Blessed:

Blessed beyond measure to have the life I have. It may not look like much to the outside-- we are dirt poor and living in the attic of a Mason Lodge... We are not beautiful. We are not "successful". We don't have glamor or fame or acclaim.

But we have so very very much...


We have incredible families. Many many siblings of deep creativity and intelligence and devotion. Parents who not only set an incredible example for us in our childhoods, but who also give incredible support and love to us as we learn how to be parents ourselves.

We have incredible friends. Joe, with his age-old network of beloved friends he's know longer than he can remember... and me with my girls. My Utah girls (even if you aren't even in Utah anymore!), my ELW girls... my "email girls"... My local girls... my 10th grade geometry girl... INCREDIBLE. The most incredible pillow of love and support and concern and safe havens. I THRIVE in these relationships.

I am blessed with the yearning to make pretty things... whether it be photographs (my current incarnation), or writings or crafties or paintings... whether it be with glue or clay or fabric... I have a deep well of creative resources that I am blessed to be able to delve into to feed my thirst. I grow through the creative agonies I experience and push through. I bring a little simple beauty to our life with the things I make.I am blessed to have the opportunity to be a mother. Oh, what a rich, endless, unfathomable blessing. To be given the stewardship of this little man, and his brilliant mind, and his creative, stubborn, strong SELF. To get to be home with him while still doing a little something to help our family out financially. To get to sing to him every day and pray with him every night and hold him and breathe him and watch him move so far, so fast. Oh, my heart sings to know I am really and truly a mother.

I am blessed to be married to my best friend-- the man with infinite patience to my frenzied, moody life-passion. The man who listens to the same things over and over, and still finds something new and kind to say to talk me back down. The man who was born to be a father, and whose son knows it to his core. The man who is finding his own passion and exploring his own worth as we travel this road together. The man who makes me feel as beautiful as a queen, no matter what.
I am blessed to have faith. To have a relationship with my Father in Heaven and His Son. I am blessed that He is, if possible, even more infinitely patient with me than my sweet husband. I am blessed that I KNOW families are forever, and I get to be with mine, from my grandparents down to my grandkids, for eternity. I am blessed that each day is a new chance to try to be better-- to learn to overcome my mistakes. To become more like my beloved Older Brother. I am blessed that I can share this BIG FAITH with my own children.

I am blessed. My life is truly joy-full. Wonder-full. And in the midst of the rush, the business, the emails, the tantrums, the bills, the phone calls, the tiffs, the diapers, the colds and flus, the bug bites, the insecurities, the jealousies, the inadequacies, the worries, the mood swings, the traffic, the headaches, the few extra pounds, the anxieties...........In the midst of all of this, it only take a moment to stop, breathe, and remember I am blessed.

{Photos by my generous friend Jodie, of Jodified Photography. This last one is already up on my wall.
Black digital vintage frames by Katie Pertiet.}