Lord, Please Grant Me the Fortitude to Handle My Many, Many Blessings

Whenever I'm feeling a little put upon, I find a phone call with my M-I-L seems to help. Ruth has a way of looking at the WORST situation and putting a positive spin on it. Trials, to her, are only cleverly disguised blessings. I'm not as spiritually mature, so I tend to view trials as a giant pain in my behind, further evidence that God has a sick sense of humor, and opportunities to whine about how bad I have it. But, in light of my recent efforts to think positively, I will attempt to see the value in some of my most recent "blessings."

The basement flood: Truly, this has been a nightmare. However, my dad did build all new shelves for my food storage because of this, and I willingly reveal my food storage nerdiness, because I am thrilled about them. I have room to organize by both food type (down) AND type of container (across). I'm taking reservations if you would like a place to stay when the inevitable happens. (Cheryl, you are already on the list. Bring your m&m's.) Also, I am getting all new carpet in the basement. Sure, I already had new carpet, but the bedrooms still had old carpet, and now that's getting replaced too. The pad was so old in the bedrooms that when I pulled it out it turned into toxic dust in my hands. So, it's a blessing. Lastly, we had a little extra insurance money, and we were able to FINALLY buy a new couch for the family room. I feel that the purchase of anything nice when you have a 2 year old and a 5 year old involves carefully walking a tightrope: You want something nice enough that you and your husband can enjoy it, but not anything so nice that when your kid writes "Kate Hatch" across it in a Sharpie you completely lose it. The couch is on the tightrope: very comfy, but also purchased at a great price. In summary, the carpet is being installed in the next few days, and we should be back to normal, and the new normal will be slightly nicer than the old normal. Thanks, Allstate (and Jack!).

In the midst of all this, my oven went kaput. Darn extended warranty expired DAYS ago, so I had to purchase the $180 part to repair it out of pocket. Some may not notice their oven was out until Thanksgiving, but I use it almost every day. I'm in pain. Ma, you told me what the blessing was here, but I forgot it. Perhaps you all can help?

Lastly, I've been blessed to have the opportunity to tote around eleven (now only 8!) extra pounds on my hind end for the last couple of years, and now I am also blessed with the presence of two mini Jillian Micheals'. Kiki will take my carefully weighed and portioned breakfast, slide it from in front of me to in front of her, look at me and pointedly say, "Done." As in, "You're done, you pig." Kate's no better. She looked at me wearing my rattiest yoga pants the other day and said, "When did you buy those pants?" "Before you were born," I replied. To which she said, "Woah. And they stayed big?" I think they've got a career trajectory here.