Blessings

We have company coming to visit us today and tomorrow. I am very excited about everyone's arrival! But before their arrival, there has been a GREAT deal of cleaning and tidying going on in this house. It has been a very busy few days (not that there are ever any really non-busy days!). Last night it was finally all clean, the kids were in bed, Chris was at the grocery store...and I had the chance to just walk around the clean house for a last inspection. What I realized, is that my house is covered up in absolutely beautiful pictures of our children. Most of those pictures taken by me! It was neat to walk through the house and really see them. I guess I take them for granted. And even though I took them, and framed them, and put them there, I think that at some point they just fade into the background of familiar home and cease to really be seen...by us. Last night...when all the worries of cleaning and whatnot were gone...and it was just me in my clean house, I was just really amazed as I walked through at what I saw and how it made me feel. I then realized that not everyone has this. There are absolutely gorgeous pictures of my kids on every wall that there can be (almost!). One day, sooner than I realize, my kids are going to be gone and this house will be clean and quiet...always. I LOVE knowing that when that happens, I will still have their precious little faces looking back at me. I love looking into those big blue eyes and seeing those crooked new little teeth coming in and their wild cowlicks...captured and preserved forever right there on my walls. I am so blown away that God would bestow this talent of photography on me. I was sure I was supposed to be a country music singer! I am so thankful that I can look and see my little blessings and their faces all around me, all the time. I realized (through my charity work) that some parents cannot physically get their child to a studio and may never have a wall full of pictures of their children...maybe not even one picture. Some can't afford to feed their children, let alone have their pictures made. I am not taking my blessings for granted any more. I am seeing my children, and their pictures in a new light today. Our family is so richly blessed that it transcends any possibility of me being able to figure it out. Blessings, blessings, blessings. Thank you God for opening my eyes so that I can really see and really appreciate the blessings that you have given in my life. Help me to be aware and recognize them daily and NOT take them for granted. And thank you for loving me enough to grant them in the first place. Thank you for giving me a talent that I can use and share, and that helps me put my blessings right in front of my face...forever.