{counting blessings}

I've decided that counting my blessings can be some of the best medicine. There will always be people worse off then you, as my mom always would tell me growing up. How true it is! There is always reason to be grateful, to be positive, and to be happy.

I'm grateful for such a great extended family, the Garlicks and Dyers, parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, and for such a great husband and our little immediate family we have started.  

I'm grateful for all the support we have received from our friends, family, and from complete strangers. I'm grateful to know that people in this world are good at the core. 

I'm grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To know we believe in truths that just aren't good ideas, but that are real. And to know that wherever in this world life takes us, the church will always be the same, and we will always be home.

I'm grateful for good music. The LDS Hymns of Worship radio station on Pandora is the best.

I'm grateful for our little girl, Elaine Raquel, and for all that she is teaching us. There isn't a day that goes by---or any in the future I am sure---that I don't think about her button nose and perfect lips and full head of hair. I'm grateful I have something amazing to look forward to after Christ comes to earth again; I get to raise her and get to know her!

I'm grateful for having had such a smooth labor and delivery. Yes, it still hurt {pressure is still pain no matter what they say}, but boy do I love being in labor and pushing out a baby. Seriously! A few months before I delivered our little girl, my friend told me she loved labor and delivery. I thought she was crazy!! But now I can honestly say I love it {if I went the non-epidural route I guess my opinion may be  a bit different}. It's exhilarating and amazing and such a miracle. I loved feeling our little girl make her way down through my body and pushing her out. If I could be in labor and deliver a baby every day of my life I would do it.

I'm grateful to know that if I were asked the question, "would I go through it all over again if I had known the outcome," I would say yes. I would go through those 8 months all over again with all the uncomfortable symptoms of pregnancy to bring our girl into this world, even though she didn't stay with us for long. And I would go through it all again in a second.

How can I not smile when thinking about all that?!

When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? County your many blessings; ev'ry doubt will fly, And you will be singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold, Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold. Count your many blessings; money cannot buy Your reward in heaven nor your home on high.

So amid the conflict, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged; God is over all. Count your many blessings; angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.