Blessed

I know that Mary, the dear mother of our Lord, is "most blessed among women" but I just want to share that I feel amazingly blessed myself! With David deployed, it has opened a lot of doors for people to step in and bless us. And they have walked through and blessed us tremendously over and over again! There's so much I want to say, but I have no clue where to begin! Let me just say that the Lord has used so many of you to "fill in" spaces in my life left vacant where David would usually fill them with his spontanaeity, his time, his labor and love in fixing things broken and maintaining the yard.
You know, I have realized, in my desire for perfection, that life is never going to be perfect. Cars will always break down. Children will always disobey (and try to get out of going to bed). Somedays you're really tired. Often, the to do list is left incompleted. But, you know, all that stuff is just life. And, God asks us to love Him and rejoice in the day He has given us, even with all the imperfections of it. You know why? Because He made it and it is perfect because God is perfect! We are blessed just to be alive and living in His love each Day! I am so thankful, so thankful! And, I will myself to remember this at 6am tomorrow when I am subjected to all the imperfection all over again--that He is perfect and I am blessed because I am loved by Him and part of His Day that He made! (Psalm 118:24)

The GAP

Yes, The GAP. Has anybody shopped at The GAP in recent years? I normally do my shopping at quite a bit thriftier locales, but I did make a purchase there this evening. Now, 15 years ago, I used to shop at the GAPs in Atlanta much more often. I loved when I could hit a sale and buy their regularly priced $30 jeans for $20. (Unfortunately, their jeans are twice the regular price now!) However, though prices have changed dramatically, some things have stayed the same. Namely, the bag. I walked out of the store with the same bag I walked out with 15 years ago! Exactly the same bag. I asked if those navy plastic bags that say "GAP" in big white letters with the fabric drawstrings had just "come back". They didn't really understand what I was attempting to ask. I wondered because I haven't seen a bag like that in years and years. Back then, everybody who was anybody at school recycled their GAP bag into their gym bag, because carrying a bag like that from the GAP showed you were cool. Wow. Why bring it up? Because seeing that navy GAP bag on my bed again tonight brought all those memories of bygone days rushing back. Kinda funny.