Every Little Blessing

After only being in this area for a little more than a year, both my husband and I feel like we have been very blessed in friendships and communities here. This past year has been difficult just being new to the region and spending more time with doctors and at hospitals than playing in playgroups many months, but we have been blessed by the face that God placed a few really, really good people in our lives who have made it feel like we have been friends forever. When we are with them, we don't feel so homesick and we are able to enjoy life as it is now.

On top of that we have such a strong faith community across the country of people who we have been blessed in sharing our lives with.

That being said, there was a family on Oprah yesterday when they were talking about miracle children. They had a son who lived for 99 days because he was born with Trisomy 18 and had many problems at birth. I saw a video the dad had made on YouTube a few months ago and was excited to see the interview with the parents. They had such a beautiful attitude toward his life and then his death. They documented every day they had with him. His mom said,

"I would tell Matt a lot: 'I'll be sad later. I'm going to enjoy every second now.' So even though his diagnosis never changed, we just decided we were going to enjoy every second that we had."

How wonderful would it be if we all had that attitude? If we could truly find the joys of being in the moments whether it means enjoying what little time you have left with a loved one or enjoying a situation that takes you somewhere you never expected to be (like Pennsylvania:).

In my life and I'm sure in many others, a lot of those unexpected turns and struggles help us appreciate life more and make our lives fuller. We spend so much time looking at the future, that we often forget to live in the present.

As much as we wish we could move closer to family, we are blessed beyond belief by where God has brought us. When we focus on the present, we still miss our hometown but we enjoy where God has put us this day and that He has given us this day to serve Him.