We had a wonderful (but long) trip to visit family this past week. I am so thankful that this little turkey of ours is such an amazing traveler!!! Our road trip from Monday evening to Friday evening went something like this ~ Pearland to Newton, Newton to Doyline (LA), Doyline to Newton, Newton to Kirbyville, Kirbyville to Newton, Newton to Pearland. Needless to say, we were all exhausted when we got home last night, but it was totally worth it! I love spending time with our families and letting them form bonds with our sweet girl. She certainly stole some hearts this past week!
I'm not sure what I really want to write about! I have a ton of pictures ~ don't worry I will limit them for the purposes of this post ;) But one would think I'd have some sweet flowing words to write regarding Thanksgiving. But mainly I just want to remember to be thankful EVERYDAY!
Several months ago (July 27th to be exact) I was having a bit of a pity party about going back to work in what was then less than a month. And instead of wallowing in my own pity, I took a minute to write down what I was grateful for ~ I counted my blessings. And at the time, I only shared that entry with one other person. But now, I realize that to count your blessings is something you should share! So here it is...
Count Your Blessings, Name Them One by One...
I am grateful for my life. I am grateful for my family, especially my daughter. I am grateful for my friends. I am grateful for my job, even if in reality I am dreading going back to it. I am grateful for wonderful puppies who bring me tremendous joy. I am grateful for the blessing of being able to take a vacation with my husband and daughter. I am grateful for toothless smiles and even monster meltdowns. I am grateful that my dog is alive, even if she is handicapped. I am grateful for my home and the material things inside of it. I am grateful for the rain even if it causing my aforementioned puppies great stress at the current moment. I am grateful for the love of many and especially for the love of one amazingly perfect, blue-eyed angel. I am grateful for the ability to know that things might just get better in time. I am grateful for the knowledge that everything will work itself out in the way it is supposed to, even if I'm not good at allowing that to happen sometimes. I am grateful for a superb daycare who I pray will take excellent care of my daughter while I am away. I am grateful that she will become socialized and friendly. I am grateful for a dream pediatrician. I am even grateful for the purple spit up which literally just made it's way down my arm. I am grateful for hugs and kisses. I am grateful for each of our nieces and nephews. I am grateful for doggy doors which are currently keeping my panicked dog inside the house out of the rain. I am grateful for my husband's job, even if he works a lot. I am grateful for our cars. I am grateful for our clothes. I am grateful for our food. I am grateful for the sun. I am grateful for Mylicon, Gripe Water and Prevacid. I am grateful for wonderful parents. You know this list could go on for a while...but how often do I really sit down and make a list of everything I am grateful for. Not enough. Because more than anything, I am grateful that the Lord has blessed me beyond measure and certainly way more than I could ever deserve. I am blessed and for that I am grateful.
And now, looking back on that entry, I realize how true each of those things was. How everything did work out. How Sophie is social and loves other kids. How that aforementioned purple spit up is no longer a part of our lives. How those medicines are no longer necessary, with the exception of an occasional dose of Mylicon. How amazingly blessed I was then and am now.
There is no way to ever list everything that we are grateful for ~ not if you really sit down and think about it. Cause you see, I could add a hundred other things to that list...I am grateful for a wonderful church, for wonderful nursery workers who love our child, for a wonderful family, who while spread out these days, is always there when you need them, for chickens which make my kid laugh (see above), for lunches with best friends, for the cold front, for our fireplace, for the just purchased fireplace screen, for child proofing products (even if they are annoying), for jokes and laughter, for tears, for store sales which saved us money on Christmas presents, for the ability to afford Christmas presents, for a husband who got down Christmas lights out of the attic while I had lunch with Jaime, for dogs who love you even if they are attention deprived, for soldiers and their families ~ many of whom were separated on Thanksgiving just so we could be free to be with ours, for the chance to catch up with some special friends in three weeks and counting...see what I mean. It could go on and on and on. And that's what is amazing about it! We are blessed ~ amazingly blessed!
I'm sure you are sick of my ramblings now, so now that I've bored you, I'll give you what you have been waiting for...that's assuming you didn't just skip all that anyway :)
Sophie & Mawmaw Richardson
Sophie showing off her Tutu!
Playing with Grandma :)
Photo Shoot Time! BTW, pine cones are VERY interesting :)
Sophie with her Great-Grandparents (Left)
Sophie, Me and Papa John (Right)
Kevin and Alicia (+ Baby Kaden)
Uncle Robert and Aunt Pat (Left)
Kaelyn + Crutches :( (Right)
Kristin, Kaelyn and Scott
Thanksgiving evening at Mimi's! Almost game time :)
Playing with Aunt Amy, Uncle Kelton, Ashton, Kylie (not shown) and Mimi
Friday at Nana and Pawpaw's
Sarah, Sophie and Emma
Playing with Sarah, Nana and Grandma (Left)
Loving playing with Sarah (Right)
For the record, yes, that was a narrowed down version of the Thanksgiving pictures! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!
