Thankful

I just wanted to say, "thanks" to God for the blessings He has showered on me and my family. I feel very blessed and loved to know that from the time I was little God's direction has been leading me life. Did I always choose to follow that direction? No - but in spite of me - God is faithful.

I have a friend from college and I've been following her life more closely than usual the past couple of months because they had a baby in August and almost weekly there have been updates on this little guy's struggle to live. He is still in the hospital and it looks like next week they will try to remove his feeding and air tubes to see if he can breathe on his own. The week after that his mom has to get back to her teaching job and so they'll be driving every weekend back to the hospital to be with their little boy. He's had so many problems in his short 2 months, but he keeps pulling through. His parents are handling all the drama amazingly well and firmly know that God is there in spite of all the surgeries, worry, and scary health problems. Their situation just reminds me that I have been so blessed. That doesn't mean my life is perfect or that every day is easy or I don't have my own problem and issues - but in spite of it all, I can look back and know without a doubt that God is real and He has always loved me.

I think I'm going to hold my girls and hubby extra close today and not let go!

Jon and Emmy on Emmy's first birthday

Jon and Kelli at Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je
Kelli and Bria on Bria's first day of pre-Kindergarten in Ms. Jones' class.