I am halfway through this experiment of counting blessings - or at least trying to acknowledge more blessings in my life - and the constant is always family. If nothing else, I am constantly reminded how blessed I am to have such an incredible family around me who love me despite my many faults, who don’t mind spending time with me, who love God and are seeking to grow in their faith. I have no idea why God has chosen to bless me in such an amazing way, but I am so grateful that he did. I can’t imagine three people being any more important to me than Sandy, Colby and Calli and I can’ imagine there ever being any others that I would want to spend so much time with. I am so proud of them and so blessed to be the husband and father of this family. If that were not enough, God has given me even more blessings, beyond them! I am a very blessed man!
491. Having trustworthy friends to housesit and dogsit (who actually like Beka) while we are on vacation - thank you Alex and Kimberly!
492. Random, odd family conversations in the car while on vacation that would make others wonder about our intelligence and sanity
493. Nights in the tent trailer
494. A birthday with my family in a National Park (Mt Lassen)
495. An unexpectedly beautiful place to camp - Burney Falls
496. Beautifully clear days to see Mt. Lassen, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite
497. Walking amongst multi-million dollar homes and being able to admire their beauty without being jealous
498. The joy and anticipation of our nephew and niece, Tyler and Grecia, as they look forward to their first child
499. Spending time with a longtime friend and a new friend, and the ease of conversation and time spent that leaves us looking forward to the next time together - thanks for a wonderfully comfortable evening Connie and Larry!
500. A ride in a beautifully restored 1930 Model A
501. Watching my kids having fun with their cousins and aunt and uncle
502. An 18 hour car ride home - I would only do that with my family - and Calli’s enthusiastic efforts to keep me awake for the last three hours.
503. Having four drivers for the 18 hour trip home
504. The enthusiastic, midnight, welcome home from our dog, Beka, after our two week vacation
505. Beans and squash from the garden - Sandy would include the cucumbers, but I don’t
506. Water - good, clean, abundant water at the turn of a knob
507. Having so many people around me with good common sense
508. Spending a day with Calli working on a project, and her believing that I actually know what I am doing!
509. Learning lessons in the midst of frustrations, attack, and discouragement - one of them being that God doesn’t take away the sources of those things just because I learned a lesson - He still wants me to learn to deal with it, to endure and persevere, to learn to have more grace, more mercy, more humility and more patience.
510. Having a place of refuge in my home and with my family, from the chaotic messes that seem to be swirling around me in other places in my life.
511. A time for my own personal prayer walk for my school
512. Compliments from students during the first three days of school and finding some semblance of sanity in starting to build relationships with my new students
513. A place at work to call my own, after giving up my classroom
514. Reading passages in the Bible that I have read hundreds of times before, but having them impact me as though it were the first time
515. Calli, still, showing us pictures of Victor
516. Colby translating our letters to the children we sponsor, into Spanish (with some help from Grecia!)
517. Hearing frequent references to Ninos de Mexico from Colby and Calli - their love for the children there and their desire to go back
518. Calli’s renewed interest in learning Spanish because of her trip to Ninos de Mexico and wanting to communicate better when she goes back - and she wants to go back...
519. Hearing Calli talk about wanting to do an internship at Ninos de Mexico
520. Hearing words of wisdom from Colby while teaching at youth group and seeing that there are deep thoughts, emotion and faith under all those goofy things that he does!
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