Perspective.

The past week or so has included some frustrating times for me.

They involved some everyday frustrations: huge milk spill, syrup spill, many water "experiments" gone astray, pen on my couches, sand all over my house, destroying of some nursery visual aids, a disappointing printing of a scrapbook project that I had put countless hours & money into, screaming, fighting and seemingly never-ending whining.

And one non-everyday frustration that involved a dog vs. a Jaguar: A lady in our neighborhood hit our dog Tundra (who seems to be fine), but a piece of her Jaguar got broken off in the process at a cost to us of $170 (and yes, we checked with our insurance who said we are at fault). Sigh..not exactly our favorite thing to deal with right now.

Most of it is nothing major, but it's been hard for me to deal with. Maybe because Jason was gone for 4 days & I was doing it alone, but I definitely had some tears and "time-outs". Still, at the end of the day, I cannot help but think of all of my family & friends around me - those who have lost babies and children, a sister who faces these things (x4 kids!) alone every day without hope of having a husband come home & take over, friends who don't share many of these frustrations but deal with a heavier burden of wondering if they will ever be able to have children at all, a friend who has a tiny daughter with special physical & mental needs, those who have dealt with abuse, who barely have enough money to put food on the table. And, so I seem to hear them ask, "Really, Heidi, is that all you are worried about? Is that your great burden? Pick it up, and be thankful to bear it."

And so...I take a deep breath, dry my tears, and instead of praying "why me?" I pray "thank you Lord! I am so blessed!"