Many years ago my mother-in-law gave me (us) this framed poem…

In This Home

We BELIEVE in living deeply,
laughing often and loving always.
We BELIEVE we were brought together to support and care for each other.
We BELIEVE in celebrating together ~
our faith, our heritage, our traditions.
We BELIEVE that everyone’s feelings count, and that the uniqueness of each of us
strengthens all of us
We BELIEVE
in the power of forgiveness to heal
and the power of love to carry us through.
We BELIEVE in one another in this family,
IN THIS HOME.

I keep this in my bathroom; a strange place for a framed poem you might think but to me it’s the perfect place to keep it. I’m in our bathroom every day so I read it every day. I try to carry the words with me through the day as I go about parenting our kids. These are the words I want my kids to learn and take with them as they go to spread their wings.

I want them to remember to believe in living, laughing, loving, supporting, caring, celebrating, forgiving and strengthening our family…always.

Oh, for the love of my children…