I am blessed...

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and their cheer. I am having a great day despite waking up at o-dark-thirty (5:30 AM) this morning. I had two cups of coffee and a yummy lunch and I feel great. I am blessed to have a wonderful husband that I know that no matter what happens, as long as we have each other, everything will be fine. We are looking at new houses and thanking Gof for leading us where we need to go. I am blessed to have friends and family that care about me and support me when I am down. I am blessed to have a job I like most of the time. I am blessed to have a roof over my head. I am blessed to have friends to go to Buffalo Wild Wings with and watch the Astros WIN!!! Go Astros! and I am blessed that I have the funds to spend money on beer at Buffalo Wild Wings. I am blessed to be able to buy the brand new Pat Green. I am blessed.

Thanks for all your support!

Funny, I still catch myself when I talk about God. I had planned on writing this post yesterday until the house debacle occurred. I went to Temple for the first time in about 10 years this weekend for a Bat Mitzvah of a cousin.

To give you some background, my Mom is Quaker, but was brought up Episcopalian and my Dad and Stepmom are Jewish. I living with my mother the first half of my life and had limited exposure to religion of any sort. We celebrated Christian holidays, but I had not religious education of any sort. When I moved to my Dad's when I was 12, I was pretty much told that if I was going to live there, I would go to Hebrew School. I was asked the question at the age of 12, "Do you believe that Jesus is the son of God?" I answered honestly and to the best of my ability at that time. My answer was "No." And there you go, I was "Jewish" from 12 to 18 years old. I went to Hebrew School once a week, every week of the year just about. At 13 I was Bat Mitzvah'd. I went all the way to 18. I was confirmed. It all meant nothing to me.

In high school I considered myself an atheist. As I moved on to college and matured a little bit, I considered myself agnostic. I talked to a "higher power" sometimes, but it was more of a subconsious thing. One day I was walking through campus and going to look up a class grade. A class I knew I was not doing particularly well in. I stopped on the East Mall at UT and looked up and said to myself, "God, please let me pass this class." I did pass, but this moment still didn't reveal much to me until many years later, but I believe it was my turning point. Indiscussions about religion prior to this moment I denounced things I did not agree with and deep down I knew in my heart that I really didn't know enough about any of it to denounce anything. I slowly came around and begin praying or "talking to God" as I like to see it, more often. I found myself opening up to all religions a little more.

I "generally" don't necessarily agree with organized religion, but I can now respect all people and their beliefs as long as they respect mine. I have a problem discussing religion with anyone who cannot justify their beliefs by giving me anything more than, "Well, that is what I have been taught," or "that is what the bible/torah/whatever, says." I highly respect people who have searched for and found their faith on their own. I tend to lean more towards Judaism than Christianity. I consider myself to have a very strong faith now in God and I cannot understand people who hate and denounce and are down right despicable in their behavior to people that do not agree with their religions beliefs. We all have a God. Have faith. Believe. Respect others. Any God would want those things.

Sorry for the long winded religious speech. My point at the beginning was that I went to Temple for the first time pretty much ever where I believed in what was being said and why I was there. I sat there wanting to read my Torah giving to me at my Bat Mitzvah. I read the book The Da Vinci Code and it brought about a lot of discussion between me and the hubby, sometimes very heated. I know this book is fiction, but I am thankful that it made me question and think and it brought about understanding and respect. I rely on God a lot and can't even think about how much my life was missing before I had my faith. I can understand how I could spend so much of my childhood depressed. I had no faith and therefore nothing to look to, to help me out of that hole. Okay, I am stopping now.

Thanks again for the jokes and the support and thanks for reading my bundles of babbles.