Blessings

“Thank you very much for all of our blessings. Please keep us all safe and joyful; faithful and healthy; kind, caring, courageous, strong, and confident. Help us to follow the Shepherd and not the sheep. May all we do be for the honor and glory of God. Use us for your purpose and lead us to our purpose. And may Your will be done. Amen.”

This is the prayer I have said thousands of times with our three children as they woke up each day.

This is the prayer I prayed with Natalie and Jacqueline a few weeks ago when they went back to college after summer break.

This is the prayer I prayed with James last week as we left to take him to college for the first time.

I’m not quite sure how so many years have flown by.

It seems like just yesterday I was knee deep in diapers and play groups, bath times and bedtimes—not the 22 years it has actually been.

It seems like just yesterday Ed and I were married—not the 27 years it has actually been.

It seems like just yesterday I left for college myself—not the 36 years it has actually been.

How blessed these years have been—from starting a career, to meeting and marrying the love of my life, to having three wonderful children, to raising them together, to reaching the empty nest stage in our lives.

We have been blessed indeed. I pray for continued blessings as we all start this next chapter in our lives, and I pray for continued blessings on everyone in our lives.