Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

In the spirit of Thanksgiving (which is approaching much more rapidly than I like to think about), I thought I would post a list of 10 things that I’m thankful for today.

1. Jesus
2. My wonderful, loving, and supportive husband
3. Two happy, healthy little people and one more on the way
4. God’s generous and gracious provision for our family
5. Great friends
6. Our extended family who love us so much
7. Bible Study Fellowship
8. Beautiful Fall weather
9. Matt’s good job (see #4) in the midst of economic hard times
10. A brand new day, another chance, God’s renewed mercies

What are you thankful for today?

About three weeks ago our vacuum (which has served us pretty well during these 8+ years of marriage) died a smoky death as it cleaned out the dryer vent. With a preschooler and a crazy toddler roaming around this place we really can’t do without a vacuum for even a short period of time, so the search began.

Matt did some research, and we did some shopping, and we settled on a small canister vac that would serve our needs. All the while I dreamed and drooled over the Dyson vacuum that I would love to have but just wasn’t in the budget.

Then…a week after we purchased our vacuum I was notified by 5 Minutes for Mom that I was randomly selected as the winner of their Dyson DC25 giveaway. I was so excited! Matt, being the resident skeptic, was, well, a bit skeptical in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” sort of way.

The following Tuesday our new vacuum arrived. We excitedly opened the box expecting to put together the new toy vacuum and try it. We were unpleasantly surprised to find that the box did not contain the vacuum attachments or, more importantly, the front part of the vacuum (you know, the part that touches the floor and picks up the dirt).

On Wednesday morning I set out to find a way to remedy the situation. I e-mailed the prize coordinator at 5M4M and she got in touch with the PR rep for Dyson. I expected to receive an e-mail saying that they would ship me the missing parts and we would live happily with our new, fully assembled vacuum. When the PR rep contacted me, he was extremely apologetic for the problem and offered, not to get me the missing parts, but to upgrade us to a DC28, Dyson’s most powerful vacuum!

Our new vacuum arrived on Tuesday, and Tuesday night we put it together and tried it. From our first run, I think this is a great vacuum!

God is so good! A super-dooper vacuum was not something we had to have, but is definitely something for which we are thankful. God knows all of our wants and needs, the big and the small, and provides for us in ways that we couldn’t even imagine.

There are a variety of characteristics that cause one to classify another as their “good friend.”  It may be that she is the one you can talk to about anything and everything.  Maybe she is the one you’ve known most of your life and is as close as, or closer than, family.  She could be the one you would turn to in an emergency.  It could be that she is the one that you call first to share the heights of your joy or the depths of your sorrow.  Or maybe she is the one you can call at a moments notice to watch your children for the ten minutes that it takes to run to the drugstore for diapers.

Yeah, that definitely qualifies as a good friend.  And I am thankful everyday that God has placed her in my life.

There are so many ways in which I’ve been blessed and so many things for which I am thankful, but in reality, all that I have and all that I am boil down to the fact that I’ve been adopted as a child of God and an heir to the glory of heaven.  This is the one thing for which I am most thankful.

Quite a few years ago I accepted the gift of salvation that God freely offers to us all.  Although I have stumbled over the years, I have never looked back or regretted the decision I made on that day.  The love, mercy, and grace of God have so overwhelmed my life and my family that I can’t even imagine (and don’t really want to) what life would be like without my faith.

I am constantly learning, growing, and being recreated by the gentle hand of the loving Father.  I continue to struggle, I continue to fail, but God in his mercy continues to pick me up, to set me back on my feet, and to allow me to continue.  This year I have been challenged, I have been corrected, I have been told “no”.  I have also seen the hand of God at work in my life in amazing ways and he has used events, people, and circumstances to stretch my faith and to draw me closer to him.

I am thankful that he is sovereign.  I am thankful that he knows how things will work out and what will happen even before I know there is anything going on.  I am thankful that he is unchanging.  I am thankful that no matter what my circumstances might look like that I can trust that God is in control so there is no need for me to worry.  I am thankful that he knows what is best for me.  I am thankful that he grants me peace beyond all understanding.

I am thankful that he is a just God.  He is a God who is perfect and cannot be in the presence of things unholy; he is a God of perfect and righteous judgement and wrath.  I am thankful that he is a God who knew that I would mess up but who deferred my judgement.  I am thankful that he sent his son to walk this earth, to die on the cross becoming my sin so I could be reconciled to him and invited into his presence and his family.  I am thankful for the blood of Christ that covers me.

I hope and pray that you know the God whom I love and serve.  If you are a fellow Christ follower, I am thankful that you are a brother or sister and that we will one day walk the streets of heaven together.  If you are not in that place, I am thankful that the Holy Spirit will continue to pursue you because God desires us all to come to repentence and be reconciled to him.

May you each have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

Okay, I haven’t done so well at posting one thing I’m thankful for every day this month.   Oh well, I have tried to conciously take time each day to thank God for at least one thing.

Here we are a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving and I have a few pretty significant things to post about for which I’m thankful.  Today I’ll tackle some of them in list form and I’ll have a separate post tomorrow, then I’ll be absent for a few days as we celebrate Thanksgiving with family (you would have never known if I hadn’t said something, it’s not like I’m here all that often these days:-)).

1.  I’m thankful that I took the opportunity to participate in a Bible Study Fellowship class this year; I’ve talked about joining a BSF study a few times the last couple of years, and finally made the commitment back in September.  We are studying the book of Matthew, and I have been blessed by the lectures, the group discussions, and most of all by the time I have spent in the Word of God.  I am thankful for the leaders who give so much time to make the study what it is.  I am thankful for the other women who participate (especially my group) and speak life and truth into each other’s lives.  I am thankful that God is using this study in my life and the lives of so many women across the globe to draw us into deeper relationship with him.

2.  I am thankful that we will be able to spend time with Matt’s family this Thanksgiving; his parents, sister, and brother live about 10 hours from us, so we don’t see them as often as we would like.  I’m sorry that we won’t get to spend time with my sister-in-law and her family; they will be missed.  However, I’m thankful that the reason we won’t see them is because she is about 4 weeks from delivering a brand new, healthy, adorable nephew for us.

3.  I am thankful for good friends.  Over the last several years Matt and I have lived in cities where we are not near family, and our friends have become like family.  I am thankful for my friend Nicole who I left behind in East Tennessee, but who I still talk to regularly and see when we have the chance.  I had a very tough time when we first moved about 2.5 years ago, so I am thankful for my friends in our current city who have made living here a great experience.  I am thankful for the chance I had to eat lunch with my friend Diane last week.  I am thankful for the time I was able to spend with several of my girlfriends on Sunday.  I am thankful for the way our lives touch, the way we interact, and the way God has blessed my life with such wonderful women.

4. I am thankful for the precious Baby Boo who is growing and developing inside of me.  I am thankful that we had a good ultrasound yesterday and that Boo is happy and healthy in there.  I am thankful that God has chosen to gift our family with a precious baby boy this time around.  And on that note, here is a picture of mommy and Boo at 18.5 weeks (and yes, those would be short-sleeves and shorts I’m wearing today):