counting our blessings

I had a great confession last night with the priest at our new parish, and I was reminded of something critical: the need to keep our blessings at the forefront of my mind.  I personally have to make a very intentional effort to remind myself of how blessed I am in the midst of heavy crosses.  So I'm listing a few for my own sake.

• Drake and I have a ridiculously strong marriage - I'd be completely lost without him.  Being married to the person with whom I converse most easily and honestly, the person who understands me to my core, and the one who desires the holiness of our family above all else is a complete gift from God.
• We've been blessed with two beautiful children - Thomas fills our lives with joy, and we cannot contain the excitement we feel over meeting our daughter in a few short weeks.
• We have a nice place to live, a solid parish, and live near other family support.
• We have food on the table, clothes on our back (and in our closet!), and have been blessed by the generosity of family and friends.
• We have access to medical care and have been abundantly blessed by the competence and kindness of our new OB office in particular.
• We got a great deal on a van and live near the train station, both of which allow our family to get to the places we need to be.
• Drake feels a great deal of peace about his academic program; we both feel tremendous peace about taking this next step for our family.

Father Tom also gave me an effective visual last night in the confessional.  He talked to me about the story of Peter's attempt to walk on water to go meet his Lord.  Peter was thrilled to see Jesus and began to make his way to Him...but then he got lost in his own mind and convinced himself that it didn't make sense for him (Peter) to be walking on water...that's when he began to drown.  When Peter fixed his gaze, his attention, his complete focus on Jesus, that was when walking on water was possible.

Receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation last night reaffirmed my conviction that God desires to sanctify our family through the joys and crosses of this new journey, one big transition that is filled with smaller transitions.  Holy Family, pray for us!

PS. I apologize for the recent lag time in my blogging, though I'm confident that you've found other ways to spend your time :)