Counting my Blessings

I was reading this talk in preparation for a Sunday School lesson (we teach the 16-18 year olds at church) and felt inspired to start counting my blessings and recording them. Here. Hopefully each day. So that I and my family can look back and see a record of the hand of God in our lives. These records may get a little personal, leaving me feeling a little exposed, which I guess in reality could be a good thing.

The twins slept in until 5 today. They've been getting up throughout the night because they're teething  and I was becoming really exhausted. An exhausted me=a cranky me. Josh willingly got up with them when they cried earlier in the night and told me to wake him ( he doesn't hear them crying, lucky man!) and he would get up with them so I could sleep, but they ended up sleeping until 5, I made them bottles and they went back down until 720 so I didn't need to wake him. That was such a blessing to me. I really needed some solid sleep. 

This is kind of a random blessing but I have a brand new twin nursing pillow. I had put it on Craigslist to sell but no one replied. A couple days ago a new friend with twins invited me to the local moms of multiples Facebook group and I put the pillow on there and found someone who wanted to purchase it right away and that money can go to this phonics/sight word program I really wanted to get for Michael. Small and simple, but it was a big help because I was having trouble justifying the purchase. 

Yesterday josh got an email from work saying they were going to be changing the minimum amount that he has to put in his pension again. They did this before and it was raised quite a bit, almost double and more than 10% of his monthly pay was going to pension, which is great in a way because hey, we will get that later but it also put a little bit more financial strain on us. So getting this email was a bit concerning, especially because there haven't been as many off duty jobs available lately, so pay has been a little less. We automatically jump to being frustrated. I say maybe they are lowering it?  Josh says, yeah, when pigs fly.  I ask who is in charge of these decisions because I'm going to go all mama bear and give them a piece of my mind. Josh says he's not sure but he's going to look into it. Not even 10 minutes later he gets more information and apparently pigs are flying because they are lowering it.  I know Heavenly Father is looking out for us and knows our needs. We may not always get everything we want but he will never leave us with nothing. 

Josh decided to bear his testimony to me today. It sounds a little corny when I write it down, but it was exactly what I needed.  I can see in his actions that he loves our Lord and Savior but it is such a blessing to hear him say it out loud too.

Josh and I were also talking about our kids today, our worries, fears, and hopes.  I usually get emotional and want to stop the conversation because I can't imagine my little boys getting older and having to deal with "hard" things.  This time Josh told me that he had an experience one night praying about the boys and their future trials and he felt that Heavenly Father was answering him with "don't worry, they will be even stronger than we are." It was such a comfort to realize and believe that our children will be strong and to remember that I will need to have faith in them.

The twins go to anybody who will look at them and in church that is SUCH a blessing. They roam and get held by multiple people.  I love how easy going they are in that way.  I am also SO grateful for all of the people in church who help with them or are understanding that they do roam.  I don't usually feel judged and that is such a relief.