Things I Love - Emily

Person I love: The nice person. For instance, I love the lady who saw me struggling with a screaming, non-cooperative two year old in a Wal-mart parking and instead of judging my mothering, quietly asked permission to give my son an orea. Or the manager at the grocery store who helped an 8-month pregnant woman with two small children find the Easter hams hidden in the corner of the store. Or the mother who spent five hours on a Saturday on the telephone asking numerous bridal stores across the country if they had bridal gown # 3214 for her engaged daughter (and yes, she found the dress), or the husband who sees his exhausted wife and sends her off to the bedroom for a break and fixes dinner instead (even though he's exhausted himself). I think nice people who see beyond themselves make the world a brighter, better, happier place - and I love them!

Place I love: Historical sites. Pictured above is Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA. It is in that building that our nation's founding fathers gathered to debate, and eventually adopt, the Declaration of Independence and later the Constitution. I have visited this site repeatedly and always feel inspired by the courage, strength, and faith in God that those brave men exhibited. They lived through difficult, uncertain times, but they rose above their times and they paved the way for our bright future. I love visiting historical sites because there is something powerful about standing were previous men and women have stood (and sometimes fought) and learning their stories. They is much to be learned from the past and visiting these important places opens the windows of the past.

Thing that I love: Owning my own washer and dryer. It took seven years of marriage and two children (the younger of which was 16 months) before we bought our first washer and dryer. I still get giddy every time I throw a load of laundry in at 8:00 pm on a Tuesday night without inserting quarters.

Sound that I love: Laughing children. It makes me smile every time I hear it!

Quote that I love: "Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other” - Marvin J. Ashton