Plenty of reasons to be blessed

Since the beginning of September I have witnessed a professional tennis player throwing an "F bomb," a singer stealing the spotlight from a young, first-time winner of an award show, a book revealing the consensual consent of an affair between a father and daughter, a man and woman kidnap and subject a young girl to years of torment, a Yale student found murdered on the day she was to be married, Iran threatening Israel and U.S. military bases with nukes -- and the list goes on.

Would I like to put a pillow over my head and not get out of bed? Absolutely. But then I would miss this beautiful weather we are having, the ability to watch my niece and nephew experience life, the ability to get to love my family and be grateful for the wonderful friends I have for one more day, to share the joy of a very special couple celebrating the birth of a new baby after so much grief and heartache, receiving an invitation to a birthday party of a very special 2-year-old miracle who has endured two open-heart surgeries since her birth due to her heart not forming correctly while in her mother's womb and having two cousins in my family recently celebrate their second birthdays.

And so our family continues to grow. I can't give up, I can't crawl under the covers, for God richly blesses me every day. I hope you have a blessed day.

GENA BISHER, Cape Girardeau