Joy

Everything that has ever brought me joy in life has been divisible by two.  Or more.

I guess I should explain.

I’ve been thinking about the things that bring me the greatest joy, and every single thing is “married” or linked to someone else.

My children have brought more joy into my life than anything I can think of.  When I think of each of their births, I can still feel in my heart the extreme emotional euphoria and gladness that came when I realized  that another human being had entered my life.  Even as a new mother of one, I knew that every day would bring a lot of things, one of which would surely be joy.

It took having 5 children and being married for over a decade to realize that for me, joy does not come alone.  It’s the sharing of moments, of lives, of thoughts, of expression and emotion, of acts, that bring me joy.

As the new school year draws nearer and I am about to send my little chicks out into the world, I am reminded of that moment not so very long ago when I felt more quantifiable joy than I ever had before.

It was the moment that I was handed my baby doll sized twins in the operating room shortly after their premature birth.  I remember looking at them, looking at my husband, and realizing that we had been granted something special.  It wasn’t just two lives, although that was a pretty big miracle in itself.   The few months leading up to their birth had given us a plethora of insight into what we could sustain as a family, what we had to be grateful for.  It was only at their birth that was able to see that the mental anguish and physical separation that  I had endured had only served to bring me to the point where I could fully experience the joy of knowing that 5 little lives were going to bless me in ways that I’d never be able to comprehend or describe.

That’s joy.

Mark Twain said that, “to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.”

I’m so thankful for the people in my life that bring me joy, for it wouldn’t be joy without someone to share it with.

This post is part of SOYJOY‘s What brings you joy contest. Learn more here.

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About Angie

Angie is a CRAFT dabbling, recipe making, WORD loving, sunshine hording, book DEVOURING, Mama to a lot! She's kind of in love with Instagram right now, so if you want her attention, go find here there. {smiling}

Comments

  1. Laurie Johnson says

    I love that quote. I have it in magnet form on my refrigerator:) it is so true!

  2. I LOVE that quote, it is so beautiful and so true.

  3. I love this photo of your family. Great post!

  4. Great post.
    I like that saying.

  5. What a wonderful post – a true reminder to be thankful for the family that you have and the wonderful life that you live.

  6. Thank you for doing this post! I will have to start following Scary Mommy, I think I can learn a thing or two! Your family is so handsome, especially those two little red headed boys!

  7. I completely agree. Learning to recognize and appreciate it is a big part of having it too.

  8. Lovely sentiment and what a beautiful family you have to share your joys in life with.

  9. Awww, this post makes me so happy for you! It’s true, I have more joy in my life when there is someone to share it with.

  10. Love your post! We need to find joy and love in all things and give God the thanks for it!

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

  11. What a fantastic post and point of view! I love it!

  12. Susie's Homemade says

    You have such a beautiful family! It looks like Joy is your middle name.

  13. Great post, and an absolutely adorable family you have. Just beautiful!

    P.S. I mentioned you in a blog post today! You can see it here. 🙂

  14. Such a lovely post! You have a beautiful family.

  15. oh. well. that’s pretty much the opposite of my post yesterday (which I deleted btw. only you and Melissa saw it I think. and Chris. but it was aimed at him).
    Anyway, thanks for reminding me that I need to ‘get over it’ and focus on the important people, not the crap.

  16. Beautiful post and gorgeous family!!!

  17. And how blessed these joys are to have you as a mommy and a wife!

  18. So true. (=
    Your family is gorgeous.

  19. I found children are more than joy. they are my reason to live.

    what a happy family and beautiful children you have…

  20. Someone else already wrote what I was about to say: What a gorgeous family. My goodness!

  21. What Gorgeous Children!!!

  22. Beautiful family! Love the red heads!! They look like mom!
    Sweet Post!

  23. This was a beautiful post, and you have a beautiful family!

  24. Oh, so true, “to get full joy, you must have someone to divide it with.”

    I loved this soy/joy post. It is wonderful.

    Followed you here through MamaKat.

  25. You have the most beautiful family!!

  26. Oh that is such a beautiful family picture!!

  27. You have a gorgeous family!

  28. This post made me so happy 🙂 You do have a lot of joy in your life.

  29. I’m not sure if it’s fair that you guys have 7 ridiculously gorgeous people living in one household. Your neighbors on both sides must be hideous, you know to make up for you guys:)

  30. You do know your kiddos are growing up yes?

    I love the grass in the background and YOU love totally amazing!!

    I just wrote about finding joy in the journey and the fact that I fail most days… 🙂

  31. That is a perfect answer : )
    Your joy is always divisible by 2.
    Clever and creative.
    Your family is SO beautiful.