Blessings

You might not be able to tell by reading my blog, but honestly, we have been having a hard time. There have been times I just didn't want to post anything because I didn't feel like I could find something nice to report. It has been a struggle. Many days, I have a hard time remembering why we are here. We have been stretched and tried until we feel like we are breaking and we don't have anything left to give. I'm telling you this now so that you will understand why this post is important. It has been hard for me to see the tapestry that God is weaving here. Right now, I'm looking at the back and it looks like a big mass of knots. I can't see the beautiful picture on the other side.

It popped into my head this morning that I should make a list of ten good things about being here to post on the blog. In my depressed state, I thought, wonder how long that would take? I couldn't think of much to put on the list.

Tonight I chatted with my sister and as we talked, I realized that He is blessing us everyday and that I do have so many things that I can count as blessings. It was a good wakeup call for me to focus in the good and not let a negative, bitter attitude spring up in me.

So here goes. Ten blessings...

1. My children now appreciate having a clean bed


2. A good friend came over tonight with a tortilla press and a plastic tub for bathing the little kids in. Very nice!


3. We now have warm showers! What a blessing! The kids are excited about not having to use the so-cold-it-takes-your-breath-away-water. Because they can stay in it longer now, they come out clean! Clean is a wonderful thing!


4. The refrigerator in our apartment works. We had the repairman come yesterday. Hopefully, now it will keep things cold AND not make a big puddle of water on the floor.


5. We can get ripe mangos at the fruitstand for about 50 cents a piece. They are SO yummy.


6. The kids are picking up more Spanish everyday. I hear them explaining things to each other and sometimes they can actually get thier point across to one of the workers who only speak Spanish.


7. My husband is so talented! Among other things, he was able to build a nice headboard for our bed so I don't have to worry about creepy crawlies coming down the wall onto my pillow at night.


8. We moved into our "apartment" this past week. The first morning, the older kids said they felt at home here and they had slept very well. It is so nice to have our own space.


9. I am getting better at washing our clothes by hand, the Hoduran way. At some point, I will probably hire someone to help with this chore. It's a major undertaking to keep clothes clean here and with six of us, the laundry piles mount up quickly. At first, I was super slow and things weren't very clean when I was finished. But, I'm learning and getting better and better at it.


10. We have not had any major infestation of ants, scorpians, or other "insectos" in our apartment since we moved in. Thank you, Lord!