My Top 16 Blessings From 2016

1. My Daddy.  Daddy works tirelessly to support his family and never complains.  He is a loving husband and father, a loyal friend, and an ever so faithful Christian.  He is always pointing us to Christ and trusting Him with everything, even when all th rest of us are completely overwhelmed.  He is supportive and encouraging and always knows how to calm me down and make me laugh when I am overwhelmed.  He never lets a day pass that he does't walk up to me, hug me, tells me that he loves me, and that he is proud of me for just being me.
   
2. My Momma.  Momma is constantly doing for her family.  She is often the first one up and going in the morning (except for Dad) and is always the last to sit down at night.  She cooks, cleans, referees fights, and lovingly listens to anything that we come to her about.  She always points us to God and keeps Him the center of our home.  She always stops what she is doing to listen to me rants and does whatever possible to help me succeed, whether proof reading final papers when I was in college, driving me in to my classes this spring when I just felt sick before my gallbladder was removed, or staying up late helping me bake cupcakes for a craft fair.
   
3. My Blondie.  My little sister and I are polar opposites.  She is blonde and I am brunet.  She likes old war dramas and I like romantic comedies.  She is short and skinny and I am tall and, well, not skinny.  She is all thought and I am all feelings.  Yet, through all of these differences she is my absolute best friend.  She tries to meet me in the middle and learn how to feel and show me love.  And, even though this often comes across as fake, knowing that not a single fiber of her being understands what she is trying to do makes it mean so much.
   
4. My Little Joe.  My baby brother drives me crazy most days.  He is just a typical fifteen year old boy and nothing about him makes sense to me.  We don't understand each other, yet we love each other in our own special way, and that is the one thing that we do understand about each other.  Even though he pokes at me and jokes at my own expense, he is always sorry when it gets to me, is the one to make sure that he always tells me good morning and good night and tells me that he loves me every single day.  
   
5. My second family.  In the world that we live in it is all too common for children to be denied the blessing of having a parent that loves them, is proud of them, supports them, and that they can have confidence in knowing that they are always there for them.  Not to mention is a Godly example.  I have been blessed with not only two parents who fulfill the requirements of Godly parenthood, but with an extra set.  Mrs. Gaye and Mr. James are a wonderful gift from God in my life (and Harris ;P).
   
   
   
6. My "sisters".  Not only have I been blessed to have a sister who is my best friend, I have been blessed to have two best friends who are my "sisters".  I am so thankful that God placed Harlie in my life fifteen years ago.  We have had so many adventures, laughs, and long talks together that I will never forget.  You are my twin in many ways.  Katie Beth is a newer arrival but I already have so many sweet memories with her as well and am so excited to make many many more over the years to come.  I now have another twin in so many ways it isn't even funny.
   
7. My "brothers".  As with my "sisters", not only have I been given the gift of a biological brother, but of two awesome/crazy "brothers" as well.  Even tough I have some stories of torture from both, I also have so many stories of laughs, support, encouragement, help, and love.
   
8. Cowboy
9. Mr. Bennett                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I mean just look at those faces... 
10. Grandma is still here with us.  After all that she has gone through these past few months, she is still here and slowly continuing to get stronger.  And, even though having her live with us is so much more difficult that I would have ever imagined, I know that this time that I have with her is a blessing and that I will look back and be so glad that I had it.
11. Church family.  It is a blessing to have a group of like minded believers who are not only friends, but consider you family.  Knowing that they lift you up in prayer and are there for you whenever you need them is a wonderful feeling.
12. Traditions.  I am a very sentimental person.  I love my traditions and uphold them fiercely.  It is a blessing to me to have traditions that span throughout my childhood and are still going strong today.  This holiday season has been a challenge for this reason.  Many of our family traditions were changed, cut short, or done away with all together this year due to Grandma living with us and being sick.  This made me appreciate the old traditions even more and forced to me discover that the creation of new traditions can be just as sweet.
13. Sweet memories.  I have a wonderful family and "family" and a very blessed life.  We have had many adventures together and many very precious memories.  We have lots of traditions and loads of laughs.  All of these have over timed turned into memories and that is a blessing to me.  And, what makes memories even more of a wonderful blessings, is the fact that as they grow older than become even more precious.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
14. God's solid rock.  I thrive on stability and schedule.  I need my normal, daily routine, to some extent, otherwise I have anxiety. Over the last few months, taking care of Grandma, nothing has been normal.  So much has changed since she has moved in with us and a little, evil, completely annoying voice deep down inside of me keeps reminding me that it will never be the same again.  But, through all of this change, God taught me what I thought I already knew.  He taught me that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Even when it seems like I have no stability in my daily routine, He is still the solid rock on which I stand, and I can take hope and find peace in knowing that He will be, day after day after day after day from this moment on and for all of eternity.
15. Dreams.  Isn't it wonderful to have dreams and goals, and the hope and wonder of what will become of them.  The drive to make them come true and the feeling of satisfaction when you make progress is amazing.
16. Hope.  I can't imagine going through life without hope.  The hope that with God, all things work for good and that He always has something better for you and has a plan, even when yours falls apart.  The hope that your dreams will come true and that there is always tomorrow. The hope that with God, all things are possible.  What wonderful peace hope brings!