The little things that count

Tonight, I was snugly wrapped up in the sheets, on my side of our king sized bed, iPad in hand, doing my favorite and most treasured activity of my day: reading. It happens about this time every night; the kids are all nestled down with visions of, well, let's be honest, who the heck knows what they're dreaming of. Anyway, the kids are sleeping, hubby is blissfully snoring away on his side of the bed, the dog (sorry Lady, how dare I use the D word when I speak of you!) is tucked under the edge of the throw pillows at her little assigned space on our bed. All is fine in the land of quiet in the Lewis house. I love this time of night. It's the most calm moments of my day. As I ended another chapter in my book, I decided to head over to the land of virtual memories and let loose here for a bit. Not about anything huge or stressful or probably all that exciting for most people....but for me, it's the quiet times when I most appreciate the little things around me. And I don't ever want to forget them. As I sit here in bed, in the quiet, I count the things I can hear; the clock ticking, Austin's regular snore of comfortable sleep, the sounds of the highway through the woods, the crickets chirping outside, the soft whir of the ceiling fan, and the gentle sounds of Jacob's contented sleep. And that's my most favorite. You see, Jacob sleeps with us. Yes, every night, and I love it. He's almost four, and I honestly have no desire to run him back to his own room. Sometimes he starts off in his bed, coming in during the night when he wakes. Or sometimes he starts off here, and gets moved to his room after a bit. Sometimes it's both (and yes, I assure you, it CAN be both). In any case, I wake up every morning to a smiling Jacob. Most nights I'm rousted at some point by his expressions of need to make a middle of the night trip to the potty. And almost all the time I'm shifting him either closer to me or trying to get his feet free of my ribs. And I can't imagine it any other way. The other kiddos all co-slept to some degree. But Jacob's takeover of our bed has lasted longest. And I can't see wanting it to change anytime soon. There's just something so downright heavenly about him dozing next to me. Jacob has this way about him, awake or asleep. He brings joy to your heart when he smiles at you. He makes you smile when he anchors his two little fingers in his mouth and starts rubbing his blanket between his other fingers. When he tells you he wants to "pick you up" or he wants to cuddle you, you get this warm feeling. And when he says he loves you, he does it in a way that grips your soul and puts a lump in your throat. It's perfection...true, wonderful, God-made, perfect love. And so when you hold him in your arms at night while you sleep, it's like a heavenly prescribed dose of melatonin; and....well, who wouldn't want that? So...I'm sitting here in the dark, typing away at a post that is probably the most meaningless of all my posts...to everyone else. But I don't write for anyone else; I write for me. One day, I'll get to look back and read about my little piece of Heaven that I got to hold every night. He'll probably be a crabby teenager who hides in his room at that point. And I'll be able to remember our moments in the quiet of the night, when the clock ticked,and the fan whirred, and the dog snored, and the crickets chirped....and where I got to enjoy the little things for one more night.