Being thankful

The other day I was talking with Gaetan about how thankful I am that we aren't rolling in money.  Sounds a bit strange right?  I have seen so many of my peers get such great jobs right out of college that they buy houses, go on fun vacations, buy new cars, and really just don't worry about how to budget.  Well, needless to say having two children very young with a husband in grad school doesn't produce such a life.

Instead, it produces something much better (in my opinion).  Don't get me wrong, I look forward to the day when money isn't so tight, when I can give away a vast majority of our money for good causes, but for right now this is it.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

A trend I see with my peers who have been so blessed at such a young age is that they don't learn certain life skills because they aren't required too.  I was thinking back when we were both working, no kids and since we don't live that extravagent of a life we were comfortable.  During that time I had no idea how to look for what was on sale ahead of time for our grocery list, you better believe that we never had our meals planned out for the whole week, and we ate out a lot more.  Because we could.  Ya know?  But, I love that I can be more efficient with what we have.  I love that I am a better cook because of it.  These are skills that were learned because they had to be, and I'm not sure what I would've tapped into them if I didn't have to.

It also gives you a perspective of being grateful for everything.  For instance, a few years ago we wouldn't have really thought twice about getting to go out to eat together because it wasn't that big of a deal.  But now, it is such a treat when we get to go out to dinner together and have a date.  That is partly because it's just us going out (thank you Mom and Dad for watching the kids!) but going out to eat is a treat.  Or when Gaetan let me fly to Seattle and have a mini vacation.  That was amazing.  And yes, we did budget differently to make it work, but because we did it was that much better for me.

And the last thing, and really the most important, is having to rely on God.  There are months (usually during the summer when teaching isn't as abundant) that we have to clearly rely on Him to provide.  And I know that it's very easy to forget about the blessings He bestows when things are easy and plentiful.  It helps remind us daily about what our priorities should be.

I know that there are so many more out there that have WAY less than we do, and I'm not saying that we don't have everything that we need.  But I'm just saying that I am thankful for the little things.

JVG