Are you at home with your babies today?  I am.  It is, literally, freezing cold outside.  They are cancelling schools across the state for cold.  And I am sipping some coffee with one very wild-haired, soft, and sweet thumb suckin' baby.  She's cuddled up on my lap beneath a cozy blanket with her head on my shoulder, and she smells sooo good.  Our little boy, newly turned three, just woke up.  His hair is a little wild, but he has a smile on his face.  You can tell he's still sleepy because he hasn't started zooming around the room.  Instead, hTe's chosen to snuggle up next to his mama for a few more minutes There is a four year old with her little feet on the heater laying on the carpet and all is quiet here for just a little longer.

And where is that wonderful husband of mine?  Well, he got up at 5:00 AM this morning, got into a shower, put on work clothes, and walked out into the snowy cold, so that the rest of us could have all of this. 

I am still in my robe this morning, contemplating our schedule for the day, figuring out what we should do on such a cold day.  I'm not going to have to brave the miserable cold, or drop my babies off a sitter's house today.  

I will be blessed with opportunities to minister ALL day long.  I'll be able to fix wrongs, kiss boo-boos, make healthy meals, read special stories, and laugh and play with them all day long. 

And this is thanks to my husband.  It doesn't always occur to me to be grateful.  Sometimes I just go about my day not thinking about it.  But, I think we have an obligation to show our gratefulness to those wonderful men who make our lives possible.

So many of us had dreams before babies.  They involved careers, exotic places, or whatnot.  They generally did not involve dirty diapers, lots of dishes, chaos, teaching school, cleaning up, and baby drool.

Oh how little we knew then.  We didn't know that careers mean exhaustion and not seeing our beloved babies.  We didn't know exotic places soon lose their charm and allure.  Mostly I didn't know how thankful I  would be for dirty diapers to change, the chaos of many children underfoot, the joy of teaching my own, and the blessed adorableness of baby drool.  Thank you Lord for teaching me all of these things. Thank you Lord for every diaper *I* GET to change, thank you  for every child *I* GET to teach, thank you for every baby You give me.  And thank you Lord for that husband that braves the cold to take care of us so that I can be home with them each and every day, teaching and learning, and ministering.

Do something wonderful for your husband today.  It is by the grace of God and his hard work that you lead this very blessed life.