Gracie had a son, Jake. Jake had a learning disability. For children with learning disabilities, school can be a miserable place. Jake had a mild form of autism. Because of the fact that it was so mild, it went undiagnosed until he was eight years old. Jake could function, for the most part, but his social skills were affected. He did not "play well with others". He frequently misunderstood things and he was quite a boisterous child. Therefore, he was often in trouble with teachers and school staff for what appeared to them to be general misbehavior.

Jake would come home from school, and begin talking about his day. "Today was a horrible day", he would moan. "First, Derek threw sand all over me as soon as we got to school, I didn't get to go to recess, I got lunch detention, I didn't eat my lunch because they put tomatoes IN the spaghetti sauce, and the kids called me names all the way home on the bus."

That was the way it went, day after day after grueling day. Jake would get himself so worked up talking about his horrible day, that he would get to crying hysterically. He would talk about digging a hole in the back yard and burying himself.

Gracie briefly tried homeschooling. Because Jake was so rambunctious, pinning him down for lessons was next to impossible, and with three younger siblings, distractions were constant. Gracie was turning into one of the people Jake disliked being around because every second of the day was full of contention. She tried accompanying him to class several times, but it was too difficult to manage with a baby and two toddlers. Gracie was concerned, because she saw her son slipping into depression, and his pent-up anger began unleashing itself all over the home and the family.

One day, Gracie was watching an episode of Oprah. Oprah was talking about a gratitude journal, and how it can help you spiritually, and make you a happier person because it focuses a person on their blessings. The way it was described on the show was too involved for small children, but the concept was a fantastic one. Gracie decided to adapt it to her own family circumstances, and implement it into their lives.

She took the children shopping, and let each child pick out a notebook. She wrote their names on the cover with black permanent marker, along with the words, "5 Happy Things". As the bedtime routine began, she gave each child their notebook, and let them spend about ten to fifteen minutes drawing pictures of five things that made them happy that day. It could be something that someone did for them, or something that they saw or heard that brought them joy. If they had a bad day, they still had to think of at least five things that made them happy, even if it was briefly, such as petting the dog, lying in the grass, seeing a beautiful sunset, or a flower. Then, each child took turns explaining their pictures to the family. Gracie wrote a brief description of what each child's picture was next to the drawing. This became part of their bedtime routine for years to come, and the children came to enjoy the time they spent on this activity.

This activity taught them many things. It taught Jake how to recognize good things as they occurred, so that he could write them down at night. It taught the children how to keep a journal. It gave the family time to settle down and unwind at the end of the day, and it was helpful to siblings and parents, alike. Siblings began doing kind things for each other in hopes of getting mentioned in someone's 5 happy things list. It helped the family to recognize each other's likes and dislikes. Then, as the family said their nightly prayers, they were encouraged to thank their Father in Heaven for the things they had written on their lists. This taught them how to pray and how to acknowledge gratitude to God for their blessings, no matter how big or small.

Jake is all grown up, now. He continued to struggle with school until the day he graduated. However, he did not "bury himself in the back yard." He learned to look at the lighter side of things, and developed a wonderful sense of humor. The 5 Happy Things journal was not a cure for all of the problems this family faced. There were still many difficult days, but the bad experiences did not become the focus of the individuals experiencing them. As the children grew older, and various church, school and sports activities made it difficult to establish a definite bedtime routine, the 5 happy things time slowly fell away. The lessons learned from that time did not. As the children said prayers out loud, they continued to thank the Lord for their blessings. They continued writing in their journals, and included their pleasant experiences in them, even if they weren't labeled, "5 happy things".

Later on, as Gracie began experiencing symptoms of depression, she implemented 5 happy things into her journal writing routine. It was a great way to keep focused on daily blessings, and gave her things to be thankful for.

If you have small children, I highly recommend implementing 5 Happy Things into your children's bedtime routine. It will create treasured memories for your family, and teach them many eternal truths. If you suffer from depression, this is a wonderful activity for you to implement into your life. It doesn't take long, and it helps to keep you from slipping further into depression.

As always, if you find your depression getting worse in spite of the positive changes you make in your life, you may have imbalanced brain chemicals, and may need medication. If you feel that this is the case, please seek medical help.