February Blessings

A warm winter: we have been outside so much and even took a trip to the nearby Eagle Watch.

There we ran into friends who let the boys use their binoculars to get a better glimpse of the eagles.

A bald eagle perched up in the top of the trees on the left side.

(It's like playing "eye spy")

A Gift Found at 11:30am

After the initial panic that he had knocked himself out on something, I was delighted to see him curling up with his kittens and puppies in the sun.

(Yes, it is February!)

Cheese.

My own Cheddar Cheese made by my own two hands!

Gifts found outside:

Heavy frost that looked like snow.

11 deer jumping a fence to cross the road.

White tails flashing in the morning sun.

A Gift Red:

Precious Jewel all dolled up for her Daddy/Daughter Dance.

A Gift Found Behind A Door:

The first (and so far only) winter snow!!

No school!!!

A Gift in Finding Something:

A trashed entry-way. Yes, this was a gift if I chose to see it that way.

I had helped the 4 boys make a tent in the living room and they proceeded to launch off the couch and through the roof. Hmmmmm.......

I have chairs, I have sheets, I have boy. It all equals adventure and fun (most days).

A Ugly-Beautiful Gift (see beauty in ugly):

A slimy gooey baby goat freshly born.

They get cute within about 15 minutes.

A Gift that was a surprise:

A day so warm I could wear my sandals outside!

(Again it is still February!)

A Gift that was Plan "B":

A trip to Branson, MO for our 10th Anniversary.

It's not where we had talked of going, but it was a wonderful day.

What were your blessings this past month?

The First 93

One Gift in Your Fridge

(more like in a basket, but you get the drift) : )

(someone had given us 4 dozen farm fresh eggs)

A sweet friend of mine asked how this year's New Year's Resolution was going.
Remember I said that I would join the Ann Voskamp Challenge and write down 1000 Gifts (things to be thankful for)?
She gives you 3 things you can look for each day. You can write down whatever you want, but it has been like treasure hunting each day to match the things she has listed to be thankful for.
I finished the month of January missing only a handful of days. I simply went back and did my best to remember the things that stood out those days.
January gave me a list of 93 things I can look back on and say that God is Good if I choose to do the hard act of Looking and Seeing.

Inside on a Plate:

(This was hands down the best chocolate cake I had EVER eaten and it was made by my sweet sister in law for my birthday surprise. It's a good thing my New Year's Resolution wasn't about weight loss or health because this thing would have not been a good start. Layers of double chocolate cake with caramel layered icing and then double chocolate frosting says "I LOVE YOU!!!")

A Gift You are Seeing

(my sweet nieces came and stayed a weekend with us. It was the first time ever since they've moved back from China. Anna was on the front porch loving on all the half-grown puppies).

One Way you Witnessed Happiness Today
(Good Lookin' losing his first tooth)

A Gift that made you Quiet

(my mentor for my mom's group gave this beautiful little tree to us mom's with a Scripture attached.

It had been a difficult week and I'd not wanted to count gifts. I cried. Took a Picture and wrote it down as one of my gifts for that day)

A Gift Inside

(Watching this rambunctious little hooligan running around with my birthday balloons all wrapped up in his legs).

A Gift Outside

(bare trees against a winter sky, family, a hike to the creek on a warm winter day)

A Gift Beside Me

(Children all cuddled together with us during a family movie night. One had fallen asleep and was already tucked into bed)

So, there are a few of the gifts I've sighted and counted this past month.

I think that by writing them down they are like stones piled together until they are so numerous that we can't help but see that God is right there wading through some of the muck of life with us. He is daily giving us gifts. Some simple. Some big. We must simply make a habit of looking.