Count Your Blessings

Reflecting over the entire year of 2012, God has blessed my family in so many ways (as he always does). Though the year also brought some hard, unexpected trials, He's brought us through, once again, to another year. As I sat in my La-z-boy this morning, with my cup of Christmas blend Starbucks coffee, I pondered the past year, counted my blessings, and wanted to share a few of my 2012 highlights with you . . .


*We joined a wonderful church that has helped us learn and grow in so many ways.
*Our oldest son got baptized.
*The boys tested their engineering skills and completed creative projects with their school's Lego
   League teams.

Our youngest son is
helping feed the
chickens.

*The kids made the honor roll with every report card!
*My husband completed motorcycle safety classes through Harley 
  Davidson and now has his motorcycle license.
*We bought our first set of chicks for Easter and watched them grow
   into beautiful Rhode Island Red hens. We're loving those farm fresh eggs!
*Our middle son had an overnight field trip to the Indianapolis Zoo which I
  volunteered to chaperon. We got to go behind the scenes and experience
  things a general admission ticket doesn't allow.
*My husband took the oldest boys to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for
  carburation day.
*Baseball season held a game or practice almost every night. The boys gave it
 their all, and we enjoy every minute of it while it lasts.
*The boys worked hard to completed their 4-H projects. Our oldest son won a  
  Reserve Grand Champion ribbon for his poster in Forestry.

Most of these got sliced, frozen, and
are still waiting for me in my
freezer!

*Despite the drought, we enjoyed delicious peaches from our peach trees!

*Since the boys got such good grades on their report cards, we let them choose where we vacationed. They chose LegoLand Florida which was great since I have family there I always love to visit.




*I turned 30! (which turned out to not be as horrible as I'd imagined it in my head)
*My husband won hot passes to the Brickyard 400 through his work. He and I spent the day in the blistering sun watching the race from the pits. Awesome!



The Lord allowed my jump back into writing to reach unexpected (to me not to Him) heights as well.
*My short story "The Value of a Penny" was published in the I Choose You romantic anthology by
  OakTara. My dream of becoming a published author came true!
*My entry to ACFW's First Impressions Contest is a finalist in the contemporary romance category!
  (The winner will be announced by January 22, 2013) I'm still reeling from shock with this one.



Sometimes after a long year--especially a taxing one--it's hard to count our blessings. We just want to jump into the next year with high hopes that it will be far better. But let's not forget to thank God for his blessings, even amongst the trials that come our way.

What events from 2012 are you thankful for?