Blessings

I know you people have come to love blog posts with pictures and a funny tone, but this isn't one of those. With Christmas right around the corner and with so many things going on in my life lately, I thought I would blog about something that's been on my mind a lot: blessings.

It's funny how some people don't consider themselves blessed. Those people have normal lives, with nothing really going on. So to them it doesn't seem special or blessed. People like my family would be happy to have a normal, boring life. I am a true believer that sometimes bad things have to happen. If they didn't, we wouldn't have anything to feel blessed about. We would just all expect that life was like that: good things all the time would be normal, mundane.

Sometimes it takes a trip to the hospital to really appreciate the times at home. God certainly has used my family as a way to pull people closer to Him. And that feels like an important job. I know I have never prayed or talked to God more than in the past year or so, with my father's passing, my mom's hospitalizations, stress over the wedding and our house. Those bad things really make the good times shine brighter, make me rely more on God, and make me feel blessed for the small things.

And what blessings could I possibly have? You might ask this if you know how horrible some things have been in my life this year. My dad passed away after a terrible battle with arthritis. A battle that was devastating for anyone to watch. My mom still has cancer and has been in the hospital every few months with pain. I myself went to the doctor last week because I was having some odd symptoms. I know most people see my life and my family's life and they feel sorry for us. But don't feel sorry for me. Because I am blessed.

I have a truly AMAZING husband who I look forward to going home to (ask my co-worker - I don't even want to work out this year after work because I just want to go home). I have wonderful families - both my family and my in-laws. We have game nights and support each other and love being together. In this world, not many families have that. I have wonderful, supportive friends who are always there to talk and just have fun with me to take my mind off bad things. I have a new house! At 27 I own my own home!!! And it's getting to be nice (thanks to our wonderful friends and families). We are financially blessed and have food on our table, heat in our house, and more than what is necessary. Every time it snows I'm reminded of homeless people and how blessed I truly am for something as mundane as a roof and walls. I have a job I love - my students are awesome and make me laugh and smile every day! Sure it's a stressful job and sometimes I feel like I don't love it, but really I do. I have a classroom full of 26 crazy, silly, wonderful fourth graders who look up to everything I do. It's amazing! I am also so blessed that we have a church we love and friends at our church. We love our pastor and are both involved in our church. We are blessed to have two cars. We are also blessed to have neighbors who lend us tools and help us snowblow our driveway. I am blessed that my mom has a chemo right now that doesn't make her sick and is keeping her cancer stable. I am blessed that my dad is no longer suffering. I am blessed that everything with my health is fine (the doctor said I'm just a little low on potassium). Brad is healthy.

So you see - don't feel sorry for me. I'm blessed. Be happy for me. Because I know God and He is in my life. All the bad things have secured that knowledge in me. Because without Him, I couldn't do it. So yes, be happy and joyful for me. I KNOW GOD. What more is there?

Okay fine, here's one picture for you blog lovers: