Day 1

On July 7, 2012 I was about to face the toughest thing I’ve ever had to face.  I was lying in a hospital bed in a dark labor and delivery room.  Around 4 am I woke up.  Contractions had officially started and they were not fun, especially since I knew that I was contracting so I could deliver a lifeless child.

On July 3rd our family went in to get our routine 20 week ultrasound and instead of finding out if we were going to have a son or daughter we found out our baby’s spirit had left.  No heart beat.  The delivery was scheduled for four days later.

So there we were.  God had already began the healing process during those days waiting to deliver, but waking up that morning knowing what was about to happen was hard.  But I decided instead of lying there mad at the devil that I would turn on my iPhone and sing and worship my Savior.  So that’s what we did.  My husband Josh was right there with me.  The song that I will never forget singing that night is what inspired this blog.

Bless the lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship his holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I worship your holy name

The sun comes up
Its a new day dawning
Its time to sing your song again
What ever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

You’re rich in love and you’re slow to anger
Your name is great and your heart is kind
For all your goodness I will keep on singing
10,000 reasons for my heart to find

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Soon my soul will sing your praise un-ending
10,000 years and there forever more

We raised our hands and sang this out through tears that morning and a few hours later the delivery was over and we were home.  I remember saying to Josh later that night, we have so much to be thankful for… I bet if we sat down there would be 10,000 things our hearts could find to be thankful for.

So what is this blog about?  The other day I was making dinner and the thought came to me.  I wonder how many things you would have to be thankful for every day for a year to get to 10,000.  So I asked Siri to do the math and I was surprised.  27!  That’s it.  (Technically, 28 for 145 days and 27 for the rest)  So I decided that night as I was chopping up an onion that every night before I fell asleep I would take time to write down 27 things that I am thankful for and at the end of the year my heart will have found 10,000 reasons.

I don’t read blogs.  I’ve never written a blog.  I don’t even know if blogs are cool anymore, but after I came up with the idea I just felt like I should make it a blog.  Hopefully it inspires people to be more thankful.  Psalm 103:2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

So here it goes..  my first list!  A lot of these are the broad strokes.  The things that will shape most of my lists to come over the next year.

1. Jesus – how can He not top the first of my first list.
2. Josh – my husband of 9 years and my best friend for the last 12.
3. Gus – my first born!  the coolest 4 year old on the planet.
4. Beau – my beautiful 16 month old daughter.
5. Felix – my precious son who I will meet in heaven.  only in our lives for 20 weeks and made such a huge impact.
6. My mom – Loves God and loves people.  One of the most generous people I know.
7. My dad – One of my favorite people to talk to because he’s a good listener.
8. My brothers and sisters – I have 6! And I love each one of them and loved growing up with them.
9. My mother in law – I am one of the few people that doesn’t just love their mother in law, but likes her too.
10. My father in law – I am so blessed to be his son’s wife.  Josh is such a wonderful husband and father and so much of it is because of his dad.
11. My sister in law and her family -They love God, love each other and love us.
12. My church – Gateway Frisco!
13. My job – So thankful I get to work from home for an awesome ministry: Ken Blount Ministries
14. My husbands job – Getting paid to teach children God’s word every week..  how awesome is that!?
15. My Bible – It’s like opening a present from God every morning.
16. That Gus puts on cologne after his bath.  Love tucking in that sweet smelling boy.
17. For the 30 minutes, literally 30 minutes that Gus talked passionately about God’s word with me today on the way home from the mall.
18. For the cloud Gus saw today that he said looked like the Death Star from Star Wars and was convinced God made it that way just for him
19. That Josh will be home from his staff retreat tomorrow!!  I miss him!
20. For my blue letter bible app.  Revolutionized my bible study time.
21. Air conditioning
22. That my washer and dryer are not the in the garage
23. For the much needed rain shower today
24. For the indoor play place the kids had so much fun playing at
25. For the song “I’m Not Afraid Anymore” by Leeland
26. That Josh gives the kids their baths every night.
27. For this promise- Jeremiah 50:9 Our arrows (our kids) shall be like those an expert warrior; none shall return in vain.