The Lord's Hand

I feel so incredibly blessed.
As we cuddled up in our warm beds last night I felt so thankful to have all that we have. Too often Jared and I sit and nitpick at our home for it's less than fabulous features or just in general think of the things we want to change and do differently. But in all reality, we have a mansion compared to over half the worlds' living standards. I love this house! I am so thankful to have it! And my bed, wow! I LOVE MY BED! AND MY SHOWER! I would really be grouchy without my hot showers.
There is suffering through so much of the world, how dare I not be thankful for these "basics" as we American's call them. And I'm sure we all are, when we take the time to really think about it.

Now what triggered this attitude of gratitude?? I wish it was more just a part of my personality, but there is a story.

Many people know that several years ago our son, Hunter, was diagnosed with severe ADHD and ODD- the kind that's intrusive enough to effect his daily functioning. It was difficult for us to accept this and we wanted to do everything we possibly could to avoid doing what the doctor recommended, which was a daily dose of mood altering medication for our spirited, vibrant young son. There were MANY tears cried and prayers said for this little boy of ours. In hopes of finding some other solution, we went to Riley Hospital where he saw an amazing neurologist who agreed with us that there may have been more to his puzzle than met the eye. He saw specialist after specialist and received amazing care. Being self employed, our insurance didn't cover much of this elective stuff, but we agreed to the costs anyway, feeling confident that the expense was worth it to help Hunter however we could. In the fall of 2009 an overnight sleep study revealed that Hunter woke up 72 times in a 7 hour study!! We were floored! We knew he didn't sleep all that great, but we had no idea it was that bad. (I'd be angry a lot of the time too if I woke up that many times every night). Apparently his tonsils and adenoids were blocking 70% of his throat and when he fell into a deep sleep they would fall back in his throat and cause him to not be able to breath- therefore waking him up. The fix was simple enough- remove his tonsils and adenoids. Hunter started sleeping better and doing much better- almost $20,000 later. But that was when Jared had one project after another lined up and we planned that we could responsibly pay those bills. Just a few months later, there we were with no work...and no way to pay those bills. 2010 was a bit of a struggle for a lot of people. We are grateful we still have our home. Although, we had savings we had put away from when the jobs had been plentiful and somehow (although I firmly believe it was a blessing of paying tithing) have been able to stay on top of our bills. But my mom suggested we should apply for financial assistance from the hospital to help with some of the bills.
The letter we received yesterday was that Riley graciously granted us 100% payment of the rest of Hunter's bills. Then to further the blessing, a phone call from the hospital where Hunter had his surgery, revealed that they also decided to grant 100% of the balance as well. All within 24 hours of each other. I feel...blessed. Through all the trial of being without work and these medical bills that we had acquired, now to find that the Lord had a hand in it all and we are going to be just fine. I am so very very thankful.
And I'm going to try my very best to remember to be more grateful every day for every single little thing we are blessed with, so it doesn't take a huge outpouring like this to remind me how blessed I really am.