Thanksgiving

Well, its that time of the year again. Time to begin looking back on the year, seeing what I am thankful for, make the mad dash to all the relatives and eat WAY to much turkey and dressing (and camp stew if its there), and contemplate if I want to get out and freeze to death (well almost) while waiting outside for an unbelievable deal on black Friday.

For most people, Thanksgiving involves one day and maybe 2 different stops for the family. For my family its a little different. We start on Wednesday night, and if we are lucky we finish up on Thanksgiving evening. Needless to say, I dont need to eat anything the rest of the weekend. However no matter how crazy the holidays tend to be, I love the madness and craziness of it all.

As I sit back with a belly full this year and contemplate where I will take my afternoon nap, I will think of all the things I am most grateful for.

• I am grateful for the Love of my Abba Daddy. That HE loves me so much that HE gave HIS son for my sins, so that I can be with HIM forever ( and by the way, HE has the same love for you!)
• I am grateful for my family. I have been blessed beyond what I ever thought I would, with a family that stands by me and loves me beyond measure. I have a fabulous husband, and two wonderful daughters (who bless their hearts, act just like me)
• I am grateful to work for a company and in a career that I love. It is a great feeling to actually look forward to going to work.

Now, this is just the tip of the iceburg on my list of things to be thankful for. (It is a week before Thanksgiving, I cant give them all out this early) So as you go about gearing up for the madness, take time to reflect on what you have, how much you have, and count your blessings!!!

Gods Grace

Today as I was driving to work, I became overwhelmed by the grace of God. I began to think of all the blessings that have been given to me and how at times I tend to take those for granted. Needless to say, God has been tugging at my heart for a while now. I believe that He has something spectacular planned. But then again, doesn't He always? It just takes us to realize that we need to give control over to Him. He is the one with the master plan. As I was getting ready this morning, I was checking facebook (like I typically do while drying my hair) and a dear friend had this posted for thier status:

Quote from Rick Warren: God would not have sent a Savior if He didn't think we needed one. My prayer is that I work in His power and His strength in everything each day.

Just what I needed to be reminded of. I am not the one in control, He is. It is not for me to live for myself, but to live my life for HIM, and mostly I should be counting my blessings and not getting too big for my britches.

A few blessings I have been given:

My Family
A wonderful loving husband and 2 beautiful daughters, I am blessed beyond measure
but mostly I have been blessed by the gift of salvation and forgiveness. And Lord I am so thankful for that!

May I now talk the talk, and walk the walk.

Really a Year???

I cannot believe that it has really been a year since I last posted on here. I guess its pretty needless to say that a lot of things have gone on in the past year. So today I shall make a mid year resolution to keep up better with these blogs so that you all have an idea of what is going on in our crazy part of the world.

Now, lets play catch up: Jason is still farming. Actually he is still in recovery mode with a farm cleaning up after the May flood. I cannot begin to describe the amount of damage that water can caused. This was my first (and hopefully last) experience with a flood.

Sarah has begun her 7th grade year! I cannot believe that she is in middle school already. Where did this time go? I really dont remember watching it run out the door, but it has evidently went somewhere. She seems to really be liking middle school and is turning into a beautiful young lady.

Abby has begun preschool and depending on the day that you ask her, will depend on if she tells you she likes it or not. She has learned so much and seems to have lots of fun playing and making friends. She is on the go all the time and only stops to sleep...and that isnt very often.

I have taken on a position of working outside the home. I am now the 4-H extension agent for Montgomery County. I absolutely love this job and cannot wait to see what all can be done with and for this program.

Hopefully you will check back often and it wont take me another year to post again.

Playing Catchup

I know its taken forever to post anything new. I guess as the spring winds down and summer begins some things just go by the way side and this happened to be one of them. We began the summer with finishing the Love Dare Bible study which was wonderful. In between finishing this and summer Jason came down with MRSA and decided to spend a week in the hospital. Then what do you know...summer was in full force. I declare sometimes I didnt know if I was coming or going. However summer has decided to start winding down and hence a routine will emerge from all of the chaos. I am hoping to become more faithful to blogging some thoughts as this routine gets established. I like the outlet to let thoughts flow.

I have been blessed this weekend by wonderful friends who truely care. I was treated to a wonderful dinner last night with just some girlfriends for an early birthday treat. Then this morning in sunday school, my dear friend Mary surprised me with birthday blessings and happy birthday doughnuts. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful women. I thank my Lord that He has allowed me to be blessed by them in so many different ways. Each time I see them I think of these words from 2 corinthians 9:14-15 " And they will pray for you with deep affection because of overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift to wonderful for words". I am truely thankful that these ladies are my prayer warriors. And once again I am blessed.

Fireproof

Tonight I have begun a journey. I cannot wait to see what is in store for me as I begin this journey and I can only imagine the great things that are to come from this journey. My church has begun the Bible study Fireproof. I was a big fan of this movie before I ever saw it. In fact, I couldnt get to the theatre to see it when it came out, so I bought it as soon as it came out on dvd. I watched it in full and cried the whole time...the first time I saw it. A week ago we watched the movie as a church and once again I cried. As I begin this study, I pray that God will turn my marriage around. Now dont get me wrong. My husband is wonderful and we have a good marriage, but I truely believe that with God it could be so much better. In fact I know that with God it will be so much better. Granted I know we will have our hard times and our not so hard times. But as it says in the movie, I want to be able to pull through the times when the flames rise up. I am hoping that by the time I end the 40 day journey, that my husband is able to see a change in me. I am praying that when this is over with he will want what I have found, just like what happened with Caleb and Katherine. So as I begin this journey, I will keep posted how things are going. The good and the bad, maybe not all the ugly. This in turn will keep me accountable in more than one way. I am begining tomorrow with day 1. My prayer through this is that God will create a heart in me that is stronger for Him than I can ever imagine. I want a Godly marriage. I want God to be completely evident in my life and I want to put my husband as my treasure. That is the starting point. Making my treasures more of what God wants. I want to treasure my husband. I want him to view the way I treat him as a treasure.

Mouse alert...and its not MICKEY

Ok I know its been a while since I have last since posted...but I do have a good reason. .... I just havent had time. I know, I know, its a bit of a shock to some people, but that is the truth. Meanwhile, I have had my office infested by mice. Now growing up I had a hamster and a gerbil and did very well I might add at taking care of them and loving them as only a pre teen can do. However, the mouse infestation has given me the heebee jeebees to say the least. We (and I say that meaning Poncho, Phillip and Jason) have torn down the walls of the office, which in turn means I have to unplug the computer as well as every other electronic device in there and wait for them to get "my" section back together so that work can be done. Needless to say as they are putting things back in order the work is piling high on the desk, among other things. Now did I mention that in the middle of all this I have to get our taxes filed by the end of February? At one point and time I was sure about where everything was for this dreaded event. However, 10 minutes before my appointment today I am still looking for the interest statements that used to be in a folder on my desk. Needless to say I did find them and was actually thankful that the accountant was running a little behind as usual today. As for now, all the walls to the office but one are back up. I am waiting for another rainy day for the final wall to be put up and then hopefully the office will return to working order. In the meantime this has given me another way to prove to Jason that we really do NEED an Internet feed in the house.

Oh yeah, we did find the mouse hotel, for the PETA people we relocated them to the dumpster where they would have plenty to eat and travel on...as well as the nest of their future generation.

Baby its Cold

Its cold out today. Granted the above pic is about a year old, I think that if its not going to be above freezing, then there should be some snow involved. Its a day to cuddle up and try to stay warm. I intend on trying to do that for the next day or so.
In other news I just want to say that the LORD is GOOD! Praises to HIM for the answered prayers concerning my step mom. I know she has had mighty prayer warriors on her behalf for some time now. Its times like this that I am truly amazed at the power prayer has. I have experienced the power of prayer on a personal note as well. Being told that Sarah would be our only child, I turned this issue over to God, and HE provided our family with Abby. How wonderful and mighty is our LORD! I stand in awe of the mighty things He has done.

Maybe today is a day to cuddle up and stay warm in the LORD. Maybe there are days like this to remind us that it is time to cuddle up in the warmth of our God. What could be better than a good snuggle with your father?