed the wonderful feeling of sun shining on us
• a neighbor smiled at me on my way into the building
• my mother brought another kilogram of powdered vitamin C when she visited six weeks ago, and I got a few bottles of grape juice on sale last week – just in time to have on hand for this bout of sickness
•  had plenty of toilet paper for the kids to blow their nose on (we’ve used about twenty plus rolls in the last few days)
• my arms and legs were feeling very weak and achy this morning, and I was afraid I was coming down with what the kids have – but pushed myself to do a fifteen minute workout since I mentally committed to it last night – and when I finished, all the achiness was gone (the benefit of pumping my lymph system?)
• got all the laundry washed – no dirty clothes left anywhere in the house!
• washed all the dishes and enjoyed seeing an empty sink for a little while
• the clothes dry quickly in warm weather like this
• got call to remind me about parenting class (I had mentally mixed up the day it was held with another class) and thanks to this didn’t miss tonight’s class
• parenting instructor voluntarily made a call for me to school advisor of one of kids’ after hearing difficulty I was having reaching him
• instructor understood significance of idea I shared despite my concern that in Hebrew I couldn’t express the depth properly
• after two weeks of work, dh’s employer told him he wants to give him a raise (he was told when hired that it would be four months before it would be considered)
• had a refreshing afternoon nap
• someone gifted us with four school sweatshirts at our front door (don’t know who but we appreciate it!)
• got a ride home from the parenting class to right in front of my building
• someone saved me some food from dinner and I didn’t have to prepare something to eat when I got home
• dh went out to buy more toilet paper and diapers without me mentioning it and saved me the trip
• diapers happened to be on sale just when we needed them
• we’re centrally located and don’t need a car; a walk to the store is just five minutes
• borrowed two English books that I’ll enjoy reading with the kids
• littles were still up when I got back so I could tell them goodnight
• once they went to sleep, enjoyed listening to a Torah lecture with dd15
• took the clothes that had dried in before it started raining

There are a lot more things I could write about, but you get the point!  I try to write or think of at least ten things a day, which isn’t hard once you get used to looking for them.  However, that can be intimidating in the beginning.  I heard the suggestion at a lecture to try to stop once a day and just think of two things to be grateful for, and this alone can help shift your perception dramatically.

Focusing on noticing all that I have has been huge for me in helping me become a more positive person.  I’ve also increasingly come to believe that we draw more miracles and blessings into our life when we notice all that are already present.  So if you want more good things to come into your life, start noticing all that’s already there!

Avivah