Counting My Blessings

I once took a bible study while we lived in Florida with a friend of mine. I actually helped her facilitate it...a class on organization, but of course all sorts of subjects come up during classes such as these. One morning we were talking as a group about moving, and organizing our homes, etc. This friend of mine spoke to us about something that she has always done when planning to move into a new home. She prays for the people that will be her neighbors, asking God to allow her to be a witness, to have a good relationship with them, etc. I thought this was an absolutely awesome idea, so I did this when we were buying our Florida home. The land right next to us was for sale...we could have bought it from the people who had owned our house but being our first home purchase couldn't really afford it. Anyway, I prayed for the family that would eventually buy the land and build there. I asked that we would have a friendly relationship, that maybe they would have kids for our kids to play with, those sorts of things...hoping that I could somehow be a witness for Him to them. It turns out that a family moved in there that had 3 children, and their youngest was between Logan and Hailey in age. The kids became close friends during the time we lived there. That little girl was at our house quite a bit; I even babysat for her and her middle brother for a short time. She attended VBS with us once and church sometimes, and occasionally we went to visit with her mom or her mom with us. I feel that God answered my prayers. I don't know what kind of impact our friendship had on that family, but for me I have great memories. I feel as if that little girl is part of my family and I miss her now that we're not there. I actually still have contact with her occasionally.

I'm telling about all this so that I can say how blessed by God I feel. He is in the details of our lives...if we just look and see....we can 'taste and see that the Lord is good'...

I feel blessed for many reasons...we have a beautiful home, Karl has an excellent job where he is recognized for the great work he does and it provides a good income for our family, I have been given a husband who loves me no matter how little I deserve him...all these are blessings from my Father in Heaven...because He loves me even though I don't deserve His love! One thing I am feeling blessed about at this moment is our neighbors. God lead us to this home, even after we quit searching, and it is perfect for us. Plus, there are children right next door that our kids can play with that are their ages. I am so impressed with the manners of these children...they are so polite, always speaking to me and asking how I am when they see me. I've been around lots of polite kids, but have never had them asking me personally how my day has been. I've also seen my share of bad-mannered children, and these kids far outshine them! Again, when we were searching for a home here, it was my prayer that we would have good neighbors, find a good neighborhood, that there would be neighborhood kids for our kids to play with...and God has so answered my prayers! The neighbor kids are outside right now helping our kids shovel our driveway...can you believe it?! I sent all 3 of ours out to shovel the driveway and walkway before Karl gets home, telling them they had to finish before they could play with the neighbors. Well, when the neighbors came out our kids told them "we just have to finish the shoveling first" (I happened to be standing at the door at the time). What was the neighbor boy's response? Did he run off and play, telling them he'd see them when they were done? No!! He asked if they needed a little help, grabbed our last shovel, and began shoveling our driveway with my three kids! Now I'm really impressed, and blessed to have such a great example living right next door. I'm sure both kids have their own issues, as all kids (and adults) do, but I'm very pleased at what God has done here. He placed us in the perfect house for us, in a great neighborhood, with neighborhood kids to play with...He's answered my prayers and I'm so grateful. I'm counting my blessings today...