So Much To Be Thankful For

As we finish up this holiday season and this year, I know I have a very important choice to make. I can look back at the year with all its changes and challenges and begin a very long list of things that could have been better, should have been different, or that I failed to do at all (such as blogging!). The other choice, of course, is to look back at the year and see the DAILY blessings that my family and I received. Jesus is without a doubt the greatest blessing we are given today and every day. Beyond His grace and love, every other blessing I receive is icing on the cake! And yet, as I look back and look around, I see blessing after blessing after blessing. How can it be that we are so blessed?

At the Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting at the Crown Center Plaza

• A loving and supportive marriage
• The best kids on the planet
• A new (to us - 100+ yrs old to everyone else) home in a great downtown neighborhood
• Brand new sewer lines (like I said, I'm choosing to look at the bright side)
• Many sets of grandparents that add depth and breadth to my kiddos' lives (and date nights to our lives).
• A heart overflowing with friends and family that we are missing. It's wonderful to know that we have people praying for us and missing us, too.
• A great church family here in Kansas City that we are connecting with and finding how we can best serve.
• A small community group in Lee's Summit that is seeking to love those God has put around us.
• The hope of new friendships. We've met some pretty awesome people that we look forward to becoming close with in the year to come.
• Financial challenges that help us take a step back and re-evaluate what is important, necessary, and remind us that we can trust God to supply our needs. We constantly see His faithfulness.
• TIME. Time to teach our kids and play with them since we are homeschooling them (for now). Time to rest, read, explore, be creative, be intentional, and be focused on what we think is important.
• GRACE. We are so aware that we do so many things that aren't right or best, so we are very thankful for the grace God extends us through Jesus and therefore the grace we can extend to ourselves and others.

I know there are more things that I'm forgetting to put in this list, but even writing down these few things has lifted my spirits and made me hopeful for the year ahead.

What does God have planned for us in the year to come? We don't know specifically, but we are confident it will be good. We plan to keep our eyes open and daily pay attention to what blessings are all around us.