Grateful Gifts

Happy Friday evening everyone!

How was your day? Did you have a great week? I bet you’re ready for the weekend. Shoot me a text or drop me a comment, I always love hearing from you.

I’m excited for the weekend. It’ll be a little bittersweet. You see, we have the movers coming tomorrow to finish up the final part of our move from a condo that brought us to a wonderful city and where we spent 5 years making incredible memories. The movers will bring the rest of our belongings to our new, incredible home in the same wonderful city in which we call home.

Bittersweet? Yup. You see, the condo brought us so much joy and happiness. We had incredible neighbors who became not only friends, but family too. Granted, we only live 1.3 miles from our old home, but let’s face it, life gets busy. I just hope and pray we never lose our connection with those who mean the world to both John and me.

The last six months in the condo weren’t all that wonderful. I mean, we never took for granted the amazing place we live, but the home we had, well, no kitchen for over six months and issues from water damage didn’t give for a nice living condition. We are grateful though that our friends and family helped us through those difficult months and now, John and I are beyond grateful for waking up every morning in our own home. We have everything we need and more.

Today was perfect. We went to our POA office and signed our official paperwork for being homeowners, but the best part of the day was, well, let me show you.

We woke up to this beautiful and peaceful view:

Then the most incredible thing happened. Wanna see? Check this out:

Of course, the pups wanted to check things out too:

Once the action was over, they decided to go out and sunbathe. Silly girls:

Not a worry in the world. They know they’re loved and cared for.

Even though life isn’t always this carefree, hopefully we can still find things to be grateful for.

I saw this quote and thought, gosh, it’s right on point. I am so grateful and I want to always do my very best to be positive and uplifting. Yesterday I was so beyond sick. I couldn’t get off the couch and if I did, it was to go back to bed. Despite how sick I was, I couldn’t help but think how blessed I am to have a roof over my head. My own yard. Food in the fridge. Two beautiful girl-dogs who refuse to leave my side, especially when I’m sick. Family who I love and adore. Kids that are the best, all four of them. Daughter-in-laws that I love as though they were my own. Friends who have my back and a man that loves me and treats me like queen. His love for me is a love that I dreamt about my entire life. Dreams do come true.

Then I saw this quote and I’m connecting the dots. If we live our lives with negativity. If we live our lives pursuing the riches of the world instead of harvesting the gifts of our family and friends, well, who knows, the consequences may be that one day we have nobody.

I hope as I look back on each lustrum, each decade and I pray I make it another couple vicennial’s, but the point is, when I look back after each passing year, I want to be able to close my eyes and think of the wonderful memories we’ve made, that I’ve made with my family and friends. We might not be rich in funds, but I pray we will always be rich in family and friends. I want to give my life to serving God. I want to be used by Him to bring love and happiness to all our family and friends. I may stumble and fall from time to time, but you know what, I will never ever intentionally hurt anyone on purpose.

I’ve rid myself of holding onto things from my past that I can’t change. I can’t change any of it. I’ve accepted fully that the path I’ve been on and am continuing on are for a reason. The bad things that happened to me weren’t my free will, but that of others. I learned through it all, I was actually stronger than I realized because of Him. When I lay my head on my pillow at night I can honestly say, I’ve done the best I could with the tools I had.

Life is full of challenges. It’s up to us how we take them on. We either keep going and growing, or we give up and go backwards. Life never stops and standstill. We’re either moving forward or back, it’s what we do in each and every situation life hands us.

And on that note, I’ll be saying goodnight.

Until next time, don’t forget, Love Life++ Hugs