All Ye Thankful

Have you ever had a day that was so great, it made you reflect on all of the things you are thankful for? Perhaps you've had a day so horrid that you had to remind yourself of all you have to be thankful for.

The past week for me has just been pretty nice. Nothing special, in particular, has happened, but I've just felt immensely blessed. I thought I'd share my thoughts with the world.

Electricity

Hurricane Gustav left our entire city (almost) without electricity. I don't believe anyone expected us to be hit so hard, for most of our Entergy guys were long gone, down south to LA and other areas. We were so blessed to only go 14 hours without electricity at our house. Is there anything more exhilarating than being in the dark, hot and sweaty, with three kids, and you hear the 'whoosh' of the lights coming back on? I always have to do a little happy dance when that happens.

The Sun

The big HG also left us with dark skies and massive amounts of rain this week. The first morning it hit, I actually elbowed Clayton very accusingly when the alarm clock went off at the seeming hour of around 2am. Imagine my shock when I read the time for myself... it was indeed wake-up time! I am not sure the last time the sky was that black in the morning.

Today we all awoke to a sun-filled sky and fresh, autumn teasing air. Nothing boosts my mood like walking out into cool, crisp air after miserable weeks of heat and humidity and rain.

Ameca

In a small town like this, there are limited options to choose from when selecting your evening eatery. Our family has its two favorite options: Mazzio's and Ameca. Last night we loaded up the family and headed to Ameca. While there we had great food, laughs with the kids, and even ran into the Englishes from church. (They are a bright spot in anyone's day!) How great to end our evening meal with conversation and laughter with friends.

Healthy Legs

Anyone that was around us last week knows where this one came from. Madison had a horrible staph infection on her leg last week. Oh my... it was huge, gross, and extremely painful for her. During our "Journey Party" last Sunday evening, she managed to scrape the gross thing completely off while playing outside. THANK THE LORD! Peroxide and antibiotic cream sealed the deal and she's finally able to walk, run, and jump again.

I hate that she endured such pain, but it was a great lesson for her. Since then she's mentioned repeatedly how thankful she is that God healed her leg. She's talked about two kids in her school that are unable to walk and must ride in wheelchairs, and how she's so happy that her legs work. I am so pleased that she is already thanking God for the basic ability to just live a 'normal' life. How often do we take that for granted? I know I do.

Sleep

For the first time in numerous years, no one wakes me up in the middle of the night. Not Samuel, and not even Carter. The first few nights we slept all night, I woke up with a jolt, almost afraid of why no one had cried or come to my bed. I would wake up feeling exhausted the next morning, no matter how much sleep I had gotten. It is amazing how quickly the nights fly by when you stay asleep for the duration! My energy level is up, my stress level is down, and my desire to eat ravenously has even gone away - all thanks to more sleep! Sleep is a beautiful thing, my friends!

Work

After being a stay at home mom for the past 8 years, I am really thankful that I now have numerous things going on outside of the house. One is my work. I have had fairly steady writing gigs for the past two months, and for that I am so thankful. It gives me a big sense of accomplishment to get an email with all of these article or job requirements, rules, details, and deadlines and know that the person sending it totally trusts me to get it done. My jobs are getting bigger and more complex. I love a challenge!

Another thing I do is I am the Children's Ministry Coordinator at Journey. I spend a few hours each week at the church, and home, working for the kids (and parents) at our church. I LOVE IT! From preparing lessons to setting up meetings and all of the ins and outs of children's ministry, I get to take charge of so much of it. I am such a "take charge" person... I need this!

I love being on the front lines of teaching our kids about Christ. The people that have stepped up to wholeheartedly volunteer to help by teaching classes are just angels! In a world where it seems so many are anti-children, being totally surrounded by a church family that has kids and their spiritual growth and well-being on their brains all of the time, is just so refreshing.

Dogs

Dog Rescue is quickly becoming a major part of my life. God has placed a rescue and nurture (in that order lol) personality in my soul, and I am thrilled to finally get to act on it. I have always been "that kid" that was bringing home the most random animals. I was so blessed with parents that pretty much always let me keep my finds. From stray dogs to a fish I found flopping by the lake - my pets were endless! Now I get to make the decisions about what animals I will bring home. Clayton is pretty open to whatever I want, which is another blessing. I just visited the local pound yesterday and left almost in tears... why can't I just take them all? Why can't I have a huge load of money fall in my lap to buy a house with huge amounts of land where Clayton and I can start our own "official" dog rescue? One day... I have faith! One day it will happen.

A house with plenty of land for however many pets we need to take, and a home with numerous bedrooms for the day I pray my husband will come around to the foster care/adoption idea. I don't know when, or how, but I do know that ONE DAY, this will be a reality.

Ambition

Whether all of my dreams come true or not, I am thankful that I have gotten a rush of ambition to at least try to accomplish them. It's so fun and thrilling to get a goal in my head and think through, "how can I make this happen?" So far I've done it with writing and with dog rescue. I have a few other things in my head now... we will see where they go. Having new goals is something that makes life fun!

When is the last time you made a big goal for yourself and then really mapped out HOW to get there? Before now, the biggest goal I had to work to achieve was conceiving Samuel. Now that the having babies part of life is past, it's time to set new goals.

Some of my goals for the future are:

- Take all three kids to the mountains
- Take all three kids to the beach
- Become a substitute teacher
- Find a fantastic writing job
- Make children's small groups at Journey the best thing Evah!
- Fit into "those" jeans
- Become the best listener around.... hard one!

These are just a few of mine. Do you have any small or large goals you want to work on? If so, share them!