Friday, July 24, 2009

Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings Name them one by one
Count your blessings See what God has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your many blessings See what God has done! Do you know that song?? It is a children's song, but it speaks volumes to all of us! Yesterday was a mix of blessings. The above picture is my patio table. While I was out yesterday, a storm blew through and, using the umbrella, picked up my patio table like Mary Poppins, and tossed it over the deck rail and into the yard. The glass top shattered into millions of pieces. Those bigger pieces would fall apart into little 1/4 inch square chunks of glass when you picked them up. How is that a blessing??? Well, no one was hurt and Zachary helped me put it into perspective. While I was cleaning up the glass, he said, "This is the worst thing that could happen to us, huh, Mom." The frustration of loosing our wonderful patio table lifted. It was the furthest from the worst thing as you could get. I smiled at my son and told him, "Oh goodness, no, Zach. We can do just fine without a patio table. We are all happy and healthy and even though this is not the best thing that could happen to us, it is, by far, not the worst." My mind was focused in prayer as I picked up those pieces of glass. Prayer for my 2 uncles who both went through major surgeries that day. One for the removal of 1/2 his lung and some lymph nodes in his brand new fight against lung cancer, and another who underwent 8.5 hours of surgery that day to remove an aneurysm from his groin and to repair blood vessels in his leg. No, it was not the worst thing. It in fact had it's blessings.


My other blessings from yesterday....New fat quarters for baskets. I forgot green!! How could I forget green?? Oh well, I still have a few choices here, so this will get me through for a while. I also picked up a spool of YLI hand quilting thread. I use Guttermann, but have heard YLI is just as wonderful....and it is.


Another blessing was spending the morning with my mom. She is the most generous person and blessed me with 3 bottles of my favorite soap. It is a foaming soap you can only get at Bath and Body Works. We LOVE it, though it is a tad costly. She got me 3 new "flavors" and I have found my all time favorite.....Coconut Lime Verbena!!! It smells WONDERFUL. I am going to add the lotion and body spray to my collection!


The day before, I was blessed with my quilting frame. The only draw back was I had no where to put my little bowl of hand quilting supplies. My generous mom told me, "Go downstairs in the furnace room and you will find a little table that will be perfect." I did....and it is!!!I was blessed to be able to spend a little time at my frame yesterday too!Still practicing that thumb quilting!


My biggest blessing was a phone call I got at 9 am...I was at my mom's house when my cell phone rang. It was my grandson. No greeting, just..."Grandma, it is sunny outside and it is Fursday that means I can come over and play today." His voice was full of excitement and I just knew he was flapping his hands on the other end. He does that when he is thrilled beyond words. I had told him on Tuesday if it was sunny on Thursday he could come and play. I told him to have his Daddy drop him off at 2:30 and he did!!!TJ can hop on one foot across the entire room now! He played "Magnetics" with the kids, and watched Penguins of Madagascar with me while I finished the hand quilting on DeNiece's runner...another blessing!I took him home just in time to be blessed by my Granddaughter, who was going to bed soon. She was full of smiles and love for her Grandma.


Sweetheart came home from a day at his mom's and it was a blessing that he was not upset about the table....he loves that table. He took the news quite well.
I was also blessed with this scene last night.....My children have been arguing more than not lately, and to see them doing something like this warmed my heart. My older boys never argued. Of course one was overprotective of the other and was always compassionate, and the other looked at his brother like he was a hero. Different case scenario. Still it was a blessing to see my daughter give-in to reading the book her brother picked even though she did NOT want to read that one. I let her know her choice was admirable.


I know there are many more blessings I did not count out here. How many blessings can you count up today?




Today, my mom and I are taking Zachary out to lunch and shopping for his birthday...which is tomorrow. He will be 8 years old. After that we will pick up Charlotte and my niece Casey and take them to see G-Force in 3-D. I chose a white broom skirt and a short sleeve green T, along with white sandals which are soooo comfortable!
Now go count your blessings!


11 comments:

Valencia Jones-Edwards said...

That fabric is simple beautiful!!! With all those colors you dont need green..lol You look lovely in your skirt. I love how you look so comfortable. Who says dresses can't be comfortable...Thanks for linking up and being an encouragement to many ladies for Christ word to be made flesh.

julieQ said...

Absolutely, I am thankful too no one was hurt, because it surely could have gone the other way. You are a wonderful grandmother! And looks like you had some quilting time at your frame, which is a blessing too!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post Bren...
It encouraged me today!
Gratitude is so important!!
You are such an encouragement and inspiration to me...
Wishing you truckloads of joy today ♥

Crispy said...

What a lovely post Bren, I thoroughly enjoyed it. How sweet the youngsters looked, all snuggled up reading.

Crispy

~JoAnn~ said...

Bren~ You and your family are truly blessed. Love th fabric and the little stand to hold your hand quilting things. Your feminine dress looks so much more feminine than mine :) Love your skirt, it's similar to the ones I have in the black, blue and coral. I am just wearing my plain old jean skrit today!! Hope you have a very nice weekend.
Blessings,Joann

blushing rose said...

So grateful no one or any ting was injured/damaged in the storm. Love the table ... fabric is so pretty, Bren.

I think my Mother used to be thrilled when school started as by that time we 5 were always getting on each others nerves. Cute pics of the kid-lings. TTFN ~ Marydon

Winona said...

Bren, sorry you lost your patio table, but love your reaction to it. We all need to realize how blessed we are daily. What pretty fabrics. I love your quilting frame. Mine is just a simple 2 pole that my dh threw together for me several years ago. I wonder if you can still get the hardware to make a frame like yours. Glad you got some good grandma time in. Love the picture of Charlotte and Zachary. That is a keeper. I have a little table kind of like the one you got from your mom. I also use it to hold my quilting supplies when working on my frame. Have a good day. Winona

Marilyn Robertson said...

I like YLI quilting thread too. I think it just might be my favorite brand. I'm glad you are enjoying your frame. Keep practicing that thumb quilting!

Love Bears All Things said...

I have a white skirt similar to that one. Before we finished moving, I kept asking Honey Bear to bring it to me from the other house. He finally said, "You do not own a white skirt. If I could have, I would have brought all of your clothes to you so you could see." Well, when I went to Memphis the next time, I called him into the closet and showed it to him. He said that he thought it was a slip. Ha.
I love your quilting frame. I have looked at those. I wondered if it would be comfortable working at it. Did your hubby build it? I know men used to build frames. I remember one similar to that one that sat on saw horses and could be moved if one needed the space.
I know how difficult it was to get those pieces of glass up. We had our storm door break like that.
Mama Bear

Unknown said...

You can always buy a new patio table but health you cannot buy.

Karen said...

I love your little table! I have one like it with a round top and use it by my favourite chair to hold my applique and hand quilting baskets.