July Blessings

July has been a month of finding contentment and practicing gratitude for all of the blessings in my life. I wanted to share a few here.

*The blessing of old friends!This is a gathering of some of my oldest friends from elementary, middle and high school. I've know Erin (front row, left) ever since first grade, some 25 years ago! I was talking to a teenage friend from church and she could hardly believe that I've know someone who is not biological family for that long. She said she hardly remembers people she graduated with just a few years ago.

*The blessing of God's delicious provisions

Our garden got obliterated in a crazy freak storm in late June, so our harvest has been slim. Fortunately, there is a wonderful farm stand a few blocks from our house with the BEST WATERMELON I'VE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE! They also have delicious tomatoes and cucumbers. I did buy a zucchini too, but haven't gotten around to eating that yet.

*The blessing of having the choice to hang my laundry outside to dry

I love hanging laundry on the clothesline, even though most of the time I take the lazy way out and just pop stuff in the dryer. But you truly cannot beat the smell of fresh laundry that has been dried in the sun.

*The blessing of the freedoms we have as Americans, including blowing things up!

We were fortunate enough this year to see three wonderful fireworks shows. One was for our church group, one was a family thing in hub's hometown and the third was right here in our neighborhood.

*The blessing of a fun-filled calendar

July has filled our calendar with many social activities with family and friends new, old and somewhere in between. The picture is of a fruit pizza I made for our church 4th of July party.

We have so many things to be thankful for and the blessings in our lives are numerous.