life is good

My Steel Magnolia, Grandma Leta with my sweet NINE YEAR OLD niece, Sarabeth

Sarabeth is nine.
There's a lot of other stuff I could talk about but... look at her... she's as tall as her great-grandmother... wears the same size shoe as her Aunt Mimi... she's beautiful and smart and was a perfect little hostess yesterday at her birthday party.
That's what's on my mind this morning... she's growing into such a lovely young lady. A tween, I think. Not sure exactly what ages that includes... but I think she is one.
I could tell you about getting the notarized official form on Friday that allows me to get a handicapped tag for my car ... and although I knew since Monday that I qualified for it... and I've known for nine months now that it's my current reality... there was something about seeing the words: "permanently disabled" on a notarized document somehow sucked all the oxygen out of the room.
I could tell you about how my kids' dad has apparently gotten into some trouble with the IRS and apparently won't be paying child support in the near future...
And how that left me scrambling to come up with the money to buy food for this weekend... we had stretched our three days of groceries from last weekend and made them last all week... but we're down to the bare bones of our pantry and I needed a good "we just got child support" grocery run. It won't happen.
I could tell you how awesome Austin was about helping with an abbreviated grocery run...
And how thankful I am that he loves tomato soup and ramen noodles (not together, although I bet he would like them together)...
And how I love the way that God provides for us. He really does.
And how I think, there are so many of God's precious children who are going hungry all over the world... who am I to be aggravated with having to actually conserve instead of having our usual indulgences?
Who am I to complain? We have a warm, cozy place to live... internet, satellite tv, running water, a comfy nest... we really are blessed.
Yesterday was a bright, sunny fall day... Sarabeth, Jamie and a dozen or so of their friends... playing outside in the perfect fall temperatures... having birthday cookie and ice cream.... opening her awesome gifts... singing in the back of the truck on a hay ride down to the main road and back...
Life is good.
I mean... ok... life is not perfect. But life is good.
There's a file corruption that is preventing me from downloading the pictures from yesterday... the only one, so far, that I've been able to retrieve is the one at the beginning of this ... Sarabeth and her great-grandmother. Nine years old... and almost 88... the matriarch and her legacy... and when Sarabeth is grown she will have memories of her great grandmother... and this picture, I hope.
And no matter what hardships she faces in her life, she will always be able to look back to a happy, stable childhood... surrounded by a loving family... great friends... birthday parties....
That's what I want to think about today... not the yucky stuff... not the stress... I want to think about how blessed I am...
Sarabeth is nine and life is good!