Thankful for this charmed life.

It's nearly 11:00 on a Wednesday - a completely typical night. The house is quiet except for the TV, always on for background noise, and Sam (our dog), who is constantly snuffling as if he suffers from the same allergies as the rest of us. I'm just sitting here feeling grateful in the midst of this mundanity. I love my life, and the simplicity of sitting here with a recorded episode of People's Court playing on tv and the kids all asleep. It's the quiet moments like this that inspire me to reflect on just how much I have to be thankful for, as cliched as that may sound. Granted, there are things I'd change if I could - I wish my husband could bring home the paycheck he does while working in Spokane rather than Grand Coulee so that we could go to sleep next to each other every night instead of spending three nights each week sleeping alone, but I don't see how I can complain even about that when we've been so richly blessed. There are so many events in the past I can look back at and contrast it to life now and see such a vast difference in not just the quality of my life, but the substance of myself. I've done a lot of growing up recently - I can pinpoint the exact day that I went from a selfish, egocentric adolescent in an adult's body - maybe I'm being too hard on myself- then again, maybe not - but when I look back over my past I can definitely admit that I've always been most concerned with how things affected ME, how everything made ME feel, or inconvenienced ME. There are still times when I have to fight that old enemy of pride or egotism, but it's far less of a problem these days than it used to be. Though there were many struggles we had to go through for me to grow and for our family to successfully blend (if either of those terms can ever truly accurately be applied to remarriage and stepfamilies. lol) and though I wish many of them had been unnecessary, for the most part I'm thankful for the way life has unfolded over the past four years. After all, it's the trials and things that test us that help us to grow and better ourselves. Now when I think about other relationships I've been in or the most grevious of mistakes I've made, it feels less like I'm recalling my own memories and more like it was something I saw in a movie. I've been back in school part-time for a couple of weeks now, and though at first it felt a little overwhelming - after all, thus far I had only ever juggled two of my current roles at a time (when I was in college at 20, I only worked and went to school; after having kids and returning for more schooling I was also a stay-at-home mom). Having never done it before, I was confident that I could juggle taking care of a family, working part-time, and 7 credits of classes but a little nervous; unsure if I could juggle all three and give each responsibility my full attention and best efforts. Also, grading writing assignments in college is subjective - you're never completely sure when you start a class with a new professor what their writing style is. Turns out though, I needn't have worried - one of the great things about onine classes is that you can work ahead if you're so inclined, so right now I'm done with (and aced) everything due through the 24th. As it often happens, I started this draft a few weeks ago and am just now getting back to it.The only thing that's changed is that I'm nearly done with all of the assignments for both of my classes - I expect to be completely done within a week, and the quarter doesn't actually end until December 5th. I register for the next quarter of classes on the 3rd, and I'm planning on taking 18 credits (full-time is 12). After literally months of studying and brushing up on math, I went and took my placement test last week and got into the class I wanted to (phew!). 4th quarter at work is in full swing, and I'm enjoying the fact that when it's over I'll be switching gears and finally pursuing a career. What blessings God has showered on us lately....it's overwhelming. =) Today is a day well suited for nostalgia, as it's London's 7th birthday. It's hard to believe it was only 7 years ago that she was born when she acts more like a teenager. lol It has been amazing to be a mother to these two little girls, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for them, and for our whole family. Wish me luck - as soon as I'm finished with school for the quarter, I'm going to start putting more effort into the book I started working on. Who knows, before long maybe I'll have some good news on that front, too. ;-)