. . . and closer . . .

Well, I've been feeling so blessed lately, I feel like I should show my gratitude for all the good things in my life, at least in some small measure.

I'm grateful to be here in beautiful Manchester, to have the experience to make new friends and play great music, to learn how to work with different personalities and, as always, to learn more about myself in the process of all of this. This is not to say at all that I'm not THRILLED that my time here is almost done, that in a week and a half I'll be heading back home, but I am grateful for the opportunity to be here.

I'm grateful for my wonderful family, for the support that they give to me. I have the best parents in the world, and the best big brother and sister-in-law. I miss them, but I'm so glad to know that they love and support me.

I'm grateful for my fantastic fiance, and for our future together. It's been hard to be away from him for so long so quickly after having become engaged (I left a week after he proposed), but if nothing else it has underscored the fact that I don't want to be apart from him any longer than I have to. It's been neat to hear him talk about all the developments in his life in these past few weeks, but I wish I could be there with him through it all. I'm really proud of him for taking on the "real world" and I'm so excited to be a grown-up with him. :-)

I'm grateful for the blessing of opportunity, and for the prospect of being gainfully employed with a rather ideal job next year: one that still allows for gigging, but that also provides a regular paycheck as well as medical benefits. This is amazing.

I'm grateful for the rewards that have come from planning ahead. Things are falling into place very well right now, and I can only attribute it to a loving God who is blessing me for taking a step into the dark and putting trust in Him. I could hardly call it coincidence that so much is just being placed in front of me, but I know it's true that "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me."