Dishes and GASP, hot dogs!

I just can't stop thinking about two recent interactions with my sisters. 
"What in the world, have you not done your dishes for like a week?!" 
Me- nope that is just ONE DAYs worth and not even a full day... 

"Sheesh how many hot dogs do you have to make!" (For you health freaks, I know, GASP! I feed my family hot dogs sometimes)
Me- I know it's a lot! They each eat like two.

Oh the life of my young married days when I could actually let the dishes go for almost a week... Or buy and cook only 3 hot dogs for one meal... And yet how all the house chores and groceries and cooking felt so overrwhelming and monstrous at times. 

Flash forward to life now, I actually feel more able to accomplish all that must be done and more at peace in letting the things go that can be let go to save sanity. Yet I have a heftier load... 

Over the years I have learned and am still in the process of learning and living as Paul wrote to give thanks in all circumstances... For as the writer of One Thousand Gifts has come to understand, "A thankful heart is a happy heart"-Veggie Tales! So, am I always thankful for the dishes overflowing my sinks brim? Let's be honest, Nah! Am I always thankful for my larger than life minimum food for the budget grocery list or bill or cooking food for our small army?! Honestly, no, sometimes I'm not. Sometimes it's exhausting and overwhelming. 

But, in it all, I can step back from the exhaustion and fatigue and give thanks to God for a hard working and dedicated husband who works so hard to provide for our family and leads us in Gods ways. I can give thanks for our beautiful amazing kids who fill our hearts and home and eat all the delicious food (yes my friends, even hot dogs are delicious when you get the right ones haha) God has provided in that large grocery trip. And I can give thanks for dishes in a sink rather than having to eat off the ground with dirty hands! 

Thank you God for all the blessings--they aren't always easy or wrapped up in bows and ribbons and without work and effort--but there is beauty for ashes and blessings in the valley even if it's the shade of the mountains. 

So, today, will you praise Him in the shade or will you keep looking to the mountain peaks and miss the beauty in the gifts already around you?!