Today because of renovations I woke up holding one child, next to another, in bed with my wife, crammed together in one room. My arm was asleep, I was hanging off the bed and I was tired from my kid's restlessness during the night... and I was grateful.

I look at these three girls, Angela my wife, Lumina and Hazel my two daughters and I think, "wow, I am a lucky man".

Practicing Gratitude: It's the little things...

It's not because of anything I could easily show you; it’s just the little things. Lumina's smile or Hazel hugging me, my wife saying thank you for a dinner I prepared, these moments fill me with a lasting joy, fullness and a satisfaction I feel incapable of properly conveying. The best I can do is this: when I experience these women, I feel the power of love at work, and it changes me. The love has a weight; it overtakes me like a powerful ocean wave, complete with current that will throw you upside-down if you aren't ready.

Thank you Lord.

When I experience this love I feel as though I might literally burst for joy; they make me feel so much that I want to cry, scream and laugh hysterically. But these are just words, and the moment is so much more than I suggest here.

I hope you know what I mean, and that you have someone in your life that does this for you, and you for them. If so I think you will agree the old cliché is right, it really is the little things that make each moment so special.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Lumina say's cheese to mama while out at the Vancouver Aquarium:

Lumina's big eyes & smile shining brightly:

Hazel cuddles in close, too shy for a photo:

Comedian Hazel complete with gum mustache:

My playful wife:

The way she smiles for me:

Each day, in a million ways, by both word and deed these ladies show me what it means to love with abandon, to set a person up and confidently show them the heart on their sleeve. I do not always reciprocate, but I do try, and when I fail at trying, I pray for the power to at least try to try.

Lord thank you for the people you put in my life and the gift of joy and love that you allow us to share here on Earth. Jesus help me to be the husband, and father that these women need, and that you would have be for them. God, forgive me for my failures in loving them, and protect them from my failures, I need you to be who I ought to be. Lord help me to be gentle, patient, and kind, so that I might offer them freely, the love you so graciously pour out upon me. I pray these things and give these thanks in your name Jesus.