Counting My Blessings

We have been so very blessed. Loving this new baby and caring for his sweet spirit has just surrounded us with joy. Do you ever feel so strong about something, so passionate, that you can’t find words that adequately describe the depth of the feelings and emotions? That is totally how I feel about our new little man, Jackson. It has been so long since we were blessed with a baby in our home, that this is such a treat and a pleasure. Even though we are totally sleep deprived and basically walking zombies, it only takes a second with our son in our arms to alter that stupor into a warm melting of the heart and a smile.

We received a baby gift yesterday from this wonderful lady who sits behind us in church, Ms. Shirley. We used to sit behind her, but as our family and visitors and friends that continued to join us on “our” bench or pew grew, we moved forward to the second row, where it was totally empty. Why is it that no one ever wants to sit at the front of the church? I digress, she lost her husband, Mr. Godfrey, last year and he was such a kind and gentle man, we enjoyed greeting him every Sunday. Anyway, this generous gift (of blue clothes with footballs all over them… awesome… and more), caused me to reflect on just how much love Jackson brings to our family, our extended family, and our world. Having traveled to the depths of emotional Hell in losing Jacque, I think I am more appreciative of the joyous events and reasons for a smile. I found myself teary-eyed (again), thanking God for such a miracle of life to fill our hearts with more love than we could’ve ever imagined. I am thankful for our family and friends, but also our church family that continues to surround us and support us and lift us up. We are blessed.


Jake continues to excel at school and we are so proud of his decisions. Have I said what an amazing young man he has become? His heart is huge, he is loving, smart, supportive, and just a joy to be around... I can't sing his praises enough (typical mom stuff, I am sure). I just love it when he is home for the weekends. His friends join him at our house and fill our house with the laughter and good times indicative of young adulthood. He has always chosen such great friends and people to surround him. Each one of his close friends has brought fun, laughter, support, and amazing sensitivity to our lives. We just love having more and more in our home… it adds to the fun; something else that blesses my life. Especially Jake’s (using the following term loosely, so as not to cause concern with the youngsters as I haven’t heard they are “official” or “exclusive”) girlfriend, Hannah; she is such a source of joy for us. Not only is she this totally amazing young woman with a completely loving and awesome family, but she seems to really enjoy being around our crazy family, too. We love her family, her mom and dad are some of the sweetest, kindest people and her younger brother is simply smart, cool, and funny. Hannah is gorgeous, and her resume boasts that she plays the clarinet, was the head drum major her senior year in high school, she has been accepted to multiple colleges including the prestigious SMU (Southern Methodist University), but accepted the scholarship to LSU, she will be auditioning for the Tiger marching band there. She has awesome goals set for herself, loves her family, her grandma is her hero, and she has a passion for mission work. Hello? What is there NOT to love? She is so amazing and we are so blessed to have her around, she has even taken to “seeing” Jackson when Jake is away at school: little bit of brotherly rivalry on Jake’s part, but I think he is getting used to people falling all over Jackson… laughing. Even though she is a little on the older side for Jackson, we approve! So, we now refer to Hannah as Jackson’s girlfriend and it is great to have her come over and play with our little guy on the occasional evening, it really helps me get time for the house and other stuff I am supposed to do with my days, while someone keeps Jackson awake and entertained, fostering a healthier sleep pattern by being totally worn out.

I must be emotional today… the song Count Your Blessings (name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God hath done) is going through my head this morning. And it would seem I am doing an awesome job at starting to count all those blessings, hope not to bore you with them! There are so many more and I just couldn’t blog them all. But, this was a good start and I just have to say that I feel such pride and love in our family. For Jeff, for Jake, and for Jackson: I am blessed in the love of my men.