The Best Gifts

Over the years, I've tried to find the perfect gift for someone.  On special occasions, we always look for the right gift. When we have kids, people always ask what to get them for their birthdays and Christmas. These gestures are always meant with good intentions and on the day received, greeted with appreciation.

When Rob and I began having kids, we of course wanted to give them more than what we had. We want more and better for them as all parents do for their children. When Maui was an only child, the amount of toys and books she had was overwhelming. We spoiled her as did many others in her life with material things. However, as she grew, we realized that that's not the message we wanted to send to her. Lucky for us, she's a generous kid and saw the value in our shift. She began wanting donations for animal shelters, schools in Africa, Operation Christmas Child, etc. instead of things. We were blessed that she saw a bigger picture once we started showing her that there was more to this life than just her. We're working on doing better with the younger three by teaching them that much earlier in life.

Overall, our family has been great at grasping this concept and helping us teach our children that it's not the number of things that you have in this life that matters. We want to be able to help others. We want to enjoy time with each other. Those are some of the best gifts. This past year for Christmas, the girls received some pretty great gifts. They were given gifts of time and experiences.  These gifts will go on lots longer than the lost shoe of a Barbie doll.

The other day we took advantage of one of the experiences the girls were given for Christmas, we went to Knight's Action Park. Honestly it was pretty close to a perfect day. My girls absolutely loved the water. They amazed me with their courage and warmed me with their smiles. As we sat on the ground to have our sack lunch, Maui said how nice it was to sit together and just enjoy visiting and I couldn't agree with her more. We had ice cream on the way home and I sat thinking that I hope they always enjoy that treat with their whole bodies.

We went to the zoo a few weeks ago because another great gift the girls received was to become zoo members. I soaked up the minutes of watching the girls run from each monkey exhibit to the next.  I was sure that they would be terrified of them, but they weren't, they loved them. I loved watching each of their personalities shine picking out the animal they wanted to ride on the carousel (Afton chose to be held, she wasn't impressed by the idea). They cracked me up as we went to the splash pad in the Children's Zoo. Brylynn and Aspen dove in head first. Afton wasn't sure and it took her a good ten minutes of running in and out before she decided that she was all in and then didn't want to leave.

The best gifts in life don't have a price tag. The best gifts in life are those in which we're surrounded by those we love. The moments in time that create happiness that lasts long after the day is over. It's being surrounded by those that fill your cup up and over. The best gifts in life are the experiences that we have and the absolute choice we have to make those moments the ones that take our breath away years down the road.

Every day may not go as we've had planed, but we can still chose what it is that we remember and what experiences we chose to take away from them. We went camping with my dad, step mom, grandma, sister, step brother and a gaggle of our kids. The twins absolutely were not fans of our arrangements. It was hard and they made a trip home a day early. But what I remember from that trip isn't how awful that part was, I remember how brave Afton was as she decided to take on the river current to swim to Rob. I remember how happy Aspen was sitting on the shoreline, stark nude, playing with Lori. I remember watching Brylynn dance with my grandma in the water. I remember watching my dad play with his grandkids and watching Maui and Jackson run down the shoreline.

Some gifts are as simple as baking cookies with your grandma and hearing old stories or an adventure down new trails with your sisters. I've talked before about reconnecting, but it's as equally important to be present in the everyday moments in life. God's given us the best gifts in life, first, His Son. Secondly, the opportunity to experience this life with the ones we love and enjoy the time that we're given with them.  I intend to spend my life doing just that because even on my not so shiny days, I'm blessed beyond what I deserve.