It's worth WHAT????

Blessings abound. And everyone is abundantly blessed.

Some people by money, some by friends, some by their work, others by their belongings. And the list goes on and on. Everyone, whether they admit it or not, is blessed tremendously.

Me? Rick and Elizabeth bless me. I never, ever expected to marry and have children (even though that was my desire) so when Rick came into my life, I knew that I had blessings from beyond. Elizabeth only added to my blessings.

Yet, I still find myself wondering why God blesses me so abundantly. And not just by my husband and child. I have a roof over my head, a nice car to drive and money in the bank. And MORE than enough food to eat.

BUT... my blessings have come with a price.

Between the years of 2004 and 2007, I lost my father and was left with an awful lawsuit thrown on us for some mismanaged money. I lost my mother and three weeks later, my brother. And shortly after that my best friend was diagnosed with lung, brain and pelvic cancer. She had a two year battle in front of her and left me just two months ago.

My blessings were born of those losses. With both of my parents gone, I stood to inherit 1/2 of their California home. With the loss of my brother, I became the sole recipient. It was a very painful time in my life, mourning the loss of my brother (for WELL over a year) and it even cost me a job. But if you look at the big picture, God had abundantly blessed me.

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With the clean out and sale of my parent's home... some jewelry was found in an old coffee can in a closet. The jewelry inside that can was UGLY and had belonged to my aunt and uncle before their deaths. My father had removed the jewelry from my aunt's home when her caregivers began to help themselves to her belongings.

I was now the owner of this jewelry and did nothing with it until last week when I put some of it up on ebay. Because I am stupid. But how did I know that I should've had it all appraised first? I just saw dollar signs!

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Fortunately, Rick and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this week. And although I had intended to sell my uncle's ring... an ugly gold nugget ring... on ebay, I decided to reset the main diamond and have myself a new ring!

Rick was in agreement with this endeavor (because it saved him from having to worry about a gift...) and off we headed to three different jewelry stores. Three because it took three for me to actually decide on a style.

And the store I picked is the one that said, "You inherited this? You found it in a closet? Are you aware that you are the luckiest girl on earth right now?" Yep, that's the store I picked.

And today... I am the proud owner of a new ring... (replaces the one that took a little swim in a septic tank!)

One of the diamonds from my uncle's gold nugget ring is 2 carats. * 2 CARATS!! 2 crystal clear carats! And it now happily sits on a diamond-studded solitaire for my left hand.

HAPPY 20TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

The other diamond (yes, there were two in this gawdy ring) is 1 1/2 carats and now sits in a pendant.

Although it's considered vulgar to talk about money, I can't help it. Mostly because I don't understand why I am so blessed.

The diamond in my new ring was appraised at $14,000. The pendant appraised at $10,000. I think these little diamonds will look nice in a safe deposit box, no?

But the moral of this story?

Don't sell random jewelry on ebay.

And also: Don't ever believe that you are not blessed. Even though I don't understand why God continues to bless me... He does.

And if you flush a ring... you might just get something better.

(photos will be posted tomorrow)
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