Day 5

Today I am thankful for Mrs. Wood! There are some people on earth that are just nicer than most and Mrs. Wood is one of them! She was my middle school math teacher and now is my favorite person to work with! I simply could not face my job every day without her and Rosie loves her dog biscuits too!! :) Every day when I get to work I get to see her and discuss what we can try to learn/solve/do that day and there is no one I would rather spend my work day with!!

Day 4

November 1- 9 years ago today I was starting my first full day of bed rest. I had just been told "I'll see you when the baby is born" and I was lost as to what I was going to do without being able to work. Today I am grateful for time passing and progress! God is so good and has had his hand on my plans every day of my life. I am so thankful for the progress HE has provided for me!

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost

Day 3

I am late in posting, but on Day 3 I am thankful for making childhood memories as an adult! I have always loved Halloween, but we never did much with it that I remember. I know we went to the church Fall Festival but I don't remember trick or treating ever. Last year I got to have "door duty" for the first time and loved it!!! I got to do it again this year and things like that always remind me: it's not to late to do what you've never done before!

Day 2

Today I am thankful for peaceful mornings and lunches with my mom.

I am not a morning person...I'm not much of an afternoon person but I am really not a morning person! Cal is also not much of a morning person unless he gets to wake himself up...which never happens on a school day. Today he woke up happy and things go so much better when that happens.
I eat lunch with my mom almost every day. Today we watched a tiny ant drag a giant crumb across the parking lot, and it was nice to just get to sit and be with my mom. I am blessed to have her in my life, even when she drives me crazy!

Day 1 and a look back

Day 1 of Thankfulness...

Today I am thankful for cool nights and friends around the fire!

Cool nights always remind me that in everything, God has a plan.  He brings the end to the summer, just as He will one day bring the end to winter and both will be at just the right time!  Having friends around the fire means so much more to me than just having people over.  My life is very segmented and when I find people that I allow to float between the segments, it's great!!!

Here is a look back at the things I was thankful for last year...

Day 1 -

Today I am thankful for beautiful weather, a family that always loves me, and a little boy who "shouldn't be alive""

Day 2-

Today I am thankful that the sty is my eye is nothing serious, for a little boy who got cold in the night and came to check "onto" me, and that my family taught me to enjoy the simple life!

Day 3-

Today I am thankful for the ups and downs in life, lessons learned, and grace that covers us every day.

Day 4- 

On day (almost) 4, I am grateful for the family I was given and the family I have chosen, for the people who love Cal whole heartedly despite being no relation, and a sister who is loyal to a fault and who has and will stand by me through anything.

Day 5-

Today I am thankful for my mom who can accept the person without accepting the behavior, who taught me there's more to life than money, and who became a stand in parent for so many kids and made an impact in lives she may never know about with little thanks because she knows her reward is in heaven. I am so blessed to have her!!

Day 6-

Today I am thankful for time well spent...time with my grandmother before she died, time with my uncle Chris in Orange Beach when we both needed a break, and time with Cal as he grows up. Before we know it the people we love most are gone or grown up. I never want to say "I wish I had said..."

Day 7-

Today I am thankful for medication, a house that is welcoming to everyone (well almost), and memories.

7 days of Thanks

Last year I decided to do "7 days of thanks" to refocus myself on the positive things in my life. My life is full of amazing blessings, but sometimes it is easy to flounder in the daily irritants and give in to being grumpy. So today I am restarting my 7 days of thanks! Feel free to join me! Here are the rules...(of course I have rules!)

1. No Sunday school answers. We're all grateful we woke up this morning, think a little harder.
2. No repeats
3. If it's a person you are thankful for you must tell them.
4. Make a point to hold on to your blessings a little tighter.
5. List your "thanks" in the morning

Are You Talking To Me?

I have never believed that God speaks to us in the ways of the old testament. Today's lesson was about Samuel and how God called his name and stood and spoke to him. How amazing would that be? I don't think God talks to us like that anymore, but I do believe he still talks to us. I believe he calls us to do things and leads us to things in the quiet moments when we are still enough to listen...rare for me! Yesterday, when I woke up it was on my mind that I needed to tell someone I had been praying for them. We haven't exactly been "on the same page" lately but I knew it was something I was "supposed" to do. So often when God tells me to do things I answer with "fiiiiiine" which is not the best attitude. So grumbling about it not making a difference I sent the text. It made a difference.
I have really been struggling with the ten year anniversary of my grandmothers death. There are still days when I think she will call. Yesterday, I went to the book store with my mom and in the historical fiction section (one of my favorites) I saw a book called "one more day" by Mitch Albom. It is not historical fiction. I could never bring myself to read "the five people you meet in heaven" but I have heard it was good. I looked at this book and just stood there. I have been asking, pleading really, for just one more day and now here is this book...fiiiiiine. I finished the book this afternoon. It was a great story of love, family and loss. Because I am trying to process rather than hide from things, here is why I want one more day....
After high school I went to live with my grandmother who had a brain tumor. She was, according to doctors, dying. I could not/would not accept this and in my 17 year old brain thought I could fix things. A week after I arrived, she went to the hospital. There were good days and bad days, funny moments and excruciating moments, sleepless nights and sleepy days, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I watched her sign her will, plan her funeral, and decide how she would die. When she got home from the hospital she made me promise not to take her back, to let her stay at home as long as she could but to die at Grace Home so her house would always be a happy place. The day my grandmother went to hospice, my aunt told her she was going to the hospital. In the ambulance, she held my hand and said "you promised, you promised" and the betrayal in her eyes was almost unbearable. No matter how I tried to explain she never did believe me. Those were the last words she said to me, I can still hear them whenever I let someone down. I do not know what I would do with one more day. I want her to see Cal, to see Carrie with the man of her dreams, to know that I kept my promise. I see her in my dreams and rarely I hear her. So maybe I won't get one more day, maybe I will...either way in the stillness of the book store when I let myself just be, these are the times when God can move me and show up to give comfort. He is always there, I just have to be still enough to hear him.

I hope you find time today to be still and let God speak to you in the stillness. Because, yes, He is talking to you and to me!