Finding Thanksgiving

I was talking with my daughter this morning and the conversation turned to this topic:

"I can't wrap my head around the fact that next Thursday is Thanksgiving."

And that's truth.

2015, like many other years past, has been a vapor. It has been everything from peaceful to roaring chaotic and all in between. The highs have been high and the lows have been low. Bad decisions were made as were good ones and things I promised myself I would accomplish this year....well...most haven't happened.

Now, I could get really down about that last statement, and if I am honest with you, have found myself doing that at times.

And that's okay, and here's why:

Because in the midst of all our plans, hopes and dreams...life happens. Folks get sick, need help. Job situations change. Births happen, as well as deaths. Children grow and that is a constant and good change! Groceries have to be bought, bills have to be paid, laundry has to be done, meals have to be cooked and homes have to be cleaned.

So in the midst of life today, I was thinking that maybe some of us have lost Thanksgiving. Like, really lost it. Oh, we can say that we are thankful for this or thankful for that, but we have truly lost Thanksgiving. In the middle of this happening life, it's easy to focus on the sadness, the emptiness, the loneliness. It's easy to focus on finances not going as far as we'd like, especially when we know right behind Thanksgiving will be Christmas.

Yes, we should have prepared better. Yes, we should have stayed home more.Yes, we should have cooked at home instead of hitting up the drive thru.  Because let's be honest....birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas come at the same time every single year. Those are three days that should never catch us off guard, yet we always find ourselves under the gun, family activities bearing down on us and there we are again.....

I'm asking you...and myself...to start right now looking for Thanksgiving. Looking for and truly believing in your heart, to the point your heart is singing so loudly you can't believe it, that life IS beautiful and it IS fun and that it IS a blessing! Don't look behind and don't look in the future. We just cannot change the past and the future is in God's hands and if we're doing all we can for those future things, God will do all we can't and if those future things don't play out like we'd prayed for, God will take care of us through that as well.

Look at today. Look at the physical today. Look at your spouse, look at your children, look at your home....the picture might not look as our heart would like it to, but in those things I believe we can find Thanksgiving.

In finding Thanksgiving we are making a choice, we are choosing to enjoy today. We are choosing to be thankful for today. Share that with someone. With  lots of someones!!! If you're struggling to see Thanksgiving, you may have to share with a lot of  people and you may have to say it over and over but you will begin to see Thanksgiving emerging and I'm sure, before long, you will have found exactly what you've been looking for....happiness and thanksgiving.

Just Catchin' Up!

Wanted to share another couple of updates within our family with you...actually, I wanted to post something and give you a chance to leave a comment since tomorrow is the last day of my give-a-way and a daily comment increases your chance of winning!!!

It's official..it's one month until my baby graduates high school!!! Where has the time gone?? I was so blessed to be a SAHM and to homeschool my children and yet it still went by so quickly!!! How is that possible? What do I do with all of the extra time that I'll have?? Well, I'm not sure but.....

This past Tuesday night, I went for a group interview at the chiropractic office that I gave my resume to and yesterday they called me in for a second interview. They will call me back today for a specific date, and at that time I"ll get to talk to the Doctor and his wife one on one. So...we'll see what God has in store.....

DD went back to see the surgeon yesterday and she is healing up quite nicely from her surgery (of a month and a half ago!!) She still has one little spot that isn't quite healed but we have moved up to "see you in a month" status which is a good thing! She got to go back to work about 3 weeks ago, but still hasn't been released from the doctor...that day may be an occasion to celebrate!!!

It has been a week full of blessings for us so far this week. Nothing over the top, but just those daily blessings that God gives that we sometimes just overlook because life gets in the way. Let me encourage you to sit down and take a few minutes and just reflect on your week so far and thank God for His blessings...big and small!!

Celebrating Over At the Well!!!

As so many other women, I am so blessed to be a part of the group of writers over At the Well. I have made so many friends by being a part of this group, but more than that, sisters in Christ.

Together we have prayed for, cried and rejoiced with each other over so many things that have led us down the paths of our lives.

At the Well is a year old and a wonderful year it has been, but what is even more wonderful is the way that God has grown this ministry!!!

I truly encourage you to hop over there and read today's post and try and take in all of the wonderful changes that God is making in this ministry and in the lives of the women who write and the ones who read.

Sharing My Award

I was humbled to receive the "Honest Scrap Award" from my friend Kristen over at Hands, House and Heart Full.

Kristen and I "met" through blogland and she has become a very dear friend of mine. I truly encourage you to check out her blog.

So...with this award, I am suppose to share 10 secrets...things about myself that you don't know. I don't know how well I'll do on that, but here goes.........

1) In elementary school, I played the flute. We later moved to another state and I wasn't able to continue on. I sometimes wish I had though.

2) I love to bake everything, especially desserts from scratch!! I believe everything tastes better made from scratch!

3) I have been a stay at home mom for 18 years. Financially, it hasn't always been easy, but it's always been worth it!

4) There is 13 years between me and my sister, and 13 years between my sister and my daughter!

5) I/we did fertility treatments for 5½ years before getting pregnant with DD.

6) DS is living proof there is no such thing as safe sex!! (Too much info maybe???....maybe not if you're talking to teenagers!)

7) The main part of our house is over 100 years old.

WOW!! This is harder than I thought it would be!!

8) We were missionaries in Colorado for 5 years.

9) I do not know how to swim--I can stay afloat a little bit, but it's not going to save me!!

10) I did not meet Jesus until I was 27 years old.

Now...I'm suppose to share this award with other bloggers I love. Well...I love ALL of you!!! So, if you are reading this post, I am giving you this award and I would love it if you would accept it and pass it on! If you choose to accept, please leave me a comment so I can come check out your post and learn your secrets!!!!

"I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning."
2 John 1:5, NLT

An Award and Our Trip to Gatlinburg!

Let me begin today by saying that I'm probably the worst person I know about posting awards that I have been blessed with!!! It's not that I don't appreciate them....as a matter of fact, I'm very humbled by them..but my mind is always going in thirty different directions and I always think about them when I'm not at the computer posting.

My sweet, sweet, patient, encouraging friend Kristen over at Hands, House, and Heart Full gave me this award last Thursday!! It's the "Honest Scrap" award.

I am suppose to list 10 secrets about myself and then pass it on.

Well, now that's something I need to focus on and so......I'll do this post on Thursday and pass it on as well.


Now to tell some more about our trip to Gatlinburg......

We actually stayed in Pigeon Forge. There is a hotel there that has unbelievable rates, is clean (this is HUGE to me!!!) and the staff is always friendly and eager to help! The two night stay only cost $78!! Our room had a balcony over the river which just delighted my sweet Momma.

Momma is a smoker--which I lovingly gripe about regularly--and I have a daughter with a heart condition, so the balcony (which I forgot to ask for when I registered---thank You God for taking care of things!!) was a total blessing. The blessing for me, was hearing Momma squeal when she was able to stand out there and watch ducks and Canadian geese coming and going!

Understand, this is only the second trip that Momma has ever taken other than trips back and forth to West Virginia when her parents were alive. This is the first girl's trip she's ever had and she fully enjoyed it!!

That first night we just did some shopping in Pigeon Forge. Now, bear in mind we had a 19 year old female with us, so the outlet mall was a must! Momma was so cute!! Even in stores like Old Navy and Pac Sun, where she had no interest at all, she could be found looking at and touching the clothes.....then shaking her head at the prices. We went into a kitchen gadget store and, like me, she couldn't help but look at everything!!

A drive through town looking at the lights that were still up from Christmas and a meal at KFC found us heading back to the room for some rest.

I couldn't help but get tickled as Momma got out of the shower, put her pj's on and stretched out on the bed like a teenager. She didn't care what was on tv, she just enjoyed that it was 'girl' stuff.

The next day found us in Gatlinburg on the tram. Now, DD doesn't do heights and gets motion sick, Momma doesn't do heights. But the only other option to Ober Gatlinburg was driving up and DD would never have made it, even with her Ginger Root!!! So up, up we went. Momma actually did quite well, although DD was hanging on for dear life...white knuckles and all!!

At the top we watched those that were snow tubing and the skiers as well as the ice skaters.




We also went to the wildlife habitat and watched the otters being fed and was blessed to actually see a bear! They are suppose to be hibernating right now, and we were warned that we probably wouldn't see one, but I think that seeing that bear was God's way of giving Momma a blessing.



Back down in Gatlinburg, we settled in for a day of shopping. Momma just couldn't seem to take in all the different shops and what they had to offer. We went in store after store and she seemed to pick up some kind of trinket in every store she went in. She even got tickled at her own self, but said that she didn't know when she'd get this kind of chance again and so she was going to make the most of it.

We decided to eat at Cracker Barrel that night. Now, that may not seem like a big deal to you, but to my Momma, it was huge. You see, I didn't learn until just a few days before our trip that she had never been inside a Cracker Barrel!!! Well, being a dumb daughter, the first thing out of my mouth was, "You're kidding!!" But she was serious.

So, into Cracker Barrel we went. We hadn't ate since breakfast and DD and I were pretty hungry. Momma just couldn't quit looking and shopping and DD and I just let her enjoy. It was such a blessing to watch her eyes and see her smile. An hour or so later she was ready to eat and we enjoyed some of the best home cooking!! I love eating at Cracker Barrel, especially when you're traveling. There is only so much fast food you can stomach before your tummy wants the real deal!

All too soon Wednesday came and time to head home. We made one last drive through Pigeon Forge stopping at a few shops we hadn't had a chance to before and then began our trip home.

God blessed us with health and safety and more wonderful memories than I could have ever imagined. I told DH later that night as we lay in bed that he couldn't have given me anything more precious for Christmas.....watching my Momma relax, smile, laugh and have fun...

TRYING to Leave for Gatlinburg..

It really amazes me how long it takes you to catch up even after a small trip away!! To be honest, I'm still not caught up, but I did want to begin to share just a couple of blessings that I was able to enjoy on our trip to Gatlinburg last week.

I must begin with what happened the night before.

Packed and ready to go, we all settled into bed for a good night's sleep....well, DH and I settled into bed. DD was still doing a bit of packing and DS was on the phone with his girlfriend. Since they're older, we don't enforce a strict bedtime, but we do insist they get up on time with a smile on their face each morning. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1:15 AM, I hear a noise from the kids end of the house. It was one of those noises that any Mom can recognize and causes her feet to hit the floor running and she finds herself in action before she finds herself awake.

I found DS on the toilet hugging a trash can, violently giving back everything he'd eaten a few hours earlier. He wasn't sick at all when we laid down, so I just figured he'd had a few too many spicy Cheetos.

Twenty minutes later, he was lying back down and I was praying that this was the only event for the night.

Not to be.

A little over an hour later, I found myself doing the Sleepy Mom Run again through the house. I found DS in the same position, only this time he wasn't as able to refund as much as before.

Wipe his face. Hand him some tissue. Give him a sip of water---"NO! Don't guzzle, just a sip!!"--and go with him back to bed.

By now, I'm thinking we've invited a stomach bug to visit.

It's now about 2:30 in the morning and all I can do is fight with the fact that in 3½ hours I'm suppose to be leaving on a girl's trip and the fact that my baby is throwing up his toenails. I tell DH that I don't think I can leave and he informs me that he will shove me in the car in my pj's.

He tells me he'll call into work (which is TERRIBLY difficult for him to do since he's in a supervisory position) and stay home with DS. Now I feel guilty that he's got to call in and that I'm leaving a sick child......

6 AM, time to leave and Mom still hasn't arrived. DS hasn't thrown up anymore, but right at that moment, I'm feeling pretty nauseous myself. Oh no.......

Mom gets to my house but there is no way we can leave. DS has just thrown up again and the fog is so heavy that you literally can't see the hood of the car from the windshield.

Ohhhhh satan.....I AM NOT IMPRESSED!!!!

7 AM and we are finally on the road...and yes, DH did practically have to shove me out the door.

The fog was still terrible and the first hour of driving didn't involve much laughter and conversation as I was still feeling nauseous and trying to keep the car in the road!!

Finally we decide to stop and get some breakfast. I'm thinking that maybe I just need to get some food in my tummy. I manage to keep a biscuit down and we're off again.

We are blessed with a beautiful drive after the fog lifted. DH kept me updated that DS only threw up one more time and was feeling better as the day went on.

By the time we got into Gatlinburg, I was feeling better and was glad that I hadn't allowed satan to ruin this wonderful gift my DH had given me.

Since this is pretty long already and I don't want to keep you tied to your computer, I'll share more tomorrow.......

Worship Him

"May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace."
Numbers 6: 24-26, NLT

A Very Special Day!!

In place of my usual Created to be His Help Meet, I've decided that today I'm going to share a very special story.

About 25 years ago, I realized that it was going to be very hard for me to have a baby. There were many issues, the biggest being that I wasn't ovulating as I should.

A trip to my OB/GYN later found me using a Basal thermometer with sex on demand--not as wonderful as you might think (even for you men...ask DH), fertility drugs, more fertility drugs, higher doses of fertility drugs.

This was all mingled in with test upon test to see if I was pregnant. Each test resulted in a pink minus sign.

DH and I finally decided after 5½ years that enough was enough and began the process of adoption.

Not long into that process, my body just started doing these.....weird things. Not anything that made me feel like I was sick, mind you, just weird things.

After a week or so of pleading from my best girlfriend, I finally gave in and bought yet another pregnancy test. This time though instead of a dark pink minus sign....it was the faintest shade of a positive sign!! Maybe? Could it be?

I called that 1-800 number on the back and the lady on the other end of the line assured me that if I could even make out the faintest plus sign, I was most likely pregnant. An excited call to my Dr. and a quick trip to his office confirmed it.....after 6½ years, I was going to have a baby!!!!!!!!

I was blessed with a wonderful pregnancy and only 37½ hours of labor introduced me to the most beautiful little girl I'd ever laid eyes on in my life!!!

Her name is Beth and today she is 19 years old....



HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY AND MY MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday and time to join up with Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. It's a time we set aside to list five things that we are truly thankful for.

It is such a blessing to be able to share what I am thankful for and rejoice with you in how God has blessed you as well.

Click here to join us in sharing the faithfulness of God!!!

Here are my thankfuls for this week......

1) I am thankful for a warm house!!! This week has been one of the coldest we've had in Alabama in a very long time and they're predicting it's going to get colder still!!! We are blessed with plenty of heat and the ability to afford it..along with blankets, warm soups and hot cocoa!!

2) I am thankful that DS's car is running better. He's had quite a time and he and DH have been playing a game of "Could it be this?"---a most frustrating game at best!

3) I am thankful that DD loves her new job at the hospital. Only 4 days in, but she said the atmosphere is so much better than the place she left. God is SO faithful!!

4) I am thankful that my Mom is excited about our trip in a little more than a week!! Sometimes Mom gets so wound up in what "might happen" that she doesn't enjoy the here and now.

5) I am thankful that DD's new boss is fine with her taking the time off for our trip. Most new employers frown on that. Again, God is SO faithful!!!

"All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen One who never dies; He alone is God. Amen."
1 Timothy 1:17, NLT

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday and time to join up with Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. It's a time we set aside to list five things that we are truly thankful for.

It is such a blessing to be able to share what I am thankful for and rejoice with you in how God has blessed you as well.

Click here to join us in sharing the faithfulness of God!!!

Here are my thankfuls for this week......

1) I am thankful that we had an incredibly blessed Christmas. With so much negative going on in our world, all I could do was look around and thank God for His blessings and faithfulness.

2) I am thankful for a super wonderful three days away with my husband. We celebrated 26 years of marriage on the 16th and I can honestly say that I'm more in love with him today than I was 26 years ago. Speaking of DH........

3) I am thankful for the Christmas gift he gave me. I'm a bear at Christmastime when it comes to giving money and/or gift cards as gifts. There is nothing wrong with that and in many cases, my teens prefer that..it's just something I, personally, don't like to give or receive. So, when I opened my gift from DH...I found, you guessed it..money. Knowing that he knows how I feel about that, I was slightly caught off guard until I read the letter that went along with it. The basic jest of the letter was that my DH had actually listened to something I said while we were away for our anniversary. I mentioned that I'd love to have a girls weekend, just me, my mom and DD. He gave me the money to do just that and in 2 weeks, we're off!!! How super is that man of mine!!?

4) I am thankful for answered prayer concerning DD's new job. She starts Monday at the hospital (where DH works). She will be working in Dietary in a management position, 40 hours a week with benefits and a substantial raise. There have been a lot of problems and some moral issues where she is currently working and this was a total God-send for her.

5) I am thankful for my warm, dry house. Here where I live, it is rainy and cold..typical winter..and going to get colder in the next week. I tend to take a warm, dry house for granted..not thinking about it because it's my life and where I live, but when I'm lying in bed at night and I hear the rain pelting against the window and the wind blowing all around..and I'm all snuggled under the blankets with DH's arms wrapped around me, I'm gently reminded of how truly blessed I am.

" O God, we give glory to You all day long and constantly praise Your name."
Psalm 44:8, NLT

Just Lettin' Go...

Here we are just two days before Christmas and I find myself in a strange spot. I don't need to make any emergency runs for last minute gifts or ingredients to finish that 'perfect' recipe.

I'm not wishing I'd mailed 'one more' Christmas card or decorated that room a little better.

Am I saying that I was able to cross everything off my "want to have done" list? No.

What I am saying is that I've decided not to stress about it.

There are many gifts under the tree. Proof that we are blessed to still have jobs and incomes and the ability to give...abundantly.

The pantry shelves are stocked as is the frig and the freezer. Rolls will be baked, ham will be glazed and potatoes and gravy will be plentiful.

On the kitchen island sits two different types of cookies and two different types of candy. Not to mention the apple pie and pecan pie that will be baked on Christmas Eve.

Maybe I'm just getting older and wiser, or maybe just older and more tired, or maybe I'm just standing around watching all the people around me angry and stressed looking like they hate everything about life. But I'm just choosing to not live that way.

Nothing can make me believe that what God wants for His children is stress, chaos, anger, confusion, depression...so why would I willingly choose to continually put myself in situations that would cause me to have those feelings and emotions?

In my quest to find balance and to be totally in tune with God wants me to do, I'm finding that He wants me to simplify, stress less and enjoy the blessings He's given me.

He's encouraging me not to worry about what the Jones' have and to appreciate what He's given me.

He's showing me that what I have is more than enough, what I write is what He's leading me to write and what I do truly needs to line up with His will.

And I'm finding that maybe that is the best Christmas gift of all......

Just Catchin' Up...

Since my posting has been so sporadic of late, I thought I'd take a minute just to catch you all up!!...

DH and I had a wonderful time in Gatlinburg!! It was so nice to just have that one on one time with each other. You don't realize how important that time is with your husband until you actually take the time to do it. You don't realize how crazy busy you've gotten...so busy that even meaningful conversation has taken a back seat.

If you don't already, let me encourage you to take regular time with your hubby just to reconnect. You don't have to go away for a few days, you can take a walk together, go out to dinner (or breakfast, or whatever works for your schedule). You can put the kids to bed early...it doesn't matter what you do, just do something to make sure that you and your hubby have some time just strictly for each other.



A story to share..it reminds me that we've got some awesome teens....

DD and DS decided to get a bite to eat at a local restaurant while DH and I were out of town. They enjoyed a great meal and had a wonderful waitress. They paid their bill and when it got time to leave the conversation went like this:

DS: "What about the tip?"

DD: (Lays a $20 bill on the table)

DS: "I'll match it!!" (Lays another $20 bill on the table)

They leave, slowly, watching to make sure that their waitress buses the table. She does. As they walk by the huge window out front, the waitress looks up at them with tears in her eyes. DD and DS move on to the next store (they were in the mall). Just a few minutes later the waitress catches up with them, gives them a hug and tells them, "Thank you so much!!" and she runs back to work. What a wonderful blessing my two gave someone right here at Christmas!! Let me tell you, this Mama heart is proud!!!

Finally...today is an awesome special day...today my baby turns 17!!!! Oh he is such a miracle and such a blessing to me. You see, he shouldn't be alive. Had God not intervened, this would be a day of sadness instead of celebration.

There is no doubt about when we conceived this man child of ours. We were planning our next child and was coming off of birth control, but using other means of protection while we were waiting for the birth control to get out of my system. Well....let me just say that DS is the poster child for the "There is No Such Thing as Safe Sex". About 4½ months into my pregnancy, my doctor told me out of the blue that he felt we needed to do a sonar. Okay. We were curious about whether we had a boy or a girl, so...no big deal.

As we lay their watching the screen and listening to the nurse things were going just great. Then she became very quiet and began getting really serious about her job. After several minutes, she shared that this little boy we were waiting on had no kidneys and no bladder...but she guessed I just wasn't as far along as we thought. She sent this news and DH and I back to my doctor.

My doctor reviewed everything and looked at us with those all-knowing, all too serious eyes and told us what the plan was. In two weeks I would come back for another sonar, if it showed the same, he would send me to a different hospital with some specialists who would do what was needed to prepare our son for a kidney upon birth...should a donor be available. If there were no donor, then upon birth, our son would die.

Needless to say, I fell apart and through his tears and own turmoil, DH tried to be strong. As we prepared to leave the doctor's office, Doc put his arm around me and reminded me that, "We know Someone bigger than this".

Two weeks of praying and waiting found us back in that same sonar room with that same nurse.

Nurse: "Well, let's see now...here's his head, see his eyes? And here's his spine..look at that little heart just beating away..and look!!!!! There are two kidneys and a bladder and they are functioning perfectly!!!!!!!! See, I told you, you weren't as far along as you thought!"

Us: "No mam!!..that's all God!!! Only He can make organs and put them where they belong!!"

Back in my Doctor's office there were tears all over again, but this time tears of shear joy and thankfulness to a God Who has big plans for this child.
So....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACHARY!!! I love you SOO much!!!!




By the way, a few months after he was born I learned that Zachary means "Touched by God"...how fitting.....

And a Carolin' They Went

A caravan of 9 vehicles carrying in the neighborhood of about 40 people.

All ages they came out, 2 years old to 70 years old....all for one reason...to bless someone else.

Who did they bless?

The elderly. Those who would have joined them if their body would have allowed.

The sick. Those who also would have joined in...again, if their body would have allowed.

The dying. Those who knew in their hearts that unless God intervened, this would most likely be the last time they celebrated the birth of Jesus here on this earth.

Those 40 people sang. They sang loudly and way off key, but no one minded.

They sang the wrong words at times and even, at times, forgot the words completely...but no one minded.

There were tears. Tears from those visited and from those doing the visiting.

There was laughter and clapping and smiles.

All because a church decided to say "I Care" enough to make someone's day a little brighter.....and they did.

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday and time to join up with Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. It's a time we set aside to list five things that we are truly thankful for.

It is such a blessing to be able to share what I am thankful for and rejoice with you in how God has blessed you as well.

Click here to join us in sharing the faithfulness of God!!!

Here are my thankfuls for this week......

1) I am thankful that I'm feeling better. My 'under the weather' turned out to be bronchitis!! But.....the coughing is less and my family is as thankful for that as I am!!!

2) I am thankful for the snow we got Saturday!! It wasn't much, but it sure was beautiful to look at!

3) I am thankful for the bargains that God has blessed me with in purchasing Christmas gifts for my kids. The older they get the more expensive their 'toys' are and those bargains are true blessings!!

4) I am thankful for the opportunity to teach the young girls at church on Wednesday night. It's been a while since I've had the younger girls and I'm really looking forward to it!!

5) I am thankful that next Wednesday I will be celebrating 26 years of marriage to the most wonderful man in the world!!!!

"My cup overflows with blessings."
Psalm 23:5b, NLT

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday and time to join up with Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. It's a time we set aside to list five things that we are truly thankful for.

It is such a blessing to be able to share what I am thankful for and rejoice with you in how God has blessed you as well.

Click here to join us in sharing the faithfulness of God!!!

Here are my thankfuls for this week......

1) I am so thankful for what God has shown me during my blogging break. The enemy had such tight blinders on me and I had allowed him to pull them tighter and tighter. But God, as always, saw me drowning and extended His big, strong hand. I grabbed it and held on tightly because I was so afraid of what He would expose. What He showed me was painful and somewhat embarrassing, but He did it with such gentleness and love that I found myself thankful.

2) I am so thankful for each of my cyber friends/sisters who took the time to share their stories and extend their prayers and encouragement during my break. I truly never realized that others struggled with the very same things I have!!

3) I am so thankful for my wonderful family. I've been a bit under the weather this week with a head cold..or something, and I've not been my busy, somewhat perky self. They have all been so kind and understanding when the things that are normally done have gone undone. Even DS has been extra gentle with dear ole' mom!!

4) I am so thankful for the blessings that God showed me over the Thanksgiving holiday. I saw first hand how truly wonderfully He has blessed this family and all I can do is praise Him because I surely don't deserve any of it.

5) I am so thankful for the ability to see. This time of year brings out the Christmas lights and I turn into a 5 year old child all wide-eyed trying to take in the shear beauty of it all.

"He alone is your God, the only One Who is worthy of your praise, the One who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes."
Deuteronomy 10:21, NLT

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday and time to join up with Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. It's a time we set aside to list five things that we are truly thankful for.

It is such a blessing to be able to share what I am thankful for and rejoice with you in how God has blessed you as well.

Click here to join us in sharing the faithfulness of God!!!

Here are my thankfuls for this week......

1) I am thankful for confirmation from God. Sunday night at church we had a visiting evangelist and the service was awesome!!...although right now I can't tell you what the message was about. The evangelist gave an altar call and for whatever reason....satan....I didn't move. Then, I couldn't stand it any longer and headed to the altar. Next thing I know, I'm holding a prayer cloth and the evangelist is eyeball to eyeball with me and when he spoke, God came out of his mouth!! It was so totally awesome to hear God tell me that He knows what I'm battling and that He is ready and more than able to take me by the hand and deliver me from the bondages that satan is trying so hard to keep me in.

2) I am thankful that my guys had a safe and wonderful weekend camping. They came home full of laughter and fun stories to share. Even throughout this week, they've made little statements that make no sense to me and DD, but will put them doubled over in laughter!

3) I am thankful for this sweet, sweet man at church nicknamed Mayor. He always greats me with a laugh and a smile and when he shakes my hand, he slips a peppermint in it. What a true blessing of happiness he is!!

4) I am thankful that my Dad's follow up Dr visit went well. Since his heart surgery, he's been a bit more tired, but the Dr is pleased with how well he is coming along.

5) I am thankful for my new WOW 2010, cd!! Seriously. I got a great deal on it, but there are some awesome God songs on there that do wonders in bringing me before the throne in praise to my Savior!

"My cup overflows with blessings."
Psalm 23: 5, NLT

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday and time to join up with Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. It's a time we set aside to list five things that we are truly thankful for.

It is such a blessing to be able to share what I am thankful for and rejoice with you in how God has blessed you as well.

Click here to join us in sharing the faithfulness of God!!!

Here are my thankfuls for this week......

1) I am thankful for a full week of sunshine!!! It has been so nice to wake up to the beautiful brightness of the sun AND I've gotten to hang my laundry on the line!!!

2) I am thankful for our heating system. Along with this beautiful sunshine and clear days has came the chillier weather!

3) I am thankful for the season that is upon us. I love this time of year!!! I love everything about it and my memories truly begin to flood my soul. It seems like almost everything can trigger a warm fuzzy!

4) I am thankful that God is blessing my guys with a rain free weekend. This weekend is their annual father/son camping trip and we were really concerned that with all the rain we'd been having, they might have a wet weekend. But as always..God is faithful!!

5) I am thankful for the time that I'll get to spend just me and DD while my guys are away. She's becoming an adult and I know that these moments are becoming more and more precious.

"Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise His holy name."
Psalm 30:4, NLT