I'm Counting!

Many years ago my mother was given a gift of a little glass trinket dish with a moma hen and four little chicks, a symbol, I suppose, of my single mom and her four children. A caption was also painted on the little dish with the following words, "Count your blessings!" I have felt like that moma hen many times in my 25 years of motherhood and have counted my blessing many times as well. Nowadays, I struggle as we gather at the table to figure out exactly how many chicks I have and how many will be at the table. I have 7 children with one married and I have one little one still at the breast and not at the table so we generally have to set the table for seven people, except when married daughter comes home for a visit. And then I have to do the math again and add three more unless we also have grandparents visiting which means two more than that! Which gets to be more math than I can handle! All I know is...I need a bigger dining room!

But, back to counting.

1. I have an almost 5 week grandson stretched across my lap as I type this.
2. My 6 month old baby boy is asleep in his bed.
3. My 4 year old son, 9 year old daughter, 12 year old son and my 21 month old grandson are running in and out of the house playing.
4. My 16 year old son is at work...across the street from his dad's office and we actually got a good algebra lesson done and lots of other school work done before he left for work.
5. My 20 year old daughter is safely in Memphis and will be safely back home again this evening, Lord willing.
6. My 25 year old (next week) daughter is visiting with her two sons...she was here last week as well...I am thankful she likes to come home and can...and I am thankful for her nifty new van.
7. I am thankful my husband has not one, not two, but three jobs that keep him busy and provide him with an income to support our growing brood.
8. The laundry for the day is done. I washed 6 or 7 loads, but only put two in the dryer. The rest were/are drying on the clothesline or indoors on hangars.
9. Dinner is thawing on the countertop.
10. In the midst of all of our busyness of this day, WE ACTUALLY GOT OUR SCHOOL WORK DONE.

Are you counting your blessings today? Try it. All your cares will somehow disappear!