Counting My Blessings

How many times do we just count our blessings? I mean every single one we can think of; not often enough I am sure. This is going to be like a live blog. I am going to write all the blessings that pop into my head and I pray that through this you and I both will see how much we take for granted. So here goes:

1. I woke up this morning!
2. I climbed or rolled out of bed without any assistance from anyone else!
3. I had a bed to roll out of!
4. I went to the bathroom and had running water!
5. I had clean towels and clean clothes, due to the fact that I have a washer and dryer and I had detergent and SOFTENER!
6. I took a nice hot bath and had soap and shampoo and conditioner!
7. I had hot water because my water bill and power bill are paid because God blessed my husband with work in which to pay them!
8. While enjoying my hot bath I actually began to talk to the Creator of the Universe. WOW!
I begin to thank Him for some things and that's when He put it on my heart to "blog" this today.
9. With that same electricity I was able to blow dry my hair, straighten my hair, and see to put on my make-up. AIN'T GOD GOOD!
10. I then got dressed walked into my living room and sat down in a nice comfortable recliner that the Lord let me buy for my husband last father's day.
11. I leaned back threw an afghan over me, grabbed my Bible, grabbed my glasses, and then began to do my Daily Bible Reading. What a Blessing!!!
12. After my Bible reading, I cooked some breakfast for me and my husband.
13. Yes, my husband is a blessing. He loves God, he loves me, and he loves his family! What a blessing.
14. We are so blessed with food, that my husband and I are on the Adkins diet to try and lose some of that blessing.(ha!ha!)
15. My husband came in from doing one job and left in his "Suburban" to do another job.
Did you catch the double blessing? More than one job (he's a contractor) and a vehicle to drive there.
16. I left in my Mother's car since mine is blown up. Ah Ha, so you say. How is that a blessing... Your car is blown up. My Mom has loaned me her car. That is a blessing!

This all happened before 9:00 AM and there are probably, no I am sure there are things that I missed.

Oh yeah
17. My daughter called me and told me that she is praying about ...... I can't tell you what, but the point is MY DAUGHTER IS PRAYING!!! That was the biggest blessing today. If you only knew where we were with her just a little over a year ago, you would be shouting now too.

18. How could I overlook the computer? Everybody has a computer; it is a necessity in today's world. Isn't it? I don't think so, it is just another blessing that God has blessed me with, and I want to always use it for His honor and His glory.

I think now is a good time to tell you about the color coding. It's all about HIM and that is in red. Red, because it is because of the shedding of His precious blood that all things are possible. It is because of the blood that I am here today, that I have Hope, and that I have the strength to face everyday regardless of what a day brings!

I have just realized what time it is and that I could take this entire day and not even be able to cover the blessings of God! I am going to take a break to prepare my lesson for tonight. I teach 3 & 4 year olds at Kings Kids. Woops, there it is again...another blessing.

The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to tell children every week that Jesus loves them. That's not all...two of them are my Grandchildren. How much better can it get?

Stay tuned, I will try and finish my list in a little while, but for now, just think about the blessings in your life. I dare you to try and number them. There are so many in-between the ones I listed that I dare say it would be impossible to list the goodness of GOD!

God bless you and I pray you have a wonderful day. If you are reading this and you do not know the God that I am bragging about please leave a comment. I would be more than honored to introduce you to Him.

MeMe Again

May 7, 2008 at 2:51 pm John-Philip was added to our family. Yes, of course he is beautiful. He was 3 weeks early and weighed in at 6lbs 14ozs and 18 3/4 inches long.

My daughter Kacey is a mom now! She ended up having to have a c-section. Never a dull moment during this pregnancy. She had some scary moments that we thought she was going to have a big seizure, (she has epilepsy)but there were a lot of prayers going up and she made it through. She does have an infection but is doing better. John-Philip is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. His respirations are irregular and fast. He has a small chance of having meningitis due to how long Kacey's water was broken before delivery.

She named the baby after her brother, so his first name is John-Philip. It was a happy day and also one of those missing Philip days. We were all here, Rhonda, Malachi and Madison, and we believe Philip got to peek down at his name sake.

I know this a rather dull blog considering I just became a MeMe again, but I've had just a few hours sleep since Tuesday morning. I will try to make the next one a little more interesting.
Lora

Peeking down from Heaven!

Wednesday night after church Jimmy and I were working on Kacey's nursery after church. John-Philip is due anytime and we were trying to get things ready. Well it was almost midnight and Dad and Poppa had rolled up the tools and retired to the living room and Kacey and I were still "playing". One of her cousins had given her the white wooden letters to spell out John-Philip so I took them all out and set them above the window to see how they would look. They fit perfectly and were the finishing touch to the nursery as for as we were concerned. As we stood there looking at the letters JOHN PHILIP, we both began to tear up. I looked at my daughter and said, "you think?" Yeah, she said, I definitely think so. (you'll get this later) I hugged her and told her I loved her and we called it a night.

I remember thinking not long after Philip went to heaven, wonder if God would let him look down every now and then? The twins were in the back yard playing and I was thinking how much they are growing and learning. They do new things all the time. Some things they do are so funny and so special and just like their daddy. So I wondered if just maybe God said, "come over here son let me show you something." Just a theory.

Several times on several occasions I just can help but think that God does let Philip look. When I first said it to Rhonda (my daughter-in-law) we both stood there and cried, analyzed it for a moment then we agreed, I bet He does. I say it to my daughter a lot and we just agree on it. His dad and I say it to each other all the time. So that is our little thing now. We just look at each other and look toward heaven. Sometimes we laugh and say "you think he saw that?" Sometimes we cry and just look at each other and say "I HOPE he saw that." Sometimes there are no words we just know. It's funny because it is a Mom, Dad, Sister and Wife thing, we don't have to explain it we just all share that bond and that hope together.

It is so amazing how much someone is a part of you. You don't realize it until they are gone. You think you do, but not really. It is the little everyday things. The private and special things. There is just so much to miss when someone you love so deeply is not there anymore.

I remember Jimmy ragged Philip mercilessly about putting hair spray or gel in his hair. "You big sissy" he would say. Well Jimmy was getting ready for church one morning and had a new hair cut and he picked up my hair spray and sprayed his hair. I whipped around in my stool in front of the mirror and we both just burst out laughing and immediately tears were in our eyes at the same time. "Philip". Jimmy said you know he's having a good laugh right now. Since that time it was a stepping stone to help me convince him to lighten up and add a little gel to his naturally curly hair which works wonders. He finally admitted, "maybe I was a little hard on him."

There are so many funny things that happen that we just know he has to see or we know he would have loved to see.

Back to my theory.


I love the line from the the movie "Facing the Giants" where he says: "God is so big that He can do Whatever He wants to, Whenever He wants to, and However He wants to." When people think things are impossible or at the very least improbable I throw those lines at them.

I have always been kind of hard on people that seem so gullible, they just believe whatever they choose and are not realist. Well now I guess they could say that about me, but you know what that's o'kay too. To all you other grieving parents and loved ones I say this: If it's God were talking about...All things are possible with Him!!! As long as it is not contrary to the Word of God, I'm safe. So that is my justification for looking to the heavens quite often and saying "did ya see that Son?" Hey the Bible says if we're Christians we are supposed to be peculiar, huh?

Someone said that God probably wouldn't let anyone look down from heaven because it would make them too sad. I understand what they are saying and they may be right. Then again I think that once you're in heaven it will be all joy. The only time there will be tears in heaven is at the judgment seat. So, who knows? I'm sure there are some theologians out there that could probably come up with a pretty good answer, but I'm equally sure that there are probably not any theologians reading my blog. (Ha! Ha!) You know what else? Call me crazy but if believing God does let them peek, helps with the pain, and helps the emptiness more bearable, then...Crazy I am!

REMEMBER...We will make it through this "journey of grief"...
only by the Grace of God