counting blessings

I felt pretty depressed yesterday. I've been unusually tired lately. Probably because I've slipped up and started eating gluten, but I found myself just feeling down about everything. After getting the kids to sleep, I looked around the house, feeling purely exhausted and overwhelmed. 

The boys made a "couch fort" with all the blankets and pillows piled high onto the sofa. There were children's books scattered from the living room all the way into the bathroom (yeah, bathroom!). Laundry was piled even higher than usual. Dinner dishes were still on the table and I know it sounds petty, but I went over my calorie goal for the day and felt really bad about it.

Then I felt selfish. 

We have the comforts of a sofa and warm blankets. My children have books to read and toys to play with. They have clothes to wear. We had a good dinner-- and better yet, got to eat it together, so rare during basketball season. 

I found myself getting teary-eyed as I began to count my blessings. I no longer felt the burdens of the day, but those negative feelings being swept away and replaced with gratitude and happiness. 

"Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God hath done"

I hope I can remember this experience on other "bad" days as I complain about "first world problems". 

And queue pictures of my babies-- I mean big boys. 

^^ This was after I forgot to empty the bath water and Landon decided to sit on the edge of the tub. He slipped in. I died laughing and couldn't stop. He didn't think it was that funny.