My Gratitude List

It is so easy when you live your life in pain to only focus on the negative. I have battled depression for years, and when I say battled, I mean hand to hand combat. It has tried to grip me with its dark talons and pull me down into the pit, but that's not where I belong. I am a child of God so I need to make sure my focus is on Him. Because He is the giver of all good and perfect things, I am thankful for those things.

1. My husband. He loves me. He has shown me what unconditional love is as he has stuck by me through the hardest of days. He brings me chocolate when I am down, and celebrates with me when I'm doing well. He is my best friend and my biggest cheerleader.

2. My boys. When I got sick 5 years ago, my husband was traveling a lot and out of necessity my boys grew up very quickly. At the time my oldest son was 11, my twins were 9, another son was 8, and my youngest was 2. My 11 year old and my 8 year old began cooking (to this day they both enjoy cooking and can cook full meals for our family), they all learned how to wash, fold, and put away laundry. I am so blessed with 5 awesome boys.

3. My home. As I look out my window, snowflakes are falling and I am cozy in my warm home.

4. My parrot. Yeah, I know, he's just a bird. But he's a character, a great talker, and makes me laugh everyday. And really, I could use all the laughter I can get.

5. My friends. Although most of my friends don't really understand what I am going through in my day to day survival, they are loving and supportive. They never get upset when I need to cancel at the last minute and they are always willing to do things spur of the moment when I'm having a good day.

6. And speaking of good days, I am very thankful for them. In the past 6 months I seem to have more good days than bad days, and for that also I am thankful.

7. My church family. Most don't know the extent of my pain, and I always put on my happy face when I am out and about. But they are loving, caring, and they bless me with 'thinking of you' cards, and home cooked meals. That's pretty cool!

8. Our bed. We recently splurged on a new mattress and it has made a world of difference in how my back feels when I wake up. Oh. yeah.

9. Bonnie. She is the sweetest woman who comes every other week and cleans my house for me. I can't really afford her, but somehow we have the money each money to pay her.

10. Our jobs. My husband and I both work from home, and I just had my first cookbook published. Thankful, thankful, thankful.