Delighting in my Children

I was nursing Esther this morning after Nathan left for work; Lily came and climbed into bed for a snuggle, and both she and Esther fell back asleep. As I was lying there trying to figure out how to extricate myself from between them so I could get up and start my day, I thought to myself "what a nice problem to have--two beautiful daughters cuddled up next to me!" I really do enjoy my children. On Sunday we had a Stake Conference--7 or 8 local congregations of our church gathered together for Sunday meetings. According to my husband, it was a wonderful and spiritual experience; I really don't know because I spent most of the two hour meeting in the mother's room, hallway or nursery with the children. I'm not complaining--sometimes I have as hard a time sitting through church meetings as they do! What I wanted to share is what happened after the meetings.
My husband, always responsible, decided to stay after the conference was over to help put away the folding chairs in the overflow section. Lily and Luke saw him folding up the chairs and stacking them at the sides of the room, and decided to help. I was so proud of my husband for his example of serving unasked, and of my children for following that example. It was quite a site to see little 3-year-old look fold up a chair bigger than him and push it ahead of him to stack at the side of the room! The best part was when little Esther, 13 months old, went up behind a chair, grabbed ahold of the sides, and put her foot up on the bar at the back to try to push it closed: she had obviously been watching closely and wanted to participate too!
Back home on Sunday afternoon I discovered just how well Esther can communicate. I was in the back bedroom when she came and got me, saying "bight, me, bight!" I picked her up and she pointed me down the hallway to the kitchen, and then pointed to the pantry. Inside the pantry she pointed to the jar of Nutella on the shelf. Aha! That was what she wanted! In case you're not familiar with Nutella, it is a spread made of hazelnuts and chocolate, and I first became acquainted with it when we lived in France and would spread it on baguettes fresh from the bakery. Mmmm. It the kind of treat I buy it very often because when I do it doesn't last very long...but Esther knew it had come home from the store with us on Friday and obviously knew where to find it! What could I do but give her some?
I love life with kids. I get to smile so often!