I'm Blessed to Live Here!

I was reading a lovely blog this morning and it brought to mind the following thoughts (don't worry, the link to her blog is below!  If I give it to you now, can you resist clicking on it?  Will you stay to read?  Oh good, thanks!)

Genny has given her readers an opportunity to introduce themselves to other blog writers.  What a wonderful idea!  She gives suggestions about what a person can share with the other readers of the blog.  One of her questions got me to thinking.  First she asked, "Where do you live?" and then, (and this is the one that made me begin thinking), "What's your favorite thing about living there?"

We live in a suburb outside of Dayton, Ohio.  I have to be honest and say when I married my sweet husband 15 years ago and moved here, I absolutely hated it here.  LOVED my husband, but couldn't say a nice thing about Dayton.  I remember as clearly as it happened yesterday...one morning we returned home from church and I was literally in tears because I just couldn't seem to find anything about this place that I liked.  I was begging my husband to move me closer to "home" (where I grew up).  Now, I can't remember how long we had been married at this point, but I remember sitting on the bed just saying one (not nice) thing after the other about living here and my sweet husband (who hardly ever says a harsh word to anyone) looked right at me and said, "Honey, if you can't find anything nice to say about living here, don't say anything at all."

He was so frustrated with me...but saddened too I think that his new bride was so miserable.  But yet, it wasn't his problem it was mine!  I needed to be thankful for the beautiful apartment he had found for us and for the job he worked (that he didn't exactly care for at the time) to take care of us.  Right then and there, I decided that I was going to pray to the Lord to show me what was good about Dayton, Ohio.  (Although right at that minute I admit to thinking that surely there wasn't anything and soon my husband would see that and he would move me!  Just being honest here...)

Ok, so fast forward 15 years to present day.  It didn't take 15 years for the Lord to show me why Dayton was where he wanted me to be, but now when I look back and even look at how He has provided for us here, I am humbled and amazed.  He is so Good!  He is faithful when I am not and He doesn't turn His face away from me when I am being hopelessly selfish and silly about things that really aren't that important.

Here's why I can (and do) enjoy living here...

• We have been so blessed to have many friends whom the Lord has sent our way over the years.  Some were only for a season, but we always learned so much from them! 
• The Lord provided Jeff with a job that enabled us to make the decision that I would stay home with our children.  That's amazing to me when I think back to what he was making when we first married.  Even together with both of us working, we would have had a difficult time then making ends meet with little ones added to our family.
• We have been in a few churches over the last 15 years, but each and every time the Lord has blessed us along the way.  He shows us new things and grows us in our walk with Him every time.  We are now back at a church that we were attending when our oldest daughter was just about three and our youngest had just been born.  We are so thankful to feel as though the Lord has led us "home" in this church.
• The thrift stores around here are amazing!  We are able to continue dressing our family in style for a lot less because of these stores.  We are so thankful to have them as we hear from friends in other areas of the country who struggle to find a decent second-hand store.  
• Our library and library staff is tops!  The gals (and one guy) who work there have made such a wonderful impact on our lives.  They have watched our girls grow up and say hello to us by name when we walk through the doors.  Love that!
• The parks available to us within a very short driving distance in this area are quite amazing.  There's so much to see and such a fantastic variety of programs available to us if we so desire.  Photos to come later!
• Jeff's two sisters live in the area, so we have family close by.  That's a blessing too!
• We belong to a top-notch homeschool cooperative called Waves of Mercy.  The moms there are so talented and I've been blessed to get to know them.  Our girls have made such good friends there too!
• Our local quilt shop, Sulphur Grove Quilt Shop, is the best.  The gals who run it are Sheri and Carol and they are two of the neatest gals I know.  More on them later too.
• I love our home.  It isn't big and it isn't fancy, but when we enter the front door, it's home.  I love that and am thankful the Lord has provided over the years for us to make it into a haven and a refuge for our family.

I know there is so much more!  But I am thankful for this reminder today.  I need to be content to bloom where the Lord has planted me.  I need to find joy (not the same as happiness) in my life!  Now that is not to say that I am always content and always joyful, but there are days when I can truly look around and rejoice at where the Lord has me right now.

Today is one of those days.

Are you content?  Are you joyful? 


As promised, the wonderful blog I was reading this morning is called MyCup2Yours.
Won't you stop by and visit Genny?

I hope you'll stop by here again soon.  I'd love to meet you!