Acknowledging Your Blessings

A family friend and business associate sent us a message today…a reminder that even in our lowest moments; even at our darkest hours we should not just count our blessings but also acknowledge them.

 

Say thank you!

 

I am thankful for all of the blessing – big & small – that we have been graced with and for all of my friends and family that I so gladly and humbly share these blessings with. I love you.

 

WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN WHEN WE PRAY?

  I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received. I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

 

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section. The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

 

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed. "How is it that there is no work going on here?, I asked. "So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments"

 

"How does one acknowledge God's blessings?" I asked..

"Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord."

"What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world.

 

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy."

"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness .. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day."

"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation. You are ahead of 700 million people in the world."

 

"If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world."

"If your parents are still alive and still married ...you are very rare."

 

"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair."

Ok, what now? How can I start? Have a good day, count your blessings

"Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people with whom to share it. I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends!”

Easter Sunday Happenings

It was a blessed Resurrection Sunday! We ended up with 16 people total (6 were midshipman) and we had a blast. I watched The Sound of Music and sang along while I cooked & had dessert & packed my luggage for a trip to The Ten Commandments. Only way to do Easter right.

 

I hope that you had a wonderful Easter!

 

Easter Sunday Happenings

U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen – what wonderful young men & women

Tree with her Apples

My Girls

A Genius Saved My Life

You know that song Last Night A DJ Saved My Life? Well Today A Genius Saved My Life!

I had a MAJOR FAIL with my beloved iPhone4 yesterday - the dag on screen just went totally black - or at least that is what it appeared to be doing. I could hear it ring, I could hear the text messages coming in after the Triathlon, I could hear the pings from FB updates...what I couldn't do was see a damn thing. Thus I couldn't answer the phone, I couldn't do NADA.

I called Ap.p.le support and we reset, we restored, we did a factory reset to default settings...NOTHING. Well, I could faintly see the icons but that just wasn't going to do. So the support person on the phone told me to take it over to the store and they would swap it out for a new piece of hardware. Cool.

Well, not so cool. I showed up for my appointment with my A.p.p.le Genius right on time and he gave me the side eye -albeit in a very nice way - like tsk, tsk, tsk. Looks like there was some "damage" to my phone that IS NOT covered by the warranty. He must have seen the despair that came over my face. He must have seen my shoulders drop and my knees almost buckle...for I KNEW what that meant - I was gonna have to buy a full priced replacement. Lawd Jesus.

iCant.

My Genius listened to my sob story and told me to wait a minute while he checks with his manager on what to do. I don't know if he really went to talk to his manager or not, but about 5 minutes later, he came back out, beckoned me over to the counter and said, "I'm going to take care of you...this time."

I almost burst into tears right there. I almost grabbed him to plant a big fat smooch on him that would have probably earned me a FireMarshall over the eyeglasses stare down. However, since those counters are about as tall as I am, I couldn't quite get at him.

As my Genius worked on my new piece of hardware and got me set up, I gushed. I couldn't thank him enough and asked if I could take him to lunch for his kindness. He said he couldn't do that, but offered to walk me to the front of the store. As we walked up front, he told me he wasn't trying to be rude with his no, but if he accepted then it might cause problems with his co-workers and that he really appreciated my offer.

I asked for his card and he gave me his vitals. They don't work on commission at the A/pp;le store but if you need something, need help with your M.a.C stuff then go see Johnny at the Columbia Mall location.

I wrote a thank you note to him so that he would know that I appreciated his patience, kindness & generosity. I hope he does some IT work on the side so I can throw some opportunities his way. I wish there were more people out there that practiced random acts of kindness. The world would be a better place. I plan on paying that forward.

Today a Genius Saved My Life...not with a song...but with a new phone.

Be blessed, Johnny, for you blessed me today. Thank You!

When it Rains, It Pours...

I often say to myself that God's delays are NOT his denials. I spend a lot of time meditating on that message...trying to be still, be quiet, to listen and be prepared for the time, the moment of when you are "approved"...Blessed be the man who perseveres through trials, for once he is approved, he shall inherit the Kingdom of God (James 1:12). The crew has been though a rough patch and we are still working our way outta some stuff. However, starting on Dec 20th, things started to turn in our favor...call it anything you want - just don't call it luck. I don't believe it in; to me there is no such thing as luck. All I know is that by being faithful or committed or dedicated (call it what you want)...things started to turn our way...the blessings started to happen...

God's delays are NOT his denials.

Yesterday, I lamented about being so tired from working at getting up to speed on my new job - that's okay - I GOT A NEW JOB! We rejoiced in the fact that Jordan recieved his first college acceptance. We were content, we were happy, we felt blessed.

Today was a new day! My daughter Erin, who you will recall, was laid off from her job at one of the largest car dealerships in this area, got a phone call today with an offer for what she terms - "Her Dream Job". Today she accepted a position as Staff Accountant at an International Economic Think Tank in DC. She came over this evening to raid my closet cause she said she had to take it up a couple of notches in attire. She finds the best perk/benefit is that they reimburse & encourage the pursuit of a Masters Degree. I think she was about to burst. We celebrated Jordan's acceptance & both of our new jobs over a pot roast and champagne.

But that's not all. I don't put all of the gory details out there about our lives - just most of it - here on my online diary, but those closest to us know that things were tight. Being just a tad finacially astute, we came up with a plan to restructure our mortgage (w/o refinancing & associated costs). We figured that if major corporations can get help, so can't a family with a jumbo mortagage. Well, through some savvy negotiations by the FireMarshall (yeah, I'm a little surprised, cause its usually me doing these kind of things) we were able to "restructure" our mortagage to something fixed and the new low interest rate and reduce our payment by $3k. Ahhh, I saw you gasp. Did you not read the part about JUMBO MORTGATE. The estate here ain't no small potatoes. We are doing the happy dance ....AGAIN!

Last, but not least, we were having extreme difficulty figuring out our transportation details for the Inaugural Ball on Monday. Metro shut down at midnight, we are in a restricted parking zone, we are in a security bubble. How da hell were we going to get home after the ball. The magic carriage was going to turn into a pumpkin. What were we going to do. Well, the FireMarshall worked the network and finagled a driver to pick us up at his dads house, drop us at dinner & then come back and get us (at least as close as he can - we will probably have to walk a few blocks) when the clock strikes 1am. We got this at such a reasonable price, it is a damn shame and I'm not sharing. Especially when drivers are charging up to $200/hour. Sorry.

We are still feeling Truly Blessed. When it rains, it pours.