I use the word "blessed" a lot!
And it is a word I hear others use a lot!
Although I use the word a lot, it is not a word I use ligthly!
For me, the world "blessed" has so MUCH meaning!!!
When I say use the word blessed I am not at all saying that my life is perfect, it is anything but that! And I'm not at all saying that I don't have things I struggle with, I struggle with lots! What I am saying is that in the middle of the terribly sad, in the middle of the terribly difficult, in the middle of the times when I fail terribly, in the middle of the times of feeling completely overwhelmed on lots of levels ... I feel blessed in a way that is difficult to put into words!
I am blessed because I am loved! I am blessed because I have clean water! I am blessed because I am employed, as is my spouse! I am blessed because I get to be the forever mom to each one of our precious jewels! Yet there is much tragedy in the makeup of my family! God provided hope in the middle of seemingly very hopeless situations!
I get the JOY of an endless amount of tender cuddles, of sweet kisses, and laugh out loud squeals from all of jewels, one of which is our precious Kody ...
Yet, our Kody was not born in a sterile and safe hospital room ...
he was born on the mud floor in a little hut in Western Africa!
Yet, our Kody was not cleaned with sterile water and then wrapped in warmed up blankets ...
instead for the first few weeks of his life, he lay on the floor of a mud hut for!
Yet, our Kody is not being raised by the woman who carried him for nine months and then gave birth to him, a woman who I believe would have adored him just as much as I do ... she did not live past the fourth day of his life!
This same woman carried my son to the day she gave him life, carrying water or other items, on her head ... to make a living for her family! She would walk miles and miles with weight that I cannot even begin to imagine on her head ... all the while carrying my son! Every day she walked, she fought for her family ... she literally fought to provide for them!
She didn't provide three meals a day with two snack in between ... she provided at most one very simple meal! She didn't provide a fancy school education with thirty plus dollars worth of school supplies ... she taught her children the best she was able, herself! She didn't buy them a plasma TV, a wii, or any other fancy gadget or toy ... she barely had enough money just for food! She didn't buy her kids the latest shoes or clothes ... that didn't even cross her mind!
I could go on and on but I hope you realize that to deepest core of my being, I don't mean it lightly when I say I am blessed! I have SEEN where Kody was born! I have seen MUCH, not only in Ghana, but in several other countries including our own! I have seen how LITTLE others have, and how MUCH I have!!! I have SEEN how they have to work ALL day ... literally ... to earn a living ... and then to simply have clean water = to live!
For a few weeks my son Kody was an ORPHAN!
He did not have a family to call his own!
He had no hope for a future!
In the country where he was born, orphans are on the bottom of the bottom of importance! Although in honestly, I don't think it is much different in our country!
Although my thoughts feel random, they are all part of why I feel BLESSED!
I am a BLESSED woman living in the United States in a beautiful HOUSE!
I am a BLESSED mom!
I am a BLESSED wife!
I am a BLESSED sister!
I am a BLESSED friend!
I am a BLESSED daughter!
I am a BLESSED school counselor!
I am a BLESSED believer who is free to worship!
I am a BLESSED daughter of the Creator of the Universe, who loves me with a passion that surpasses even that of my sweet Matteus who told me today that even when he is a grown up, he is still going to live with me!
So when you see me around town with my FIIIIIIIIVE children please don't feel sorry for me! Please don't tell me that I have my hands full! Please don't feel anything but JOY for me! If only you could see how much FUN I have in one day! And if only you could see the amount of hugs and kisses I get in one day! And if only you could hear the same sweet stories I hear from our jewels that are usually very long in length! And if only you could hear the way they call me, "mom!" No I'm not talking to anyone I know nor anyone in particular! I just go through stages where I want to yell at people ...
"I am BLESSED!"
"You are BLESSED!"
So out of my reality of what I have seen and how I believe to understand God's word on His heart for orphans I AM THE MOM TO FIVE AMAZING JEWELS!!! No things are not perfect! No things are not always easy! But I AM THE MOM TO FIVE AMAZING JEWELS! My kids are not burdens! They do not take away from my life ... they bless it!
My life is nothing like I planned ... it is so much better!
I am blessed beyond my wildest dreams!
(P.S. I took that picture last weekend after church =))
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