July 17, 2017

Thankful for Blessings

July 17, 2017

The last few weeks, we have been busy with a variety of chores and activities.  It would be easy for me to think about all the work I needed to do to clean my house.  Instead I was excited to do it to prepare for a visit from our youngest son, his wife, and their 5 month old son.

Ron spent time working in the yard.  We had been out of town so much during the Spring, that he had not had much time to take care of things in the yard and garage.  As he would work on things that had to be trimmed back, I would think about how thankful I was for the rains that had come recently and that the drought that had plagued us for a while, was not currently a problem. 

Just the last few days have been packed with activities.  When our youngest son and his wife arrived they said they might just stay until Wednesday or Thursday.  Then they decided to stay until early Friday morning.  We were delighted with the extra time with them.  Our son and his family really enjoyed the back yard while they were visiting.  Our son showed his young son the birds in the yard.  When others in the family enjoy the birds as I do, I am blessed.

Our son in McAllen was having trouble with one of their cars and we offered to let them use my mom's car which had been sitting in the garage too long.  I had planned to get it out and use it just so it could be run for a few days and it worked out better for him to use it.  We agreed to meet Thursday evening about 1/2 way between our place and theirs to deliver the car to him.

We met at a pizza place where we had met a few months ago.  We had a great evening with good visiting and good food.  Friday we were up very early to see our youngest son and his family off as they were headed to visit his wife's grandmother and aunt on their way home.  We played with the very happy baby while they loaded the car and I got the baby to sleep just before they left.   Thankfully they were a long way down the road before the baby woke up.  He was exhausted.

Friday night we had supper with friends and Saturday morning we went to McAllen so Ron could help our son there with some projects around their house.  It was so good to have additional time with them.  It turned out that the three youngest children were to be baptized at church the next morning.  It was too late for Ron to get a substitute for his class, so I drove up there for the baptisms Sunday morning, and after church we went out to lunch and then back to their house so the two children who would be spending a few days with us could pack.

These last few days were overflowing with activities, but they were also overflowing with joy as we rejoiced for the three young grandchildren who had invited Jesus into their hearts and have made Jesus the Lord of their lives.  That does not mean they will instantly be perfect, but it means they will look to God's Word, the Bible, as a guide in their lives.  Just before church started, the 11 year old girl went to do something and I picked up her note pad.  She had notes from the Sunday School lesson and drawings illustrating the lesson.  Her notes were excellent - sentences of truth about God and his blessings.

We are so surrounded by blessings we just sometimes overlook them, or maybe take them for granted, but I am hoping to focus on the good and not the bad.  I seem to be having a little more trouble with my sound processor some days, but I met a man Saturday and we had a rather long discussion and after about 20 minutes I told him about my deafness and the Cochlear Implant.  He was astounded and said he never would have guessed I had any hearing problem.  Discussions one-on-one are when the system works the best.  My talk with him was nice and I did not spend all the time asking him to repeat things.

Life is not without problems and challenges.  My mother went to North Carolina for a granddaughter's wedding near the end of April.  Then she and one of my sisters traveled in that area for an additional week.  She went home with my sister to Idaho.  While there she had trouble with her back and then one additional problem after another.  She is still in Idaho instead of being here in Brownsville as planned.  Thankfully, my sister works in the small hospital in her little town so she knows all the medical people and has been getting Mom the help she needs.  Again, that is a blessing in the midst of Mom's problems.

I hope you are enjoying blessings in your life.  Sometimes we allow the hard things to overshadow the good, but if you aren't already looking for the blessings, please give it a try.