Well, here we are! Here is our first family picture since we got Benjamin home from Ethiopia in February. My family from New York is staying with us this week and they volunteered to snap some pictures of all of us while we were dressed up for Easter Sunday. Getting a good picture of all of us is darn near impossible, but every once and a while we get lucky :)

So, since the house is busy with the “post-Easter sugar buzz” and having company, I thought I would share a quote again for today’s post. Here is one from the French novelist Marcel Proust that I really like.

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." – Marcel Proust

Isn’t that a great spring time quote? I think it makes a great point, too. So often we take for granted the people that mean the most to us, and assume that they will always be with us, and that every one else is just as lucky as we are to have people that care about them and make their lives happy.

Often when I think about my life, I think about how different my life would be without my husband and my children. It would certainly be less happy, less colorful, less joyful (o.k., and maybe a bit less noisy too).

This quote is a great reminder to cherish our loved ones. It definitely sums up the way I feel about my family. I love the analogy of my husband and children as the gardeners of my soul. When my soul blossoms with happiness, it is a rainbow full of beautiful flowers, reflecting all of them.

So, I hope you enjoy the photo and the quote. Occasionally when I look at a picture of our family it strikes me for a moment just how many of us there are! But as I look from face to face I know that each one belongs. They truly are the flowers of my soul.