30 Days of Thankfulness ~ H is for Helping Hands

As the mom to now five children, my days are tied with moments of overwhelm and chaos. While feeding the baby this morning I noticed that the house had gone quiet and I could not hear my toddler. Send in my young troop of helping hands, his brothers, who found him in their bathroom. He had decided to "fix" his hair with chest cold rub - it was a menthol fresh scented 'do for sure. On other occasions today I have sent one brother or another up or down the stairs to retrieve something I needed for the baby. My oldest loves to be a helping hand in the kitchen and I will often find him making scrambled eggs for breakfast.

There are days when these smaller hands do not seem as helpful as they perhaps desire to be. There are messes, or things take longer, than they would if I just did them myself. I'm beginning to understand, though that the thing to be thankful for is not all the "help" one receives during these projects as much as the relationship gleaned by my letting them help. I am teaching them so much by letting them get their hands dirty and figure out solutions to small family dilemmas. We talk the process and we laugh in the process. I am a rich woman and I thank God for the (many )helping hands I have. I know someday all too soon these tiny helpful kids will become full grown adults and require little helpers of their own.