Counting Blessings Sunday!

I thought for this counting of blessings Sunday I would show thanks for the things that often drive me crazy, but are really blessings.

1) I am thankful that I finally figured out how to load the photo above.  Trust me, for a non-techie person like me, that really drove me a bit crazy.  However, I am glad I finally learned how to do it.  I don't know why it is so incredibly fuzzy, however!

2) I have said it before, but I am really thankful for my home.  It is old and needs a great deal of love, money and sweat put into it, but it serves our needs, has a great backyard, is solid as a rock, and is within walking distance of several amenities.  It also is filled with yester-year charm.  (The picture above is of my husband and son putting some new porch roofing on after a bad wind storm blew the old away.)

3) I am thankful for my children's bountiful energy.  Although sometimes I wish they would just be still and quiet, their energy level reflects that they are healthy and fully love life.

4)  I am thankful for my Tom Sawyer's (5) stubborn personality.  That boy can drive me crazy with his very stubborn ways but I know he would not be alive right now if he had not been born so stubborn.  The things he had to live through in the first few weeks would take your breath away, and doctor after doctor has been amazed that he made it.  God made him the way he needed to be for his path in life.

5) I am very thankful for the mental health team that we have for Goldilocks.  Sometimes I get completely fed up with every one's opinions on how to raise her and heal her heart, but I know they mean well.  It would be so much harder to walk this road without supportive and caring people around me.

6) I am thankful for the weed-infested garden.  Even though we have been plagued with drought and it demands attention that I often do not feel I can provide, it is beginning to yield food.  The veggies taste so good, too.

7) I am thankful for my own learning challenges, because it helps me be more understanding as a teacher to my children who are learning challenged.  Also, I am all the more grateful for those of my children who do not struggle in their learning rather than taking it for granted.