I'm blessed by...

Some current blessings:

- It was Christmas in October night at AWANA.  The children fill Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes with gifts the AWANA families have purchased.  Each child also makes a card to insert.  Afterwards the AWANA kids have Christmas cookies for their snack.  I offered to make three dozen, because in helping the prior two years, I noticed they often run short.  The AWANA director likes them fancy (a real Christmas feel, you know). Why is it when you bake for your family, things usually go well.  But when you have an outside engagement to bake for, things tend to go wrong?

Okay, you veteran bakers.  Why does it take so much food coloring to get red icing for sugar cookies?  We started counting six drops at a time, and eventually used the whole little bottle of red food coloring (big batch of icing) and we still only got dark pink.  So, yes.  I sent some really gaudy cookies to AWANA.  Dark pink with green sprinkles, rather than a nice red/green Christmas combo.  But you know what?  My kids were proud, despite the hot pink.  When all the kids went through the line to get their two cookies, it made my kids happy to know we'd contributed.  I'm blessed by that.  Very blessed.

- Paul, my six year old, loves football.  Do you know he makes a list of PAC Ten teams and actually writes himself a playing schedule?  Then he goes outside and plays football with himself, pretending to be both sides. (Sometimes big brother is involved.)  Paul even does some sensational announcing of plays while he's at it.  We do not have cable TV, and even when we did, football wasn't on much due to husband's lack of time.  He taped games then never watched them.  (Paul now watches these old, taped games.) How did my son develop this passion at such an early age?  Is it the mathematician in him?  He likes to calculate how many yards are left to go.  What blesses me is that Paul has found a passion--something that brings him great joy and excitement.  I think we are healthier people when we have strong interests.

Paul's other passion, by the way, is playing board games.  If you want to make that child feel loved, sit down and play a board game with him!

Now, if only he'd get better at properly putting his games away.  Sigh.  We have a lot of game pieces around this house.  

- Peter, age 8,  has moved on from Junie B.Jones; he's now a Cam Jansen Mystery fan.  Paul, age six, still enjoys Junie immensely.  When I see them lounging around and reading for pleasure, I feel so blessed.  I ached for this to happen-- for them to view books as their friends!  Not just the ones Momma reads, but the ones they read on their own as well.

- My husband is very forgiving--never holds a grudge toward any of us.  I'm not a needy wife; I don't really require anything from my husband.  But I am sensitive, so being married to someone who doesn't hurt my feelings is a huge blessing..

- Mary's passion is butterflies, and more recently, building train tracks and Tinker Toy creations.  I'm blessed by her contagious, animated enthusiasm.  The butterflies have disappeared for now, so I'm curious about what other interests she'll develop this winter.

- My baby must be sleeping better at night.  I'm starting to dream again.  Three times in recent days, I dreamed I was pregnant.  I've also had dreams about being a teacher and being late to pick up my kids from the playground.   What's my excuse?  I don't know.  I only remember the part about arriving to pick up kids from recess ten minutes late--making the yard duty person angry.  What's the meaning of that dream?  Just a sign of stress, like dreaming about being in an exam you didn't study for?

- My husband sold our second car for $250 dollars today, to an auto scrap business.  It became clear we needed some of it for the house payment, so husband looked about a month for a buyer.  They came to get it today via a flatbed tow truck (which thrilled the kids!).  For my part, I'm thrilled to have a little money to buy Paul a birthday present.  I don't want much, Lord, I prayed.  Just to be able to pick out a present for my precious boy.  The money came within six days of Paul's birthday.  To say I'm blessed and relieved is an understatement.

- The children's director has a copy of the adult version of Hinds' Feet on High Places.  She's going to loan it to me, as well as a story version of Pilgrim's Progress. I didn't know she loved to read, but we got to talking about books tonight, and in the end I got blessed with the loan of two books I couldn't afford to order.  I didn't ask--they were lovingly offered.

1 Chronicles 16:8
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.