Reflections

With the new year upon us, I have been thinking back through the last year.  My intention was to review the blessings I received over the year, and also to see where I struggled.  To review my failures.  Not so as to dwell on them, or have regrets, but to learn and grow from them.  To see where God was during the struggles, and how He used that struggle for His glory.

Now, you don't know me very well if you think I'm going to lay my soul bare here on my blog and tell you about all my failures, ahem, struggles throughout this year.  I will tell you, in all honesty, that I'm still a work in progress!  God ain't done with me yet.  (I remember having a poster on my wall as a young child that said something along those lines:  "Be patient with me.  God isn't finished with me yet."  Crazy thing?  I could still have that poster on my wall and it would be true!) 

This scripture, from The Message, seems to sum it up well for me:

"I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back."  Philippians 3:12-14

And if I'm honest, my blessings FAR outweighed my failures.
So how about if I show you some of the blessings we experienced this year?
Yeah, I thought you'd like that one!

I'd be remiss if I didn't start with two of our biggest blessings.

And no, the blessings aren't the kids.  They are, in no particular order:

1.  Both kids smiling AND looking at the camera.

2.  Hugging instead of hitting/arguing/whining.

I'm kidding.  I'm kidding.  I'm kidding.  Of course the blessings are the kids.  I think.

Okay, so here's one of my failures:  I let the inside of my husband's car mold while he was on deployment.

And the blessing?  It wasn't MY car, but his!  "Muuahahaha!" (I have a nasty bugger of a mold allergy.)

Roses from MotorMan.  He never sends flowers.  Never.  Ever.

Well, there was that one time he brought home some grocery flowers when I was sick as a dog on the couch and asked for them.  Guess I can't say never.  Or ever.

TheBoy got his first tattoos. 

We welcomed MotorMan home from Iraq.  For the second time.

If you don't believe in God, or don't believe in blessings from Him, you need to up and catch you a military man.  There is no quicker way to find you need to rely on God and His strength to get you through this life than when you're married to the military.

"And that's all I have to say about that."  (Name that movie.)

I played with fondant for the first time.  And lived to blog about it.

 

Spent a really great week with the family camping and fishing and listening to it rain on our pop up camper.  A lot of rain.  Like, days of rain.

We also found out on that trip that there IS such a thing as too much close family time.  Especially in a pop up camper.  On a rainy camping trip.

We planted our first garden.

And watched it grow.

 

We had celebrations...

And marked new milestones.

 

We enjoyed the crazy beautiful world we are blessed to live in.

 We also enjoyed our Constitutional Rights.  What a blessing those things are, huh?

We loved on family.  Or, more precisely, they loved on us.

Let me take a moment from our regularly scheduled blessings list to direct your attention to the following information:  WE HAVE AN AWESOME FAMILY.  Seriously people, they're awesome.  And not just one of 'em.  But all of 'em.  MotorMan and I have been blessed with not one, but two sets of awesome parents EACH and we love 'em.

That's all.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

 

 Oh, Bacon!  What a blessing bacon is.

Dear God:  Thank you, thank you, thank you for bacon.  It rocks!  And so do you!  Amen.

MotorMan can see a light at then end of the Blazer restoration tunnel.  Hallelujah! The end-of-the-tunnel-light looks remarkably like headlights, but that might just be the angle he's standing at.  From the angle I'm standing at, I can see what a blessing this man is!  And handsome.  And sarcastic.  And smart.  And generous.  And sarcastic.  And funny.  Oh, and I love that he's never sarcastic with me.  Oops, did I just insinuate something here?

I read a lot of new blogs.  I fell in love with a lot of new blogs.  Especially this one.  I love her whit, her charm, her sarcasm.  And photos.  And cookbook. 

And because of her, I've started a new relationship with butter.  And my treadmill.

And now, my summation.

(Insert drumroll here)

In order to encompass the best blessings of our year, I believe I have to go back to where I started this post.

You see, my kids are one (two?) of the biggest blessings in my life.  Right up there with MotorMan.  But, my kids.  Ah, my kids.  Not only are they funny, loving, frustrating, smart, sweet, and generous, but they teach me everyday how to be more and more like Jesus.  Their kind and loving hearts are the things that I cherish the most about each of them.  And, you want to know a secret?  Jesus has used these two little blessings more than once to speak to me.  Apparently I don't always listen to His still, small voice.  **GASP, SPUTTER, SPUTTER!**  So, He uses their never still bodies and not so small voices to get whatever He is trying to tell me into my head.  And for that I am grateful.  And blessed.

Happy New Year, dear ones.  Know that this new year is set to be an adventure.  One that God has already ordained, and one that He is living with us.  What amazing blessings await us all?

Let it begin, let it begin, let it begin!  (Name that movie!!)