Counting my Blessings

I may be a serious person, when it comes to my faith, my family, and my homeschooling vision... but I do have a much lighter side. With all our stresses lately, it is easy to ignore the abundance of riches we actually do have in our lives. God continues to supply for our needs even when we are eating Ramen Noodles and being financially bailed out by family. Sometimes I bury myself in theology, education, Christian fiction or financial books... but the real me is a much more joyful and light-hearted person. I could passionately debate over Creation vs. Evolution until my teeth rattled (and enjoy every minute of it), and yet I still get crazy with the kids and boogie to 80's club music and techno. We are lovers of life in our family. We have a great time.

My husband is my best friend in the whole world. When we're apart (which for the past few years, we've had to endure a LOT of time apart), it feels as though half of me is absent. We finish each other's sentences, we share each other's love for international food, Jesus, our kids, God's creatures (Science and Biology), music, movies, good Christian friends, cats and making each other laugh. He rarely calls me during the week without using one of a dozen foreign accents and pretending to be someone else. I always know it's him, but it never fails to make me giggle (as we carry on a conversation together in flavored, broken English). I have a hard time imagining a marriage in which a wife and husband didn't like each other... because although we didn't start out as Christians, we've always been friends. The love between us has deepened and grown more positive and selfless since our baptism into Jesus. Our relationship is better today than even those first giddy days when we were each-other's mystery and madness. I often feel so blessed to be married to my best friend that I feel guilty!

As for the kids, they are a fun bunch. Fifteen years ago, I couldn't have dreamed I would have been a mother, much less to THESE two kids. Beautiful, smart, creative, thoughtful, well-behaved, personable, generous, talented, inquisitive, and funny... they blow me away. Kev and I often say that when you have kids, you don't need television (Amy at Amy's Humble Musings agrees). We don't pay for cable, and rarely watch any TV at all (although the kids and their father do play video games a little too much on weekends). It seems almost comical that God would trust me with these wonders. The chance to be a witness to their daily achievements and growth in all areas (through educating them at home) has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. Homeschooling has given me a BOND with my children that I could never have imagined. I see them turning into very productive, intelligent, capable adults right before my eyes. It is truly amazing.

And, of course, I can't forget our cat. Although I really miss my baby (we lost our 12 year old cat this past April), I am glad we have a little furry feline running around the house again. She provides endless entertainment (mostly at her own expense). I have never met such a clumsy cat in all my life. She stalks PEOPLE... which is a riot. She will jump and pop at you (without claws), as if she is beating you up or at the least, teaching you a lesson for walking by without bowing to "her majesty". We return the favor and stalk her as well. We like to surprise her when she comes around corners to see her arch her back and jump sideways like cats you would see in a set of Halloween stickers. I've never had a cat that does it so well!

Of course, there are the blessings of friends and family (the list of which could go on and on!) as well... the blessing of lessons learned (even though many are difficult), places seen (and the hope of places we want to see), provision (never lacking), and forgiveness (Praise God!). Even my blog is a blessing to me (albeit maybe not to you!). I always wrote (poetry, stories, letters, etc) in my younger years. As far back as I can remember, I stayed up wee hours into the night at my journal or a computer - filling the page and screen with all the swirling thoughts in my head. It was only after I gained the Holy Spirit that anything I wrote became "worth reading", though. I have binders full of poetry (the 4 inch kind) and many stories, and I have only a hand-full of the thousands that I would allow anyone to read, much less publish on the internet. So dark and dismal, those days. God is good (and merciful) for saving me from them!

So I'm praising God for His blessings today. Even in the trails, He is here. And I am so glad I have Him. If you are a blogger, and you haven't written a post about this... I urge you to tag yourself and do it! Sheri over at Shades of Pink (a fellow blogger) has done a nice month's worth of listing her blessings. I've enjoyed them immensely.