A Little Out of the Ordinary

I grew up in a small town. Well, to be more accurate, I grew up on the far outskirts of a very small town.  Growing up in our small 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house (oh, did I mention 9 people lived there???!....it's the truth), I didn't appreciate so much that I had to share a room with my three sisters & get on the bus 1hr & 30 min before school started.  I also didn't care that we lived just under 15 miles away from our school.  Have you seen the movie, "We Bought a Zoo"?  I happen to watch it with my family back at home for the first time, and for those who haven't seen it, the zoo they had bought was out of town and the closest store was a Target that was 10 whole minutes away from their home.....in the movie, they refer to this Target as the "ten-minute Target." As my family & I watched this, all of us started laughing at the line.  Sarcastically we'd say things like..."haha, Target is 10 minutes away....kill me next time I have to take THAT drive...bother!"

The truth is, any Target around our humble little town is about 1hr and 20 minutes......so you understand why our sympathy was absent.

Anyways, back to the point of this post:

Now that I have moved away & have grown up a bit, I appreciate my childhood home & environment soooo much more.  When I go home to visit my family, part of me longs to return there with my family & live the way that I did.  I learned how to be patient, hard-working, adaptable, & how to sing by practicing in the comfort of our 15-passanger van- the place we spent a VERY good portion of our waking hours in :) (ok I was trying to be little comical about the singing, but we really did sing...ALL THE TIME....whether or not we were any good). 

...ok back to the point, again:
This last quick trip back to my parent's house,  I saw so many beautiful things that I hadn't appreciated in the past. One morning I got up right before the sun rose just to get out and get a few shots of the farm.  Here are a few of my favorites.....& then a couple more. :)

The chicken coop. 

 The cows looked AMAZINGly beautiful to me.  (I think I've been in AZ for too long).

 the paintball course.

And then there's the 25 year old 4-wheeler. I'm surprised we never named her.  Chase took this picture of us and I'm so glad he did.  Having the girls out there with me was something special, even though it may look like Seryn's reaching for her dad, begging him to rescue her. :)



So, to finish my rambling:

I guess I just feel so blessed for all that I've been given.  The beautiful world around us, my family, life lessons, relationships, the knowledge of the gospel and why we are on this earth.... I have a testimony that all 'good' is from God.  I think it's easy to forget where our blessings come from.  Our Father in Heaven has given us so much good, and it's ALL around us. It's easy to forget to pause, look, and truly witness it all WITH a grateful heart. 

I am forever grateful!