Blessings Amongst Unemployment

I regularly read a blog written by a mom with 10 children. Her husband is also unemployed like mine is. She recently started titling posts, "Magic and Miracles in the Mess. Finding the Good During Unemployment." The day after I read the first miracle post, I started noticing all the little blessings that were similar to hers. I started keeping a list, some mental, some in my planner, of tender mercies from the Lord. I couldn't believe how fast they started adding up. So even though there are days I can't take it anymore, feeling His love shown through others keeps me going and warms my bitter heart. I've been meaning to write this post for several weeks, and now that I'm finally sitting down to do it, I realize it's Thanksgiving. What better time to write this?
Here are a bunch of blessings starting from a few weeks ago when my parents were here, until this week:

• My parents insisted they pay for some of the food in my cart because they were the ones going to eat it, but never did. After they left we had a lot of food paid for by them.
• We invited my parents out to eat, planning to use our gift card that was a Christmas present last year. Instead they took us to a restaurant and used one of their gift cards. Now we still have ours to use the next time Nathan and I want to eat out.
• My mom took my girls shopping and got them some new clothes. I think it's the first time they've had a shopping excursion like that at a real store and not a children's consignment shop or thrift store. They were so excited!
• When I went visiting teaching a sister gave us some bananas.
• A friend moving away gave us her dishes. We've never had enough dishes, so these were a big blessing. When I went to pick them up, she also gave us some good snacks: Goldfish, animal crackers, etc.
• A friend invited us over for dinner and wouldn't let us bring anything. 
• We harvested over 50 green tomatoes from our garden just before the first frost. They are now almost all ripened and we're still enjoying fresh tomatoes.
• Likewise, we got at least a dozen bell peppers. Fajitas is my favorite dinner!
• I opened the upstairs bathroom cupboard and noticed all these little bottles of conditioner and little soaps. I know my mom left them there on purpose. I've gone without conditioner the past few months and we're on our last bar of soap.
• We were out of wipes for a week and I was just about to go to the store to get some when a huge box of them appeared on our porch.
• I calculated our gas mileage and it was the highest it's ever been.
• Someone gave us a ham. Then someone else gave us a turkey. We'll have one for Christmas and one for Thanksgiving.
• The kids have been wonderful through this all. They are constantly adding up the cost of a meal and encouraging me to cook a cheaper meal tomorrow. It's actually been fun trying to cook cheaply. 

For the bad news, Nathan's car needed $420 worth of work to pass inspection. Ugg!! I finally decided to apply for food stamps. I was surprised to learn we get more than I usually spend on groceries. It will be nice not to worry about finding money for food. Nathan resisted the idea of government assistance for a long time but is now grateful to have more variety in our meals. It's also motivating him to apply for more jobs. I hope something comes from one of them soon!

I'm really grateful that we're all healthy and doing well. Homeschooling is going great; we're having a wonderful year. I'm so sad we haven't been able to do music lessons in 1 1/2 years, but I love the extra time we have at home to bond and play together. I have a lot of blessings to count even though things aren't what we'd like them to be this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!