I'm blessed

It's been too long since I've joined up with the Blessing Party at He Sows and She Sews, but this week I'm just overflowing! Here are the many ways I've been blessed this week:

• I celebrated a very lovely Mother's Day with my kids. Since we had to go over to my mom's and MIL's houses on Sunday the boys took me to dinner on Saturday. They also gave me books, including a candy making book (that I've already put to use!). As an added bonus they behaved well on Sunday, which is some times challenging when we go from house to house.
• C finished up preschool this week. I can't believe I am not the mother of a kindergartener - the time has totally flown. I have been blessed with an intelligent, compassionate five year old.

This is a totally blurry pic but it's C holding the flag and leading the kids in the pledge at their program.

• It was my birthday this past week. I was fortunate enough to be able to take some time off of work too. I had a wonderful day and I'm so glad God has blessed me with another year.
  

I had the chance to paint some pottery on my birthday - it's a tradition I've had for the last five years or so.

• And maybe a little more minor, but tonight after playing blocks with J he picked them up without being asked. Yay!
  

Check out the I'm Blessed party here! 

I'm blessed

This week I have been trying to be more aware of my blessings than I have been lately. I have so much to be thankful for but have not been praising God for it like I should. So long story short, I am trying be more cognizant of my blessings:

 

-Hot water: I did not realize how great hot water is until I didn't have it for two days. I am so glad to live in a place where it is not considered a luxury.

 

-Family: I am blessed to have a great father in law! He came over to help E fix the water heater; he also watched the kiddo one day when the babysitter was busy. I know some people have issues with their in laws but mine are really nice.

 

-A job: I have a job that challenges me everyday but can still be fun. Plus the fact that I have a job is a blessing in itself with the way the economy is doing.

 

-A husband: E and I started dating 15 years ago and in a way I can't believe it's been that long. We still enjoy being together and I love that sometimes I can talk his ear off and sometimes it's enough to sit there, holding each other's hand without saying anything.

 

-My kids: J is starting to talk a whole lot more than before and it is super funny and cute. C is so smart and creative!

 

For more blessings check out He Sows and She Sews.

 

I'm blessed

You know I wasn't even going to do an "I'm Blessed" post this week. But I was thinking about my blessings this week and realized I had a ton of them!

 

- My friend has tried for a baby for seven or eight years. This week I had the privilege of going to her baby shower.

- My baby turned two and is a very happy, healthy toddler with a lot to say.

- Even though J had to miss his birthday party because we were at urgent care, I'm glad that his eye healed quickly without patches, drops or surgery.

- My sister had a beautiful baby boy this morning!

- My kids rebounded quickly after being sick

What a week! Check out other blessings at He Sows and She Sews.

I'm Blessed

It's time for the weekly blessing party! This week I have been blessed with time with my family. As I mentioned in a previous post, E and I spent time with both of our families on Thursday. It was so wonderful to be together! I think sometimes I take for granted that both of our families live up the road from us. So many people have to travel to see their families or are not able to visit, but for us it's so easy.

I've also been blessed with great in-laws. C was planning on spending the night at his cousin's house on Thanksgiving. When he changed his mind, my SIL offered to drive him home plus invited me to come Black Friday shopping with her and my MIL while E stayed with the boys. Unfortunately I couldn't but I was touched to be included.

Check out the Blessing party at He Sows and She Sews!

I'm Blessed

I'm counting my blessings again today with Gretchen at He Sows and She Sews. I continue to count C and J as two of the biggest blessings in my life. They melt my heart with the sweet things they say and do (don't get me wrong though - there are many times when they act like typical two and four year olds). Tonight C told me that he will love his brother forever. I loved hearing that; some days the sibling rivalry between them is so intense I wonder if they even like each other, so it's wonderful to hear that they do!

They can also be very amusing. This is how I caught J at one point this evening:

He had plopped himself down in front of his bookshelf to "read"

And this is what C was up to:

He was taking his babies for a ride in the wagon. They are such fun little boys!

Then came the rain...

Sometimes I think rain can get a bad reputation. It is considered gloomy and unwelcome. But to me it is refreshing.

Tonight was a struggle. I dealt with exciting things such as a child getting sick to his stomach and a clogged drain. Needless to say I was ready for bedtime. But by the time it rolled around I was feeling anxious and was beginning to worry about things I can't control.

Then came the rain...

As I was laying here, worrying, the rain began. I felt immediately calmer. It's like all my worries flowed out with the rain. Thank you God for the rain!


Check out www.hesowsandshesews.com for other blessings.

Blessings

Today I'm linking up with Gretchen over at He Sows and She Sews for the weekly blessing party. This week one blessing that has stuck out for me is music. I love the way music can reach out and touch a person's soul. I find it a great way to worship and some times express feelings that I can't articulate myself.

I have quite a long commute to work each day so I get a lot of chances to listen to music - and sometimes sing along :) One song that has been on recently has been stuck in my head lately. It's a song called "Hurricane" by a group called Same State. The chorus really seems to sum up what I've thought at times:

But all at once
Heads are spinning faster like a hurricane
Cause all we did was nothing but a love still came
And it's bringing in good news
A love is coming back
For all of us
Who have a hard time getting it in through our brains
That all we did was nothing but a love still came
And it's bringing in good news
That love is coming back like a hurricane
Like a hurricane
Like a hurricane for you

That's the amazing thing - I did nothing deserving but God still sent the ultimate love for me and everyone! It's so hard to wrap our heads around that idea but what an amazing blessing. And I'm so blessed to hear music that can touch me this way.

Family Blessings

I'm linking up with Gretchen's I'm Blessed party over at He Sows and She Sews today. One of the biggest blessings in my life this week has been spending lots of time with my family. E and I lucked out - we both had family in town this weekend.

Both of E's parents had birthdays this weekend and his mom's birthday was a milestone one too! So we all got together at my BIL's house to celebrate. Four of E's aunts and his grandmother came over - all from out of town. It was a great time of family, food and fun!

Here's J enjoying some yummy Mexican food.


C ran around playing with his cousins...


...and also enjoyed a little down time with a video game


Here's E and J with the birthday gal! (sorry the lighting is so crummy - it was getting dark outside)


Even if the party was the only thing that happened, the weekend would have been great. But we were also blessed with more family with my grandma visiting from out of state. So yesterday we went over to my mom's house to visit with everyone.

Here's J outside enjoying the cooler weather (finally!)


Here's C and one of his cousins


The kids also got a little silly with some costumes






Their grandpa had to join in the fun too!


We also managed to get a nice picture of the kids!


What a great (busy) weekend! I also realize that I am so lucky to be in my thirties and still have three grandparents around! And my kids still have four great grandparents. What a blessing to have family!

I'm Blessed

Today I am focusing on the blessings in my life as part of the Blessings Party over at He Sows and She Sews.

The first blessing is an easy one - I'm so blessed to have an extra day off this week. Work has been so busy lately that I can barely keep up (it did slow down a little last week though, yay). It's great to have an extra day to hang with the boys. And even though I'm glad to have the day off, I'm really blessed to have a good job. Many people have crummy jobs or worse yet, no job at all.

I'm blessed to have a good husband who loves me very much.

I'm blessed to have to have two energetic little boys (even if this post is taking me twice as long because J is "helping")

I'm blessed to have a great family. My sisters and I even hang out with each other voluntarily not just at family gatherings. Yesterday we even had a girls lunch.

I'm blessed that C goes to such a great preschool. I have a great admiration for preschool teachers (especially because my mom is one). C has learned so much at school!

And this is a silly one but I'm so grateful that J is showing interest in the potty. I don't want my babies to grow up too quickly but I can safely say I won't miss diapers when he is done with them!

Family Blessings

Wow it's already Monday again! Every Monday Gretchen at He Sows and She Sews reminds everyone to count their blessings in life. The biggest blessing in my life this week was my family.

It was an adventurous week for me. I was crazy busy at work, working lots of extra hours. Since I was running late I went straight to my knitting group meeting on Wednesday. It was storming outside and the lights flickered a few times while I was there. What I didn't realize was that the power poles on the street leading to my neighborhood had toppled and my house was without power. My parents were such a blessing to me - they let us stay at their house that night. My mom says any parent would have done the same thing but I still really appreciate it! She also watched the boys when I got stuck really late at work on Thursday. (It was crazy - I left for work at 7:30 Wednesday morning and got home Thursday night at 10 since I went straight to my mom's house from knit night.)

E was also a big blessing on Wednesday. Since I was at knit night and oblivious to everything happening outside, he coordinated everything with my mom. He even picked out clothes for me to wear to work on Thursday (and it was a cute outfit!)

Another blessing was I also got to spend some time with my dad on Saturday. We had a chance to go up to Cardinals training camp. I hardly ever get to hang with my dad anymore so this was awesome! Lots of great conversation on the way to Flagstaff plus some football fun.

I have been really blessed with the family God gave me! They bring me immeasurable joy. For other blessings hop on over to He Sows and She Sews.

I'm blessed

It's Monday and that means it's time to remember all of the things I have been blessed with. Gretchen at He Sows and She Sews started a blog party on Mondays as a day to remember the blessings in our lives. Mondays can get a lot of people down, so it's a good day to focus on the bright side. So this is what stood out to me this week:
- A loving and affectionate husband. I love him more than I could ever express
- A very intelligent four year old. The chats we have as we are going through the bedtime routine melt my heart. Plus lately he has been into reading Bible stories before bed, which is cool.
- An energetic one year old. He's very into exploring the world around him. It's fun seeing the world through his eyes, since it's all so new. There is a pure joy that we all seem to lose as we get older.
- My parents. I didn't realize this as I was growing up but they are actually Superman and Superwoman. They manage to balance taking care of my grandparents and still giving their kids and grandkids attention, in addition to the normal everyday grind of life. If I'm half as good of a parent as they are, then I'm doing a good job.
- Rain. It's been ridiculously hot (I know - July, Phoenix, big shock) but yesterday we got a very refreshing rain! Plus my sunflowers also got a nice soaking.

Check out He Sows and She Sews for more blessings!

I'm Blessed

It's Monday (okay technically it's Sunday night but no one will read this until Monday); it's time for the weekly blessing party at www.hesowsandshesews.com

Right now my blessing is a healthy child. Poor J became ill on Wednesday afternoon and was sick all the way through yesterday. It was hard for him to keep anything down and the poor baby just didn't want to be sick. He was trying so hard to act normally, which in a way is almost sadder since he wasn't well.

Thankfully today it was like a switch had flipped and he was back to normal. His infamous appetite was back (the kid has a reputation in the family for being the most adventurous eater). He seems perkier and was even able to go out this afternoon to his cousin's birthday.

It's hard to watch my baby suffer. I'm sure 99% of moms and dads would trade places with a sick child in an instant, just to have them feel better. I'm so glad he is well again!

I'm blessed

I'm joining the blog party over at Hesowsandshesews.com again. This week I'm being a bit cliche since it's the 4th of July but one of the biggest blessings that I have is my freedom. It's wonderful to live in a country where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness mean something. I have the freedom to say what I think and worship how I want. Many others in this world do not have the same opportunity. It's so easy for us to forget how blessed we are in this regard.

Today also provided many small blessings:
My children are having fun (they are wearing the T-shirts I mentioned in a previous post.)








I have always enjoyed the 4th of July and have yet to outgrow my love of fireworks.







And I got to spend some quality time with my parents and sister. Happy Independence Day!

I'm Blessed

This week I was trying to be more aware of the many things in life I have been blessed with. One thing that stands out to me is my children. It's so funny to see two little people that are so much like E and me yet are completely their own people.

Today I want to specifically talk about my oldest. C has been such a blessing to me. He's starting to leave the terrible threes behind and is turning into such a sweet little boy. Don't get me wrong - I love him just as much on the difficult days as the fun ones. But now I'm seeing more of a distinctive personality as he is better able to articulate what he is thinking. He is also a sweet child. He loves to give hugs and kisses and tells everyone how much he loves them.

C has also made me reflect on my faith more. I could never even pretend to fully understand God, but C has given me glimpses of how God sees us as his children. He loves us when we are difficult, wants to comfort us when we hurt and would lay down his life for us.

Come join the blessings party by clicking on the following link:
http://www.hesowsandshesews.com/2011/06/im-blessed_27.html

Life's Little Blessings

I first started this blog when I was feeling a little down and struggling. There is so evil in the world and I was feeling discouraged. My husband suggested writing as a way to release some of that. The blog actually got it's title from the fact that I wanted to focus on some of the positives in my life - my kids, my hubby, my knitting and baking.

And it was good for a while. But lately I've been feeling unsettled again. Letting the doubts creep in.

Today I got a wake up call. My former Pastor's wife used to talk about the "I spy's" in life - the moments when God is speaking. Things that one might want to write off as coincidences even though they are more than that. My "I Spy" is about God's blessings. The author of a blog I read has issued a challenge (not sure if that's the right word but I can't think of anything better at the moment) for people to make note of the blessings in their lives. I thought about it but didn't do anything and ended up moving onto other things. Later when I was doing my Bible study the exact same theme came up! More than just a coincidence - I'm pretty sure I'm being reminded that there are a lot of blessings in my life.

So with that said, I am blessed in so many ways!
- I have a darling husband, who I just celebrated 10 years of marriage with. He keeps me focused and puts up with my mood swings.
- I have two wonderful little boys who amaze me with their curiosity.
- my parents and sisters live close by and I can see them all the time. So many people do not have that luxury.
- I have a roof over my head, food to eat.
- I have job. There are times when I feel like I'm just slogging through the day but in this economy, many would be grateful for even that.
That's just a start but it's a good reminder for me. Other people blogging about their blessings can be found by clicking here.
Also I've had a song stuck in my head today that I think is good for me to remember whenever I'm feeling down or alone.

Oh Protector of my soul You will stand against the foe
In the dark You'll be a light for me Oh Protector of my soul
You who created the ends of the earth Guided me unto Your throne
Offered Your healing hand to me Mercifully made me Your own

Oh gracious God above I could never earn Your love
I'm amazed to see all You've given me Oh gracious God above
You who created the ends of the earth Guided me unto Your throne
Offered Your healing hand to me Mercifully made me Your own

Oh Holy Spirit come Show the world where life comes from
May they always see You alive in me Oh Holy Spirit come