As I laid there reading the same book I have read for the last 5 nights to my  youngest son , my long curly haired daughter runs in super excited.  Her hair a mess and tangled and her pjs a bit wrinkled.  She excitedly says, “mommy I did it by myself! I brushed my teeth, see! I also put toothpaste on everyone’s brush.” 

At that moment I wanted to scold her. I had told her many times not to play with the toothpaste.  She has a habit of squeezing too much and it gets everywhere.  She forgets to put the lid on and half the time the baby gets more toothpaste than I do.  Something told me to stay quiet and just give her hug.  Tell her how responsible she was and how proud I was of her.  She walked away with the biggest grin and twirled  into bed.  I made her night and she felt good about herself.  

After all the kids went to bed.  I got up and walked into the bathroom and sure enough the toothpaste was everywhere.  I didn’t care.  I giggled and I thanked God for giving me such beautiful children.  They were thoughtful and helpful.  The love they show me everyday in little ways like toothpaste matters more than an extra minute I have to take to get that sticky toothpaste off the bathroom floor , mirror and sink.  

Thank God for toothpaste!