A Little Appreciation

This week, I was all set to bitch about our president's brilliant plan to fix the deficit. Yes, freezing the pay of federal workers is what's going to do it! I was prepared to rant about creating a completely inaccurate, yet seemingly sustainable image that cutting wages will fix all that ails our economy, and more importantly our nation's debts; about how insulting it is to call someone highly skilled and underpaid in one breath and cut their pay in the next; about how I want our president to really tighten his belt, across the board and not target a selected group of individuals (I should note that I support freezing pay if it is part of a more comprehensive spending cut package); about how this should not occur in the same week that a turkey is put up at the W.

But, then, I met someone out of work, and someone hoping to be able to pay their rent this month, and yet another someone struggling to scrape together Christmas gifts for their kids. In these tough times, we meet these people nearly every day. I could tell their stories, but unfortunately, you've already heard the same stories countless times in the last few years. My point is that in this cherished time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the most inspiring time to give and count my blessings, I need to do just that. I need to make a written reminder of just how incredibly blessed by God I am. Let me name just a very few of the blessings that I have in my life (and suck it up, and stop complaining).

• A beautiful, healthy, and happy baby boy
• A supportive, honest, and loving husband
• A dog that would sooner lose a limb than see me upset
• An incredible support system of family and friends
• FOOD (glorious FOOD) - Heat - Clothing (that all remains tighter than I would like, but who's to blame for that?)
• A beautiful kitchen to exhibit my love 
• A MSU Big Ten Championship, in football
• Hope and Love
• Most importantly, faith that we as a family, as a community, as a nation will survive these struggles and come out stronger as a result

May you know and feel God's blessings this holiday season.