Just some thoughts...

So... I've been thinking about stuff.  Good stuff.  And tonight I am just simply grateful.  I am grateful for every moment that has meant something to me because it has been grand in some small way.  I am grateful to have lived so much life, and to have loved so many.  I am grateful to have worked so hard at making the most of every minute.

When I was younger I would often sit on some ridiculously uncomfortable branch in the mulberry tree out in our front yard and try to imagine my future.  For some reason it always ended up with me, in a park, on a beautiful sunny day, with the man of my dreams picking me up and spinning me around in circles.  I guess I thought that that's what life should really be like, and in most ways, I guess it is... a lot of lifting, a lot of spinning, and a lot of laughter.

A couple of months ago a friend of mine sent me an e-mail.  She told me to believe in miracles and pray for details.  So I did... we all did, my whole crew.  We talked about what we wanted for our little family, and what we needed, and sent it all up to heaven.

Shortly after we were shopping at Safeway at the end of a really exhausting day.  Mike went in to pick up some milk and ran into a couple that he knew from way back when.  I sat in the car with the kids wondering what I should put my hopes in.  Well, Mike didn't come back to the car, which sent us scanning the parking lot, and there he was, right behind us, talking to this couple.  Of course, once the kids spotted him they started yelling for him to stop talking and get in the car (it had been a long day).  Mike came in beaming.  He told me about them.  The husband was a school teacher, the wife stayed at home to raise their four little kids, they owned their own home, he picked up small jobs and extra-curricular's on the side to make ends meet, and they were debating which luxury to spend their tax return on; student loans or a family vacation.  They were exactly like us, and perfectly happy... and we swear that God put them in our path that day to give us a jolt of hope.

And then there was that day, when I was on my knees, and I knew that God loved me enough to work miracles for me and my family.

I have the privilege every day to work alongside Mike to make life happen for our amazing kids.  I have the privilege every hour to find some reason to laugh because life is just that too-darn-good.  I have the privilege every minute to see God's hand in my life, and to witness His miracles in the lives of my kids.  I have the privilege to be grateful, in those hardest moments when tears are a relief, and in those best moments when there isn't a better word than "Wahoo!"

So, today, 

whatever comes.... 

it matters more than anything :)