How happy have you been?
During the past few years how much happiness have you known?
Can you recall moments of great happiness in recent months?
I have been happy. I am happy. I could be unhappy. I have been very unhappy at certain times in my life. My happiness varies of course, affected by me, mood, health and circumstances. But I am generally happy. I am fortunate. Yet what if the measure of my happiness had less to do with me and more to do with the actions of others that unavoidably crushed my happiness quotient. That wouldn't be fair.
A famous phrase of The United States Declaration of Independence is "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and these three qualities are considered “unalienable rights” or sovereign rights of humanity.
An early champion of this philosophical view of human life on earth was John Locke in whose Essay Concerning Human Understanding written in 1693 wrote in Book 2, Chapter 21, Section 51 that "the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness."
So important is happiness that it has been made a science. During the past twenty years an upsurge of scientific studies have sought to discover the causes of “subjective well being” that is, discovering what makes happy people happy. There is some consensus about key factors that produce happiness and these will not surprise you. Communicating, Caring, Exercise, Getting in the Flow, Spiritual Engagement, Cultivating Strengths and Virtues, Positive Thinking: Optimism, Savoring, and Gratitude.
Lost in this new science or at least not obvious in this list, is domestic contentment. Examining these 7 factors however, informs me that Communicating hinges upon relationships. People are happiest with friends and family and least happy if they are alone. People Caring for others consistently enjoy good mental health, are less depressed and have greater satisfaction. Regular exercise has a large effect on mood and mental well-being and mood. Getting in the Flow is involvement, becoming engrossed in creative and meaningful activity which produces self esteem and engagement and happiness. There is a close link between spiritual and religious practice and happiness. Significant benefit is derived from optimism because negative influences are viewed as temporary, limited and manageable. Gratitude interestingly causes people to interpret events uniquely and view life positively, hopefully.
Okay enough of the philosophy.
I have not spoken directly with Paul and Zabeth Bayne about the subject of happiness so what I say here is pure conjecture on my part based upon what I see of them, hear from them and read in their communications. Their happiness is inconsistent. It is certainly never at the level where they feel exhilarated in the morning and entirely fulfilled at night. They have moments of happiness and those are the 540 minutes each week that they spend with their three children. Imagine measuring that time in minutes for three years. That happiness is abruptly concluded at each of three weekly visits when the sad-faced wee ones are escorted by their contracted supervising custodian to the van that takes them back to the foster home. The rest of the time Paul and Zabeth are preoccupied by concerning thoughts that a government ministry can want to keep their children and will build a case against them to make this happen rather than build a means by which the children will be returned. And they are obsessed with thoughts of their children's happiness or lack of happiness because this same government ministry has misrepresented the concept of 'the best interests of the children,' and in practice is not doing the right things which would make for happiness for everyone. 
