This weekend was absolutely gorgeous. I must have paused at least five or six times to feel the warmth of the sun on my face. I think it was my subconscious telling me to enjoy it before we go into our colorful fall and then our Wisconsin Winter Wonderland. The last few months has been full of jarring, surprising, devastating, and crazy news across our country. Nazi rallies, changes to policy, two hurricanes, devastating wild fires. The list goes on and on.

Today I took a moment to realize just how truly blessed I am. I am so thankful, so blessed to have the life that I have. I am married to a man who is my absolute best friend and my eternal soul mate (may sound cheesy, but it couldn’t be anymore true). I have a home that I love, and I look out my window to beautiful nature and to the sound of children’s laughter. I have a job that I love, and I work with incredibly amazing and talented people who care so much about our children’s future. I am so fortunate to have a family, both on my side and on Eli’s, who is close, supportive, loving, and full of amazing individuals. My life is blessed.

The adoption Eli and I are pursuing is such an incredible blessing. The irony sometimes of the idea that my future child/children will experience such loss, but I will experience and have experienced so much gain is mind blowing to me. This experience has given me humility. It’s humbled me. I know I’ve said it in previous posts, but I truly see the world through a different lens. A better lens. I know I am better because of this journey.

Today while I was sitting in church our pastor had a sermon about blessings. He said that God doesn’t bless us for our own gain; rather he blesses us to be a blessing for others. Isn’t that beautiful? It can really change one’s perspective. I thought long and hard about this today as I enjoyed a gorgeous fall afternoon. Our adoption path has been an absolute privilege, a true blessing. And the family I will have, regardless of the difficult circumstances or scenarios, will be an absolute blessing to me. I know this with every fiber of my being. Could you imagine what this country, this world would look like if we became blessings to each other? What a beautiful thing!

So tonight I simply feel blessed by the sunset, but tugging in the back of my mind is the complexity of how people are dealing with such devastation in the wake of hurricanes and fires. I’m determined to help in someway.  So grateful to be blessed to be a blessing.

~Chelsea