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Saturday, November 28, 2009

Pi-kaw!

Blessing 82 - Old Railroad tracks
Blessing 83 - Pretty hay bales
Blessing 84 - Cute knitted frog hats


Blessing 85 - Jubilee's amazing eye that captures fun pictures!
Blessing 86 - Brussel Sprouts
Blessing 87 - Jalapenos
Blessing 88 - The kids funny noises - Pi-kaw, in particular
Blessing 89 - Peppermint and RC oils - and how they help sick babies be able to sleep!
Blessing 90 - Baby snores...

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessing 81 - My dad's smile!


Blessing 82 - Small, blue flowers. My grandma used to call them josanna flowers - it wasn't until a agriculture class in college that I realized they had a different name!

Monday, November 16, 2009

grateful - Texas style

70. Highway access roads. Being able to get off, buy gas or a Dr.Pepper and return to the highway in just a few minutes is a lovely thing. We missed these in San Fran!
71. Crisp, clear, midnight-blue skies
72. Bright shiny stars in the above mentioned skies
73. Friendly strangers
74. Angus Cows. Contrary to popular advertising, I believe that they are happier in Texas
75. Little kids playing baseball
76. Southwest airlines
77. Steamy, spicy chili
78. Dublin Dr. Pepper (is there any other kind?)
79. Wind generator windmills. They are interesting to watch from an airplane.
80. Texas accents - they bring a smile to my face.

You should check out Ann Voskamp's blog today - what a beautiful reminder of why we should give thanks! Holy Experience

Friday, November 13, 2009

gratefulness in California (59-69)

Jubilee and I are finally here! The LONG awaited trip to San Francisco is actually in progress. We flew in yesterday to San Fran, picked up our rental car and headed South. Carmel, Monterrey, Big Sur are just a few of the places that we will be visiting. Later today, we will head back to the city to explore, explore, explore!
I am grateful for:
59. the fact that I do not have to travel to SFO very often.
(although this city is very fun, the airport is not)

60. for clear, sunny skies
61. for rental cars
62. for GPS - even if it decides to not work at times
63. the way the sand feels when it squishes between your toes
64. the odd combination of Christmas trees near the beach
65. the smell of the Pacific
66. the ability to laugh at the strange hotel that we booked on Expedia
67. easily accessible grocery stores
68. big huge trees at the beach to climb on
69. the fact that babies r us' are located everywhere.
(very helpful when I leave half of the parts to my pump at home in the dishwasher)
70. funny strangers who are way too friendly

Monday, November 9, 2009

Blessing 54 - 58

Wow...Today has been a day!

I'm at the corporate office training some new employees today and tomorrow. Things have gone well and we are in discussion for the future of my job.

good. very good. God is very good.

(54) I'm thankful for my job. I enjoy my job and I enjoy the people I work with on a daily basis.

(55&56) I'm thankful for my paycheck and thankful for my insurance (even if it is COBRA)

(57) I'm thankful that I chose to trust God when they decided to eliminate my position when I was 5 months pregnant.
It was pretty hard to go to work with a smile on my face knowing that I was now having to make a $600.00 COBRA payment (while taking more than a 50% pay cut).
It was even harder when the stress from my job being eliminated threw me into complete bed rest.
And even harder when complete bed rest wasn't enough and Gus had to evacuate his comfy home 6 weeks early.
But, GOD is awesome and everything worked out well. I have a great, funny, healthy kiddo who brightens my day!


(58) I'm thankful for miracles! We have been praying for a sweet baby boy named Stellan. He has had some rough patches in his short, yet fun-filled life!

Recently, he has been dealing with his SVT and has had a rough time doing so... Last week, he and his mama traveled to Boston so that he could receive treatment and quite probably surgery on his heart.

Today, he was very unstable and at one point they even had to use a crash cart. They were not able to completely stabilize him, but decided he could not wait any longer. They took him in for surgery.

Talk about tough. I can't imagine being his mama. I was having a hard enough time just reading her updates. Just reading what she was going through. I can't even comprehend what she was feeling. I know how I felt when Gus was living in the NICU after he was born.

It was hard. I was helpless.

I can't imagine how those feeling must be even stronger once you have spent a year loving on and getting to know your sweet baby.

But...

we serve and UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING God and Stellan is now SVT free!

His doctors were able to perform an ablation to his heart and thankfully, God gave them some amazing clarity during that surgery. They made some interesting decisions that led to a complete home run for Stellan.

If you want to know more about Stellan and his very cool family, check out his Mama's blog at www.mycharmingkids.net


So, today was crazy. Busy training at the corporate office. Busy waiting on updates on Stellan. Busy worrying. Busy praying.

Waiting was hard.

But it was worth it.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Why the lists of blessings?

Every Wednesday, Ann Voskamp posts a spiritual practice that draws her nearer to His heart. She invites others to join in, sharing practices that are drawing them nearer to Him. I've enjoyed reading her posts, and this week I have decided to jump in...

For me, a spiritual practice that is bringing me closer to my Heavenly Father is actually my 1000 blessings list. The idea of being grateful each moment has kept me busy! I've been amazed at how it has helped to keep me in constant communication with Him. I am continually thanking Him and talking to Him. It has helped me to remain conscious of everything around me, conscious of the many, many ways He shows me His love...

After reading Ann's post, I am convicted that I need to start eating the Living Word at each meal. What an easy, yet effective way to "eat" and hide God's word in my heart - many times a day! I struggle with not eating meals correctly and just grabbing food when I think of it. I really think that this concept of eating "living bread" each time I eat might actually help me slow down and pay attention to what I am putting in both my mouth and my heart.

I'm excited about the idea of raising Augustus to follow in these steps. How neat for him to grow up and look at this behavior as normal. What a special practice - to make each day special.

What brings you closer to him? Join in for Walk with Him Wednesday!

holy experience

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Blessings 51-53

I'm sitting in a small room in the Chattanooga airport. My flight home boards in 30 minutes, which gives me just enough time to collect dinner for Gus. Thankfully, this airport has a small room labeled nursery, so I am able to use my breastpump before I get on my flight. (without causing a public scene)
I don't have a battery pack, so I'm subjected to whatever area has an outlet. I never realized how hard it was to find an outlet until I started traveling with a breast pump. At first, I thought - this will be easy. Outlets are everywhere. And, at most airports they are... Right in the middle of the boarding area on a big Samsung tower. Or, on every post - right in the middle of a bench of seats. Perfect location to juice up your cell phone or computer. Not prime breast pumping territory, if you ask me. (or any of the business people sitting at that gate)
So, thankfully, I located the nursery and dinner collection commenced...

Blessing 51 - Nursery rooms (with outlets) at Airports

Blessing 52 - Ladybugs, my little kisses from my Heavenly father

Blessing 53 - Water.
I am so thankful that I live in a place where clean water is available. It is amazing to think of all the places that do not have clean water! Do you realize that for as little as $1 a month, you can provide clean water for 1 African for an ENTIRE year? So, for the price of 2 drinks at Starbucks in one month, you can provide a year's worth of clean water to 7 people! If you want to know more about this visit: mocha club

Monday, November 2, 2009

blessings 46-50

So, I'm in Chattanooga and Gus is in Houston.
Not my favorite thing, but it is what it is and I will be thankful for the day that the Lord has made.
It is hard to travel so much with little Gus Gus at home. But, I know that there is a time for everything and right now, it is time for me to work. D needs to be able to concentrate on school and on growing the children's ministry at church. So, I will continue to work so that we can stay on top of bills and be thankful for the time I have at home with Gus! Hopefully, working now will allow us to get to a place financially where I will be able to stay at home with Gus in the future.
November is going to be a BUSY month! I've traveling until the week of Thanksgiving. Mostly for work, but a few days will be spent with Jubie in San Fran. While we are in San Fran, D will be at the Wild At Heart Book Camp.
I'm so excited for him to be able to attend the boot camp - I'm praying that he will meet God in a new way and come home from boot camp - REFRESHED! He is so stressed. really. I'm praying that this boot camp will be relaxing and comforting for him.

Tonight, I walked from my hotel to downtown Chattanooga. The weather was beautiful and the time alone gave me some time to think. It was great!

Blessing 46 - The sweet scent of cedar. I love this scent! Probably because we had so many cedar trees around out home when I was a child - it is such a clean and happy scent for me.

Blessing 47 - The fact that my allergies don't flare when I smell cedar - just when I touch it.

Blessing 48 - A big, fat, round moon shining in a clear, dark sky.

Blessing 49 - Warm hot cocoa with vanilla creamer. not extremely healthy, but quite delectable!

Blessing 50 - Dark chocolate m&m's (esp. the blue ones)