Christmas Day 2012

 Merry Christmas EVERYONE! :) I hope you all have enjoyed this great day that has been "given" to you. We can not forget the true reason we celebrate Christmas. It's been a lazy kind of day I must admit. Very few days do I sit around in the house with my pjs on and just enjoy the fire rolling in the living room. I wasn't going to work out this morning, BUT I decided I probably should simply because I knew the rest of the day I wouldn't do a whole lot. :) The real reason I decided to write in my blog for the first time in forever is this......

 I wanted to talk about how thankful I am. With each year I get older & with each new day of different things that happen in the lives of soo many and even in my own life... I begin to realize how important it is to be thankful & grateful for all that the Lord has blessed me with. It's very important that we do NOT take a single day for granted. We can't take a single moment or opportunity for granted. When you have the chance to make memories with loved ones...then you should always take advantage of that opportunity. It's hard for me to believe that another year has gone by. We will soon be starting the year 2013 and I for one am excited to see what this year will hold.

As I look back over the year 2012 I often go to the times that were not very happy. I think about having a virus over spring break, getting bit by a black widow on our 2 year wedding anniversary, having pneumonia in october. It seems like the list continued to go on and on and on. Then I shook my head and told myself..... " ERIN" come on.... Why would you sit there and dwell on the negative things that have happened!?! Why not focus more on the positives! The positives out weight the negatives by a LONG shot. Sometimes we are guilty of just looking at the bad parts of our lives and tend to forget all the great times, the great memories made and the many blessings that God has given to us..... WE tend to forget that we have a home to live in, loved ones that care about us, our health, food on the table, transportation, the means to do the things we need to do, the fact that I am a daughter of a KING and we all have the ability to worship our Lord and Savior anytime/anywhere if we choose to.

 With all that said... Who can look at the negatives when the positives are far greater than any negative. Life is about choices that we make every day. Choices to do great things, the right thing or to choose the opposite and do bad things and not care. Yes, we all have bad days where we want to choose choice B. Which stands for choosing bad things. Then we all have those days where we feel great and we feel nothing can go wrong and we want to choose choice A. I know each day brings about new challenges in our lives. Trust me... each day brings new challenges in my life as well.... Some challenges are harder than others... It's tough attempting to stay positive, but we must never forget all that we have been "given". God places individuals in our lives to help us. I truly believe I have certain people in my life that God sent to me as angels. They help me each and every day. They keep me going and they seem to love me no matter what.

  Please never forget. God doesn't make mistakes. He knows what He is doing! This new year will bring about all sorts of challenges that we must face. The good news is this. WE never ever have to face a challenge alone. :)

 Well, I wasn't real sure where I was going to go with this blog entry.. but... looks like I have rambled long enough... I wish each of you the MERRIEST CHRISTmas possible and also a very HAPPY NEW YEAR.  Enjoy this time to the fullest!
Love to all!
Erin Stansell-Sears