Family Interview - What Brings You Joy?

Mike's had his highs and lows recently, but yesterday afternoon, he was pretty down. After he read the Bible for a bit, I gave him a homework assignment: I pulled up my list of 100 Things That Make Me Happy on our computer and I asked him to read the whole post. Then he was supposed to start a list for himself. The idea is for him to read through the list when he's in a mood and if just reading it doesn't cheer him up, we'll try to do something on the list. Nothing on the list really surprised me, but it was nice to see him come up with a list of 30 things that make him happy. When he went through the string of vanilla ice cream, homemade chocolate chip cookies, chili, pizza, hot wings and Mexican food...I realized that he's a typical "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" kinda guy. Good to remember!

During dinner, we asked the kids what makes them happy. Ryan's list was sweet: "When you don't yell at me or put me in time out...when Daddy plays games with me in the play room...chocolate chip cookies...and eating pizza." Kaylin just mimicked him, "Pizza and chocolate chip cookies" since we were eating chicken pesto pizza and cookies were baking in the oven.

Today he volunteered at Ryan's school for the first time. Ryan was SO excited and I think Mike actually enjoyed himself. I'm so thankful that he's getting to experience some of these things during his "time off."