My Incredibly Blessed Life

A coworker was having a rough week awhile back, so I told him that I'd been praying for him. His response struck me - he simply said, "Keep doing that. I live an incredibly blessed life... the correct prayer is for me to recognize it far more than I do."

For some reason I was thinking about that conversation tonight after I sleepily went through the motions of making lunches, putting the kids to bed (and back to bed again..and again), and picking up the house. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the keychains we'd picked up for the girls on our recent trip to California. They reminded me of how much fun we had, how many friends we saw, what great memories we made...

 
That's when it struck me, I am so blessed! The signs are everywhere, I just need to wake up and see them. So, being the literalist I am, rather than going to bed early as planned, I grabbed my phone and began snapping pictures around the house of more things that remind me of how amazing my life is...


Funny things, like this mysterious cardboard sign I found in Linsey's room while cleaning in there earlier. Our oldest is crazy, creative, and overall hilarious. So glad to be her mom!

Sweet things, like this picture Hannah made for her Daddy of the two of them. I'm SO very thankful to have a guy my kids adore as much as I do!!

Then there are more sobering reminders, like this picture of our sponsored child, Simon, who lives in Uganda.

One of Simon's daily jobs is bringing drinking water to his family from the swamp a few miles away. He caught malaria last year and spent months out of school. We've sponsored Simon through World Vision for several years, and his letters are a constant reminder to our whole family that 1) we have been blessed beyond measure, and 2) our "extra" can make a world of difference to someone else.

And finally, there are many, MANY reminders around my house that are "handmade with love" - 

 (Thanks to art class, I may never have to buy decorations again!)

Each one has a special story, like this banner our kids made to welcome the international student from Japan who is staying with us this semester. Hosting students has been an amazing experience that allows us to share our incredibly blessed life with others and, with any luck, help them see the blessings around them as well.

So thanks for following my little journey to finding the blessings around me, and let me challenge you to take one of those trips yourself soon if you haven't done it lately :)