Blessings Abound

"The more I count these blessings, the more I realize that they really are not the product of my own efforts. They are truly gifts of grace from God above. It's incredible to open my eyes to them week after week. And humbling. That I should be graced with such wonders? Me...whose heart is weak and black, yet covered with much mercy. How great is Your unfailing love, Lord God of all!"
~Sharaya Crossan

Today I’m thankful for:

151. My new Bissell Healthy Home air-purifying vacuum cleaner which arrived last week.  It works SO well!

152. Spring

153. Bed head

154. Church family

155. A healthy, growing son (this is his 4-month picture)

156. The new Mom’s group that is starting up at church

157. The chocolate trifle I made for cell group a couple of weeks ago

158. Our car

159. That Kiera enjoyed the leftover chocolate cake from the trifle

160. Singing

161. My musical daughter

162. Refrigerators

163. Blake’s rock star outfit (shirt + shoes)

164. This Scripture that spoke to me this morning: John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Recent Purchases

Jared recently got a raise + a bonus at work; praise the Lord!  He said to me, “You don’t get a bonus, so is there anything you would like to buy?”  I told him I wanted a potato masher + a new purse.  I got a new cell phone and it’s too big for the cell phone pocket on my old purse.  Plus, I got tired of having a plain black purse since that’s all I’ve had for the past several years.  This is my new potato masher

and my new purse that I found at Wal-Mart.

Definitely different than plain black!  Blake also needs a new car seat.  At 4 1/2 months old, he has almost outgrown the infant car seat.  Ya, the same car seat that Kiera was in until she was 10 1/2 months old.  He’s a big boy!  So, we decided to get the 3-in-1 Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite Car Seat.  It was $40 off the regular price, it was the last one in the store, plus we got a $10 gift card when we bought it!  I like that it has a cup holder on the side.

 

The only problem is, it doesn’t fit in our car when it’s in the reclined rear-facing position, which we knew before we bought it.  Thus, the van hunting continues.  We’re hoping to buy one in the next couple of weeks.  We almost bought one today, but got outbid right at the end.  We have a friend who’s looking + bidding at a weekly dealer auction for us.  So, hopefully Blake will get to enjoy his new car seat soon!

My Little Ballerina

I’ve meaning to put these pictures up for a while, but I kept forgetting and finally remembered to put them on the computer yesterday.  My Mom-in-law took these over a month ago when Kiera went to stay at their house for a couple of days.  She is 2 years and 3 months old in them. 

The next 2 are my favorites

Being Thankful in the Midst of Busyness

This week is a busy one for both Jared + I. I haven't had a whole lot of time to just sit and relax. My kids are finally napping at the same time as each other today, so I have time to quickly blog. Here's what I'm thankful for today:

139. A busy week after several not busy weeks (Kiera doesn't get as bored then)

140. Church

141. Play dates with friends

142. Comments on my blog and facebook

143. Bubbles


144. Vitamins

145. That God wants to increase our patience and trust in Him as we have been looking for a van for about a month now

146. Kiera's hugs + kisses

147. That I can see the grass now, even if it is brown

148. The people who pick up our garbage + recycling

149. Books

150. Trees

"The more I count these blessings, the more I realize that they really are not the product of my own efforts. They are truly gifts of grace from God above. It's incredible to open my eyes to them week after week. And humbling. That I should be graced with such wonders? Me...whose heart is weak and black, yet covered with much mercy. How great is Your unfailing love, Lord God of all!"

~Sharaya Crossan

For the Love of Reading

Kiera is starting to memorize the words in quite a few of her books!

My Latest Struggle

Lately, I've been struggling because I don't have a group of girlfriends to hang out with and fellowship with. I read a lot on other girls' facebook statuses things about "girl's night out tonight" and I struggle with feelings of envy and usually self-pity is close on its heels. Those are such ugly, sinful feelings. I sometimes wonder, "Why am I not invited to things like that? Am I not funny enough, not outgoing enough, not talkative enough...etc." God keeps reminding me that my worth comes from Him and not from what other people think of me and that He doesn't want me to wallow in self-pity or be envious. Only by His grace + strength alone can I overcome those. He spoke to me in January during the prayer + fasting time and He said, "If you want friends you have to be a friend." I know that sounds so "Elementary school" but that really challenged me. I am not extremely outgoing, so it's hard for me to strike up conversations with people I don't know very well. There was one particular girl that I felt God laid on my heart to get together with, so I took a step and asked her to hang out and now I have a new friend because of that! It's also hard for me to go out right now without Blake because of breastfeeding, but I know it won't always be like that. I will keep praying for a group of girlfriends and keep thanking Him for the friends I do have. I know that no matter what happens, God wants me to seek Him first and He is more than able + willing to fill in those gaps if I will surrender everything to Him.

Starting the Week Off Right

I’m counting my blessings again today.  Here’s what I’m thankful for:

127. That Spring is on its way

128. That our friend installed a light in our stairwell on Saturday and it’s great :)

129. A daughter who is becoming increasingly more creative with finding things to dress up in

130. That our biggest income tax return ever is on its way!

131. Contact lenses

132. That Blake loves being rocked in the rocking chair

133. A baby who stiffens his legs when we stand him up…Kiera didn’t do that until she was about 14 months old (no joke)

134. That Jared has a straight day-shift job

135. Batteries which make toys work that our kids enjoy

136. Ovens

137. Lemonade

138. Warm winter boots