Count Your Blessings

September 1, 2010. Holy smokes, tempus fugit! Life is good, especially for our boy David this week. He got a job (finally!) at our local Great Harvest bread bakery (he's doing "dough training" now - learning to form two loaves of bread at a time, one with each hand - a skill I need to learn!). He also found out today that he made the top jazz band at CSU Sacramento, and after a great audition yesterday he also earned a spot singing tenor in C-Sus, the mixed vocal jazz ensemble at Sac State. And he'll also be playing bass in a jazz combo there as well. All great news for David! So proud of him. He's worked very hard and wanted this so much. He is practically floating, he's so happy! And when David is happy, Mom is happy too! Good stuff. And plans are progressing well for Steph's impending move to Utah. She's getting excited and can't wait to get there and get going on her studies and her new job. I told her to relax and enjoy these next few weeks off, because she's gonna have to work very hard when she gets there. I am so proud of her and excited for her, but still can't picture daily Allred family life without our Steph being here with us. It will be an interesting adjustment for all of us, I'm sure (she said sadly)... Uh-oh, somebody call the waaaaaaambulance!

So here is a fall card — more of a Thanksgiving card, but it could work for any fall occasion, really. I used a Daffodil card and layering paper from Hero Arts. The brown grosgrain ribbon, corrugated paper and bronze brads are from my stash. Inks are Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw Distress Inks (blended with pearlized water for a soft shimmering effect). The Count Your Blessings stamp is my design, and the acorn and leaves are from this Hero Arts set.

Sometimes the blessings and rewards that come our way in life are more obvious, as they've been for David this week, and sometimes we need to look a little harder to recognize them. As a mom I of course am very relieved and thankful when things come along that make my children feel as if their hard work is paying off. The difficult and more challenging lessons are also good and appreciated in their own way, but I have to say it's nice sometimes to just have a few "up" days. Makes the rest of life easier to bear. Yay for the happy times!

"Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it." —Fyodor Dostoevsky