The Writing on the Wall

You just never know when something very ordinary (like some foam bath letters) can turn into something kinda great. Who would have ever guessed when we gave Berkley some foam letters for the bathtub for Christmas this past year that the rest of our family would end up enjoying this gift more than Berkley? I mean, seriously, we are talking about some silly foam letters.

I'm not sure when or how it started, but one day I got in the shower and found this one the shower wall:

Wow! That's about all I could say. I had no idea who had posted it or why, but I have to say, it made me smile all day. I mean, who doesn't want to be "1 Hot Mom?" I asked everyone in the family who left me such a fabulous message, but no one would fess up to it. I must have made a big enough deal about it to arouse interest, however, because pretty soon I was getting notes on a regular basis.

I'm not going to lie--I was loving this new practice in our home! I found myself looking forward to my shower just to see if there happened to be another fabulous message on the wall, saying how wonderful I was!

Then one day, it occurred to me that maybe I should return the favor and allow someone else(or a few someone elses) to feel fabulous for a change (I know, I should have figured this out sooner--I guess I was enjoying the praise a little too much:). So I wrote this:

The kids loved this, of course, and so they wrote back:

I know this sounds utterly ridiculous, but these messages did so much for me! I mean, life tends to kick the air right out of a person on a pretty regular basis. And let's face it, motherhood can be especially grueling at times, so it just felt so good to hear (or in this case, see) some positive reinforcement from my kids. Not that they don't get frustrated with me regularly and roll their eyes at me and tell me all the things I'm doing wrong, BUT at the end of the day, I think they really have tender, loving feelings toward me, and I am so grateful for that.

Here are a couple more messages I happen to love (you must keep in mind that when spelling with only   alphabet letters--one each--and the numbers 1-10, the spelling has to get creative sometimes:)

I'm not sure what "Amazingo" is exactly, but I'll take it!

So, I was enjoying this little banter back and forth with my kids so much I could hardly stand it, until one day I was showering away with a huge smile on my face and another revelation occurred to me: maybe my husband would like to be included (duh)! So, I thought and thought about what meaningful thing I could put on the shower wall that would tell my husband how much I loved him. To simply write, "I love you, Dan" or something was too obvious. No, it had to be something better. Finally I had an idea, and I have to say, I was pretty proud of what I came up with:

Sometimes the notes were just thoughtful little messages like this one that Hallee left before Dan and I went on a baseball trip with Nate to St. George:

I had to respond, of course:

Then, after my surgery, I found this sweet little message on the wall:

So simple, but man alive, it meant a lot to me. I have noticed my children starting to pray for each other and for me, and it just touches my heart so deeply. This was almost as great.

Here's what I wrote back:

Sometimes, the letters were even used to apologize:

I love it! Who would ever believe that a family could come up with a way to write some of the sweetest, most loving sentiments of their hearts to each other using something as silly and simple as foam bath letters?

The last message I wrote was just a few days ago, and it said this:

Although my kids are far from perfect and they drive me absolutely crazy at times, I truly feel they are awesome kids, and man alive, I am grateful they are mine! Mostly, I am grateful for family life--the little moments of joy, the satisfaction of growth, the tiny perks that make life so good.

And let me just end by saying, if you need a little way to spice things up a bit in your home and start some positive communication with each other, I have the best idea--foam bath letters!