blessings abound

last night i was thinking about all the incredible blessings in my life these days and i decided i wanted to share some with you. i'm realizing that keeping my heart in that place of gratitude fights off the blues that try to come at me... and sure, sometimes they win, but only for a moment. God has a way of drawing me back into His loving embrace when i stray or begin to think that i can handle this on my own. such a gracious Father He is.

if you follow me on twitter, it's no secret that i'm doing weight watchers. have been for 13 weeks now. that's 13 weeks of tracking every.single.thing that i put in my mouth. holy moses batman! that sounds crazy. really though? it's not that difficult. and it makes me so much more aware of what i eat. i'm down 22lbs and i still have a ways to go, but it's so exciting! if you're doing any kind of weight-loss program i would encourage you to take your measurements! if you don't see results on the scale, you WILL see them in those measurements, trust me. i added mine up yesterday and i have lost 17 total inches off my body! 5.5 of those are off my waist alone. YES! i'm thinking about doing a blog soon with some of my tips and tricks that i've found helpful... maybe katie and i will do a vlog about it or something since we've been doing this together? we'll see...

i absolutely LOVE my church. we just recently moved out of meeting in a house to a community building in the middle of the city and it's awesome. it's a lot of hard work, especially because i'm the children's ministry director, but God is doing great things. we've also recently launched 3 small groups in the city and they are growing and people are entering into relationship with the Father and each other and it is beautiful! our salvation is truly worked out alongside one another in community. we were not designed to walk this journey alone and i am beyond blessed at the support and encouragement i receive DAILY from all of them. we don't have a website yet, but we have been recording messages so if you're interested in learning about what it means to be reconciled to God, yourself, others and creation go check out our podcasts here! (shameless plug i know, but they will change your life! for reals!)

spring is here! yes, that means lots of rain, but sprinkled throughout those rainy days there have been some lovely sunshiny times and it's been fabulous. spring holds so much hope and promise and that is something i cling to these days! plus, the season surrounding easter is such a special one. a time when we get to reflect on the amazing sacrifice of our creator and bask in the love that He has for us and the victory that He has over the grave! oh yeah! it doesn't get any better than that! plus, springtime means long walks outside and trips to the park with my nieces. we went on Monday and kyra informed me that she wanted to play hide 'n seek. before long i had about half the playground hiding with me, being lookouts and running around. it was fun. kids love me. what can i say? haha!

my heart is full today... there are so many more things i could share with you but i'll leave it at that. i've been writing in my gratitude journal daily- making my list of 1,000 gifts/moments/experiences that i'm grateful for. i'm only in the 50's so i have a long way to go but each one causes me to stop and reflect and be thankful which is the ultimate blessing.

happy wednesday everyone!