Thankful....

Tonight I am thankful. I am thankful for this life I have been given. I am thankful for my husband, for my kids, for my family, for my friends and for McDonalds! As I sit here and think about all my blessings, my heart is just overflowing. I am so thankful for the great gifts and for those minor tragedies that turned into the greatest lessons of my life. I was recently reminded of how Nalani's arrival rocked our world and how my life changed from that moment forward. I was telling someone that life was so easy up to that point. EVERYTHING went my way...truly! I had no reason to "need" anyone or anything outside of my perfect little world. I had grown up in a great family, spread my wings and taken off...traveled practically around the world, fell in love with an amazing man, had a perfect pregnancy and delivery, obtained a college degree and had support everywhere I turned. I guess I just thought that was the way life went. Then Nalani arrived! I know it was not a tragic event, really, but I felt it was. All the precautions I took....thinking about every single thing I put in my body, making sure I did all the things a good mom did while pregnant, just flushed down the drain! How could I have a baby with a defect? I had done everything right. I was in CONTROL of my life! HA! An obvious lesson I needed to learn. I am NOT in control of this life and thank goodness for that! Who would have ever thought that what felt like a full year of battles and struggles and SURGERIES would turn out to be a little bleep on the radar in the whole realm of things. I rarely even think about Lani's eye issues anymore. But I do see how I am a completely different BEING because of her and that year. I recently finished up "Sacred Parenting" and really connected with the author's perspective on how raising children shapes our souls. My soul is forever changed and I am FOREVER thankful for that! Gary Thomas says "After all is said and done, faith is not the power to get whatever we want; it is the spirit to accept whatever God gives." I am thinking you all realize how hard that is for me! Here I thought I WANTED the power, but really I NEEDED to find the spirit to accept what was given to me. I am a million times over thankful for this wacky little girl that God gave me. She has tested me and forced me to grow in ways that I didn't know existed. She and Brigg have shaped me and continue to shape me in new ways. I have the stongest desire to be a better person because of them and the influence I have and will continue to have on them. Ok, enough rambling. Just want to end with one last quote from Gary Thomas (can you tell I loved this book?) "Both men and women can rise to the demands and have their souls shaped accordingly. If we embrace these great and small tests with our spiritual eyes opened, we may even come to cherish the sacrafice required of us, so rewarding do we find the spiritual blessings that follow".