{"id":983,"date":"2013-07-09T17:00:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T17:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=983"},"modified":"2013-07-09T17:00:43","modified_gmt":"2013-07-09T17:00:43","slug":"blessed-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=983","title":{"rendered":"Blessed is"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This last week has been one of wonders for me.\u00a0 So instead of a traditional blog with a story, I am going to just tell it in snippets with a few pictures thrown in for good measure.<\/p>\n<p>Bliss is working together as a family for four days straight side-by-side to reach a common goal.<\/p>\n<p>Celebration is seeing the chaos of your life begin to dissipate.<\/p>\n<p>Awe is discovering that wayward tree growing in your lilac bushes is actually a mulberry tree your boys planted years ago on Arbor Day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-17.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-985\" alt=\"blog pic 17\" src=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-17.jpg\" width=\"497\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-17.jpg 1944w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-17-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-17-768x1024.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-17-624x832.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Happiness is realizing you didn\u2019t cut it down when you first discovered its appearance above the hedge.<\/p>\n<p>Wonder is spending forty-five minutes watching monarch caterpillars munch on milkweed leaves in your garden.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-16.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-986\" alt=\"blog pic 16\" src=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-16.jpg\" width=\"497\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-16.jpg 2592w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-16-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-16-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-16-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Satisfaction is realizing that when others thought you were weird for planting milkweed you were confident God would bring the butterflies.<\/p>\n<p>Excitement is letting out a squeal of delight when you see the life-sized mechanical dinosaur move.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-15.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-987\" alt=\"blog pic 15\" src=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-15.jpg\" width=\"497\" height=\"748\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-15.jpg 2848w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-15-199x300.jpg 199w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-15-680x1024.jpg 680w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-15-624x939.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Of course, this kind of delight may cause one of your best friends to almost run off the road.)<\/p>\n<p>Thankfulness is knowing she loves you anyways \u2013 even if you are a science geek with a child-like love for dinosaurs.<\/p>\n<p>Awe-inspiring is watching your little girl see a friend she met only once before walk hand-in-hand with that friend immediately while introducing her to her other friends.<\/p>\n<p>Proud is watching the fruits of your friends\u2019 labors create one of the most amazing small town open air markets I have ever enjoyed.<\/p>\n<p>Tasty is bringing home those labors and enjoying every single bite.<\/p>\n<p>Joy is watching your children smile &#8211; even in life&#8217;s smallest moments.<\/p>\n<p>Amazement is being surrounded by your family and friends watching fireworks.<\/p>\n<p>Rapture is swapping stories at our favorite viewing site.<\/p>\n<p>Crazy is finding prairie roses in the ditch and wishing to bring them home to your garden.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-18.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-988\" alt=\"blog pic 18\" src=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-18.jpg\" width=\"497\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-18.jpg 2592w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-18-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-18-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/blog-pic-18-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Crazy love is a dear friend getting you the shovel.<\/p>\n<p>Captivating is finding a killdeer nest in the community garden.<\/p>\n<p>Nurturing is making little flags that warn others not to disturb the eggs.<\/p>\n<p>Exuberance is espying the first lightning bug of the year!<\/p>\n<p>Blessed is my life!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This last week has been one of wonders for me.\u00a0 So instead of a traditional blog with a story, I am going to just tell it in snippets with a few pictures thrown in for good measure. Bliss is working together as a family for four days straight side-by-side to reach a common goal. Celebration [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[26,100,126,201,211,233,238,312,328,364,380,660],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}