Thankful Thursday

I'm late once again! This week I'm thankful for:
1.) Nutella. I have been craving chocolate like a mad woman the past couple of weeks and Nutella has been my hero!

2.) The good news of my friends, Paul and Rebekah Tullos! Not only are they expecting but they are expecting TWINS!!!!! So excited for them!

3.) Quiet moments with my hubby. Sunday afternoon we didn't turn on the TV all afternoon. We just sat and spent quality time with each other and it was so nice!

4.) 1st season of Parenthood. My, how ironing goes by so much faster when I pop that in!

5.) Last Saturday night and getting to see friends I don't get to see very often anymore.

Thankful Thursday

Wow, I'm actually posting this on the day that I'm supposed to! This week I am thankful for:
1. My mom finally joining the texting world. Now I don't have to call her SO much. Or maybe I still will ;-)

2. The sweet little voice that speaks through that passy every morning that says "Momma!" when I stick my head in her room. How I wish that could never end!

3. A husband who still flirts with me :) Even though I was a little irriated when he poured cold water on me in the shower this morning, I realize he's just being my "junior high boy." I love him for that because things would probably be pretty boring if he wasn't that "boy."

4. The urge to mop my kitchen floor this week. Something that should be done probably every week with a toddler around yet I don't. I can't stand it. I think it's more so the preparation before mopping and having to move stuff. It's almost as bad as ironing.

5. The sunset Tuesday afternoon. Did anyone else see that? Thank you God for your beautiful creation!!

6. My garage last night when I came home from bible class in that heavy down pour!

What are you thankful for this Thurday?

"This is the Stuff"

Yesterday I heard Francesca Battistelli's song "This is the Stuff" for the first time and I loved it. I immediately downloaded it on iTunes. The first 2 lines reminded me so much of myself. I can't count how many times I've had to search for my keys. And one time I actually had to get on Facebook and tell someone to call my phone because I couldn't find it! Here is a link to the words and song on GodTube. It was a great reminder for me of how God works in our lives. The little "annoyances" that drive us insane are the very things that God is only trying to help us with. "Might not be what I would choose. But this is the stuff You use to break me of impatience, conquer my frustrations. I've got a new appreciation. It's not the end of the world!" Today at Kroger I had to remember this song in my head as I experienced one of my biggest pet peeves!

After a very DISTRACTING shopping trip with Brylee, I got my groceries in the car and then put her in her seat. After putting her in, I was standing outside the car rummaging through the coupons that I didn't use that I carelessly threw in the diaper bag during our trip. As I'm trying to find all of them, I get this whiff of coffee. Ironically, several of those coupons I didn't use were coffee coupons and for a slight second (remember I just said a slight second!) I thought to myself, "Mmm, I'm guessing some companies are scenting their coupons now!" I had NO clue where the coffee smell had come from. That is until I went to PUT MY BASKET WHERE IT BELONGS. I saw that "Mr. or Ms. Lazy" had not put their basket in the little "doodad" (what are those things called anyway?") Note: Whomever "Mr. or Ms. Lazy" was, was obviously only about 5 feet from the "doodad". So you're asking yourself, "What about the coffee smell?" Well, while I was rummaging through my "coffee scented coupons", "Mr. or Ms. Lazy's" basket ran into my car. "Mr. or Ms. Lazy" was also too lazy to throw away their coffee cup that was still FULL of coffee and coffee spilled down the side of my car. Note to self: They are in fact, NOT making coffee scented coupons. I was highly frustrated. Yeah, sure it's no fun when a basket runs into your vehicle and it's certainly no fun when you get coffee spilled down it but that's not what I was frustrated about. It was the simple fact that this person could not walk 5 more feet to put that basket where it belongs!! "This is the stuff that drives me crazy!"

When I got home and started thinking about that song, I realized I just needed to thank God for this situation. Because in this situation he was only helping me "conquer my frustrations" and realize "it's not the end of the world" when someone doesn't put their basket up! Thank you Lord!

Thankful Thursday (on a Friday!)

Once again, I slacked on my "Thankful Thursday" blog. No sick husband or daughter like last time. I just simply wasn't at home pretty much all day yesterday, and if I was, I had no time to sit down at the computer. I had women's bible study yesterday morning and after that, most of us stayed around and ate lunch together. Right after that, we went and helped out a couple with their house. They had their baby 10 weeks early so they didn't have everything ready. Several of us went to help so that their house can be ready to welcome that sweet baby girl in a couple months. I'll just tell you, if you ever need your doors painted, remember me because I am a professional now ;) By the time I got home, it was time to make dinner (grilled cheese sandwiches that is!), catch up on American Idol, and go to bed. So I thought I'd just do it this morning and not completely skip for the week like last time. So this week I am thankful for

1. First I must say, this beautiful weather that we have had all week long. Couldn't get any better! Thank you God!! I love not having to stuff my child into a car seat like I have to do when she has a coat on! And we have enjoyed playing outside!

2. Women's prayer breakfast we had last Saturday. Such a great time to stuff our faces with good food and talk to our God together!

3. For my bff, Chelsea, getting to come over and work out with me Tuesday. So good having someone to work out with.

4. For Brylee not having to get tubes at this point. So relieved! "No Tubes for Now!"

5. Moments when you realize just how blessed you really are. My moment this week was when Ben, Brylee, and myself were all in the bathroom Sunday morning brushing our teeth together. Sounds cheesy but it was such a sweet and fun moment for me!

What are you thankful for this Thursday.....I mean Friday!

Devotion 2011

In 2011, I have been working on being more prayerful and digging into God's word daily. I'm on a mission to read through the entire bible in a year. So far, all is going well, even though I am about 13 days behind. I have decided to start a little log to keep up with my reading/thoughts/prayer/etc. I think this is going to help me to be more disciplined when it comes to my reading/prayer life. I think it will also help me to actually meditate and think about what I have read rather than just read through it just to get done with the reading, which is what I've done in the past. This is going to help me out a lot when it comes to praying for others/events coming up. As you can see, there's a spot for both of those. On Sundays or Wednesdays or whenever anyone says, please pray for "whomever" or "this specific event" I can actually write it down and not forget, which I am notorious for. Or I'll pray for that specific person one day and then for the rest of the week I've already forgotten. I can now actually pray for this person or that person all week long or all month long or however long I need to! And then of course, thanking God for my many blessings that week. I also like this idea so that a year from now, I can look back and see what I've studied, what I was praying for at this time in my life, etc, etc. Guess you could sort of call this a bible study/prayer journal. We'll see how it goes! I have also added Ben, Brylee, and my name to the bottom. This is for specific things going on in our lives during that week. Then I have a seperate sheet with our names on it. I gave an example of Brylee's. I have added specific things that I want to pray for each of us consistently every week. Of course, you can see some of these things I don't have to worry about for a while but I want to start praying about it now. I have this saved on my computer so if you would like a copy, let me know and I can email you an attachment. I actually tried to upload the document to the blog and it wouldn't let me so I just took a picture.

Thankful Thursday

For any of you folks out there that actually read my blog, you may have noticed that I did not have a "Thankful Thursday" blog last week. My sweet sis-in-law, Natalie , told me how much she enjoyed it and actually asked me last Thursday night at girls' night if I had done my "Thankful Thursday" blog for the week. At least I know one person enjoys it!! Haha Thanks Natalie! Last week was a rough week. Ben got the flu (or at least had flu like symptoms) that started Wednesday night. Brylee ended up with yet again, another ear infection and she was completely miserable last week. I took her to the doctor Thursday morning and the doctor suggested taking her to an ENT after this round of antibiotics to talk about tubes. Something I wish we would have gone ahead and done a long time ago. So to say the least, I really didn't get around to the computer on Thursday. So this week, I am thankful for:

1. Psalm 139 I read that this morning and it was a great reminder of how AWESOME my God is!

2. This week's episode of Parenthood.


3. My husband and I discovering our new love.....Monopoly. We played it all last weekend while he was sick and stuck in the house. We are addicted now!


4. On top of number 4, those laughing moments with my hubby.

5. Turkey-ronis. That would be turkey pepperonis and I could seriously eat the whole bag!

6. My super cute planner that I got in the mail this week that I spent less than $4 on. I just can't seem to keep up with everything in my phone. I have to have it on paper. Call me "old school!"


7. The moments when I am talking to God and I get really emotional. I never feel closer to Him than times like that.

8. The snow. Although I am so sick of it (never thought those words would come out of my mouth living in the Midsouth area) and so ready for spring, it was so beautiful coming down yesterday!

So...what are you thankful for this Thursday?

Thankful Thursday

Today I came across a friend's blog and it was "What I'm loving Wednesday." I love the idea but I didn't want to completely steal it so I thought I'd start a "Thankful Thursday." When I say that about the stealing thing, don't think you can't steal my idea. Please feel free! I think it is something we should all do more of. We have so many things that God has blessed us with that we certainly do not deserve. Things that we so often overlook and don't thank God enough for. So with that said, I encourage you to start a "Thankful Thursday" blog. I encourage you to do less complaining about the petty little things you go through and focus more on all the good in your life and what God has done for you.

1. Our women's bible study. I can't say this enough! That class and the women in it are such an encouragement to me.

2. Lunch with my bff, Chelsea, today and her yummy soup she brought.

3. The strength and ability to work out this week.

4. Living in a country where we have the FREEDOM to worship an awesome God. We are reading "Radical" in our Sunday bible class and it has been eye opening for me for many different reasons. In the book, it talks about different people in other areas of the world who risk their lives and sometimes their own family's lives just to learn more about God. People who are being persecuted for trying to learn more about God or who are trying to spread the gospel to others. This week it has really been on my mind and I have thought about how lucky I am to not have to go through that. We have no idea how blessed we are. We have the bible to read at anytime, we can go to God at any point in the day and talk to Him, we have a building that we can go worship at on Sundays and Wednesdays. All of these things right at our finger tips and yet, we take them for granted.


5. Finally and most importantly, God's forgiveness when I do take all of those things above for granted. Thank you Lord!

What are you thankful for this Thursday!

Why I Love My Lord

I was unpacking a few boxes the other day....yes, we have been in our house since October and I haven't completely unpacked boxes! But it's books and office stuff and we are just now getting our office room together so I have a good excuse! While doing this I came across my old student bible. The one Goodman Oaks gave me when I graduated from high school in '01. I forgot how much I loved this bible and I am actually thinking about carrying it to church again even though it says "The Student Bible" on the side of it AND I totally had to ghetto rig it because most of the Old Testament was falling out so I used lots of rubber bands to keep it in place! Anyways, it's been a while since I've looked in this bible and it was neat to see the notes I made and that I dated. The earliest I saw was 2003. One of the things though that stood out the most that I forgot all about was this printed out piece of paper that I had taped on the very front inside page of the bible. I'm sure most of you have seen this but it's the "How can a woman not love the Lord" list. I reread over it since it has been quite a while. I couldn't help but thank and praise God as I read it. I'm glad I came across this because I needed the reminder that He is the only one I should be living my life for, not my husband, not my daughter, not anyone. And so many times we get so caught up in these people and worldly things. Trying to do for them, trying to please them, etc etc. While all these things are important, it shouldn't take our attention away from God and so many days that's exactly what happens to me. I will be the first to admit it! I get caught up in my husband and daughter and forget about that one constant friend in my life. The one who will NEVER disappoint me, NEVER forsake me, who is ALWAYS by my side to help me and take away my worries and fears. While we know our hubbies, sons, daughters, friends...whatever the case may be...are wonderful, they are going to disappoint us, they won't always be right there for us when we need them, they are going to break promises. But our heavenly Father will never do these things. And this is exactly why I love my Lord:

*He is a gentleman
*He is confident
*He is a provider and protector
*He is rich and powerful
*There is nothing He wouldn't do for me
*He perfects all things concerning me
*He anticipates my wants and needs
*Every day He tells me and shows me how much He loves me
*I don't have to perform in order to earn His love
*He keeps all of His promises
*He is the ultimate intimate partner
*He can't "disown" me because I am a part of Him
*He prepares a table for me
*He covers me and doesn't expose me
*He wrote His loving words down so that I'll never forget how He feels about me