Blessed Beyond . . .

BOY, HAS THIS BEEN A WEEK!!! 

I just received an email from my 4 year olds school.  It seems his classmate, Chloe, passed away.  Chloe had been daignosed about a year and a half ago with a brain tumor.  She and Jake were about the same age.  When I saw her in December at a birthday party she was much smaller than the rest of the kids.  She didn't have the drive to play, and didn't speak much.

I cannot go into detail all her parents felt, witnessed, experienced or the nights they didn't sleep thinking about and praying for their child.  I don't know those details.  All I know is Chloe was a sweet little girl whose life was cut way too short and her family is doing the best they can to survive.

Just last Sunday my husband and I were getting ready for bed.  He turned to me out of the blue and said "we are so blessed."  He is not your normal sappy guy, in fact I cannot tell you the last time he used the word blessed.  I asked him what he meant by that.  He said "I cannot image what my life would be like without those boys."  Despite any hardship we may have encountered to get them here or since they arrived, we are blessed.

I used to think blessed was an over used word.  My religious friends would end their emails with "Blessings."  My friends on facebook who would tell stories of wonderful vacations, new purchases or how Susie Q was brilliant 99% of the time they commented on how blessed they were.  When I would read their declarations of blessed, I always felt it was too religious too churchy for me.

I NOW get it, it is a state of mind.  

There are people who expereince major hardships like tornados tearing their homes from the ground but they are still alive - blessed.  Or the fella who walked away from a car wreck with only a few cuts and scrapes - blessed.   Having a job in this economy -  blessed.  Having your family around the dinner table on Sunday nights - blessed.

                

I have every intention to overuse blessed.  I won't use it is a boastful way, but rather in an appreciative manner.

I have a husband who loves me.  We have two healthy, smart boys.  We have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food on the table.  We have 3 grandparents, 1 Aunt and 1 Great-Grandmother all within 10 miles.  The whole family travels together and spends every holiday with each other.  We talk on the telephone daily and see each other many times a week.  Yup . . .

How blessed are you?


Happy Pinning!