Birthday Surprise

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." Psalm 27:3

Friday was my Birthday. I'm beyond remembering how old I am-to do so would require math and I'm just not motivated to do math over the holidays. If you really want to know how old I am you can do the math. I was born in 196#! hee, hee.

Usually for my Birthday we go out to dinner somewhere as a family. This year we are all sick and I asked for a raincheck as the food just wouldn't be as enjoyable if none of us could taste it.

Instead if a meal, I did receive a wonderful surprise. This is how it all came about:
Kate decided she wanted to surprise me with something special. She hatched a plan and then got her brothers in on it. I got up relatively early and went to Curves. When I came home, one of the workman in our basement (we are having a ceiling put in) informed me that Danny had asked him to warn him when I came home. 'That can't be good' I thought-completely forgetting in that moment that it was my birthday. So I came upstairs and a giggling Danny came rushing over to me. "Mom! You have to close your eyes and come with me." He grabbed my hand and dragged me into Rick's office. When I opened my eyes I saw Ty and a brown box. "You have to open it Mom." Sort of suspecting now what was going on I said "I'm afraid something's going to jump out at me. Will you open it for me after I get my camera?" Danny agreed. So he opened the box and Kate popped up smiling and excited that her plan had been a success! "What a precious gift! " I told them. Then they excitedly showed me all of the decorations they drew all over the box, including a colored bow on the top. As they went through their play by play of what they did to pull this off, it suddenly dawned on me that Kate had been waiting, inside that box for 15 minutes or so, while the boys decorated it! I thought she looked a little flushed and felt a little warm when she first came out. Fortunately they had thought to poke air holes in the box-I didn't ask if they had done those before or after they had taped the box shut on her! Perhaps I should change her name to Houdini.

I must say though, that my children are precious gifts! Much finer than any jewels, clothes, even a dinner out or anything else that could have been wrapped up in a box that day! Thank you Lord, for my dear children. And Thank you for their tender hearts that wanted to do something special for me on my Birthday!

Crsytal world

A few people have asked about pictures from the ice storm. I'll just post this for now. I'll add more soon, along with a longer post.

Pilgrims ate Pizza?

Kate had a Thanksgiving feast at school Wednesday morning and came home as a pilgrim. She wanted to keep her hat on all day, including dinner time. Is it possible that the pilgrims ate pizza?
Also on Wednesday, we had a cleaning party to get ready for our Thanksgiving feast. I just want to commend my dear children for how they served their family on this day with joy. Their helpfulness with the cleaning made it possible for me to be getting some of the food prepped ahead of time. I love how they continued to come to me and ask what else they could help me with. When all was said and done, we were able to relax and get cozy in the family room to watch a video together.
What fun our Thanksgiving day was. To have our home filled with family and friends is always the reward for the long hours of preparation. Even the clean up was a joy as I had a chance to visit with our friends the Putnam's as I was cleaning dishes. New to the crowd this year were people from my side of the family. My Aunt Claire and 2 of my cousins, Andrew and Meridith. It has been many years since I have had Thanksgiving with them. It was kind of fun having some who actually understood my humor. Our kids so enjoyed having their cousins here to play with. Having Matthew and Garrett here only added to their fun! Uncle John, of course came with his boxes filled with dollar store fun for the kids, and lots of chocolate! Though Kate is alone in a sea of boys, she found a good friend in Aunt Lori who helped her with her new Webkinz animals. What a pleasant day it was-I am so thankful for these holiday memories. Especially since this year I didn't have to feed the Robesonia fire department-though we had enough food to if they had shown up!

I just wanted to share this moment from this morning. I had been out and came home only to hear the kids fighting with each other in the playroom. Something was yelled about "you only think of yourself" (And who were they thinking about in that statement?) By God's grace I was able to keep calm and walk in to the room to seek to restore peace. I spoke to each of them about putting the interest of others before themselves. Kate was having a bit of a hard time letting go of bitterness. As I was seeking to lead her back to a place of joy, the boys spontaneously broke in to song, singing "Arise, Arise, arise, arise my soul arise" This from the 2 who get so upset at their sister for always singing! But what an effect it had! A moment later I was able to leave the room with Danny helping Kate to find Lego pieces to help her build what she was working on and peace had been restored. My feeble attempts to fix the situation were powerless, but God's word, and His Spirit moved in a powerful way in that moment and changed their hearts! Praise be to Him who is so faithful and patient with His children.

Same Tree, Different Day

The snow started 11/18 and continued into 11/19. Much to my boys disappointment, it wasn't enough to close the schools, but it sure was pretty! I love the pristine beauty of the first snow, and what a fun contrast to have the fall colored leaves in the stark white snow! So here is my tree (AGAIN) bending with the weight of the snow and wet leaves.
No, the rose didn't miraculously grow on the tree, though I'm sure God could do that if he wanted to. I saw the rose just outside our front door while I was waiting with the boys to catch the bus. It is what inspired me to get my camera and go out with wet hair and take a few pictures before taking Kate to preschool. I don't set a very good example for my kids do I, going out with wet hair. Mom don't yell. I was only out for a few minutes. Really! And only the ends froze!

After the rain

I love the Autumn. I love the first crisp days when I can put on a sweater. It always seems so refreshing to me. I have been enjoying the beautiful colors this year.
Today I walked into our playroom and I couldn't help but see a blazing tree framed by the window. The rain had stopped so I decided not to miss this opportunity. I grabbed my camera and my macro lens and went out. I was out for about 20 minutes and took 40+ pictures of just this tree. Okay, you could say I'm a little extreme when it comes to taking photographs. I often feel compelled to take pictures in the Fall and Spring and often I can look back to the last year and find almost the same picture. So why do I do it? Well, I just don't know. I would guess that it is the desire that God has created in all of us to worship Him. He spoke and these trees came into existence. And isn't it kind of Him to show us just a taste of His majesty in the brilliance and variety of the colors displayed each year? This morning I read, as part of my reading plan, Psalms 148-150. Here is part of Psalm 148

9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
10 Beasts and all livestock,
creeping things and flying birds!

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
12 Young men and maidens together,
old men and children!

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty is above earth and heaven.



And Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!


So here are a few pictures from our tree. Perhaps you too will be inspired to Praise the Lord!

Recent Events

So this may seem like a strange "first" post-especially on a site called "recounting Our Blessings", but though Kate has been sick for the last 3 days, there are many blessings to count. First, I got lots of opportunities to snuggle with my little bean, and many opportunities to bless her with little things like her favorite jell-o or doing a puzzle together. A second is that the boys have desired to care for her in her time of need by checking on her frequently and just generally being gentle with her. It is always a treasure to see the love the kids have for each other in these moments-this kind of tenderness doesn't often show itself during light saber duals! We have seen God answer prayer by lowering Kate's fever and by helping her to be brave as the Dr. did a strep test. Saturday night Kate's fever was up to 104! Always a bit scary. So she and I prayed that God would help her fever come down. A few hours later, the boys came rushing down stairs very concerned and told me that Kate was crying. I went up to check on her and she was drenched in sweat-her fever was gone! "Kate," I said, "Your fever is gone! See how kind God was to answer our prayer?" She smiled and laughed and said "Wow, it's really gone? God did answer my prayer!" And with that she fell back to sleep.

I often find it hard to see God's blessings, God's goodness when faced with trials, or sickness-my own and especially my children's. How easily I lose sight of the bigger picture-God's promise that He works ALL things for good (Romans 8:28). It has been a fresh reminder of my/our dependence on God for all things, that I am weak but He is strong and able to do all things. It is just my weakness in seeing God's goodness in all things that I chose to title my blog "Recounting Our Blessings". My prayer is that I will continue to grow in the ability to do just that-recount my blessings and see more and more how good God is to me.

The first part of Psalm 103 was also an inspiration for the name. I was going to just copy the first couple of verses, but the whole Psalm is just too good to leave out!

103:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame; [1]
he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

First time bloggin'

Okay, so this is a test of my ability to do this. Everything in the future balances on the outcome of this actually making it on to my site.
Ready. Get set. Here goes......