Nearly A Decade of Blessings!

I started this blog nearly 10 years ago....

2011:

Started with the first thing you see as you walk in my house.... 

and ended the year with my Christ-mas tree

2012:

Started with random thoughts (including the dating world and my "best" teenager) and ended with future in-laws!

2013:

I got married!!! What a difference a year can make!

And my baby girl got married too!

2014:

Invisible challenges and hidden blessings...

And our first 2 littles!

2015:

Had a hard time being done with the holidays.... 

but ended the year celebrating!

2016:

The year of the Parker!!!

And Grands make Christmas even more grand!

2017:

Another Grand!

And thankful for my husband!

2018:

Another Grand!

Now we have a 4, 3, 2, 1 and 0!!! They all melt my heart!

2019:

Two more Grands!!!

What could be better?!

2020 with our magnificent seven is sure to be a stellar year of blessings!!!

New Year, New Reasons to be Grateful!

These were my "fireworks" this morning... really my oven element burning. I now know this type of fire gives off sparks like fireworks and can only be stopped by pulling out the oven and unplugging the whole thing.

I guess I should be upset about this or something, but all I can think is how grateful I am that this fire happened when and how it did. You see, I had been making my MIL's pineapple ham - it cooks on low all night. The fire could have happened in the middle of the night, but it didn't. It started just as I came up the stairs after being up for a couple of hours. So I saw the fire right away! What a blessing. I knew about the fire and did not mess around with my oven. (After the appliance guy replaced the element and tried to set the clock, he received a BIG shock/spark - that could have been me...)

I was also blessed in that my ham was already cooked - it turned out great, BTW!

Additionally, I had been thinking of baking a pumpkin pie for our Christmas party to go with our 2 cheesecakes - but decided not to do so. Guess this decision helped this fire to wait a little longer and may have helped me succeed with baking the cheesecake. Plus my appliance guy could come right away today - not so sure he could have come on Christmas or New Year's, etc. 

All in all, if I had to have a fire, at least this one came with blessings. Hope the year continue the way it has started - with many, many blessings!