Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!

This may come as a bit of a surprise to you but I love lists! Seriously, I love to make them about everything..in fact I have a new list that I started this year of all the things I am thankful for :) It has been my favorite list of all time! So much so that I feel the need to revisit (and rewrite) the list so far...

1. Our Father in Heaven...thank you, thank you, thank you.

2. This guy: So awesome to be married to a man who wants nothing more than to take care of his family. Who works hard every day and is strong enough to battle my crazy ideas and keep me grounded (I am a ton of work to keep up with...was that a fat joke?!)

3. These people: Oh how they teach me so much more than I teach them...

4. This thing: I think you all understand

5. This Church: The most amazing people ever! Serving the most awesome God! Period. 

6. This lady: Seriously one awesome chica..not sure why her stolen profile pic turned out so small....

7. This coffee: 

8: This Guy: miss him to the moon and back, taught me so much. love.him. So thankful for every single minute.

9. This lady: Such a sweet, sweet friend..one of those people who prove that it does not matter the time spent with a person but rather their heart. Such a blessing

10. Our amazing country. we may be beat up but never count us out.

11. For my singletwin (may I say the best one out there?!)To infinity and BEYOND!!

12. For this: The Word of God, our policy and procedure manual, our road map. 

13. Babies!!! <insert the squishiest most adorable baby picture you can think of>  are they not the most amazing!?! Sigh..no this is not some announcement...Ronnie said no (go figure). But I am thankful to be surrounded by fabulous mother's and more fabulous soon to be (s)!

Going with the schedule I will record a reason for gratefulness each and every day this year. I feel like I could make a list of only people and another of experiences (my husband says I'm getting carried away)

As I make this list I have found that I generally do thank the people around me, I thank the Lord who created me and the rest of this incredible world, I am excited and grateful for experience. However it is my goal to be more thankful to say it more and pray it more! I never want to get to a place where my barista gets more praise than God. The world moves so fast, it is too easy to get caught up in what doesn't matter in the end. The point of this post (other than relish in another list) is to remind myself and those I love to stop and give thanks all year, during the good during the bad. Just be thankful :)

Saying Grace (and meaning it)

Don't you ever struggle with the whole concept of "Saying Grace"? Sometimes I feel like it is just a ritual that you have to go through to eat a meal..or at least that is what my children seem to think..and that scares me to death. I know I may seem a bit over dramatic with that statement but seriously, I want nothing more than to raise God fearing, Jesus loving children into strong and stable Christian adults who know and love our Lord each and every minute of each and every day. Is that too much to hope? It seems not in the world we are in right now. It seems as if having a moral foundation is a punchline to some cosmic joke. My heart aches for what my children will have to endure if we as a generation cannot get our act together...AH!! anyway back to my point, I don't want loving and praising God feel like an obligation or a chore but rather a joy, a gift. So the question is simple. How?? Well that my friends the answer is also simple it falls right back on us (assuming you want the same thing for your children..if not well then it falls back on me and my husband LOL) to be the strong and stable Christians they need to mirror..with that being said the question is still: How?? Every idea that comes to mind feels so trivial..so to help answer this question I jump on the Internet in search of some all star Christians that have a blog and a layout (including a checklist) to guide my way and what I find is summed up here:

I actually saw this on this amazing lady's Facebook page

No.Joke. God loves us SOOOO much that he sent His Son to die for us and these are the ideas that come to mind? It's almost (no actually it is totally) embarrassing. 

I hope that you haven't read this far in search of some awe inspiring answer because it isn't here. This is all I got, I am so humbled by His greatness I couldn't put into words my gratitude. Lets try to give Him more, more of our time.. I mean rather than "saying grace" lets invite Him to the dinner conversation. In fact, "grace" shouldn't be ritualistic dinner prayer but a never ceasing conversation. (yes I am as nervous about that one as the you are!!) and lets ask for more. Lets depend on His strength and wisdom before our own, lets try not to ask Him to fix our broken bridges but ask Him to lead the way. 

After all of this I realize that no matter what I do to try to impose my will and my children it is their walk alone with Him, their journey. No one can lead them to the Father but through Him. I will help them to know Him through His word, through my actions and the rest is out of my hands.

Is this something you struggle with? How do you praise God each day?

Thankful-ness

Around this time for the past two years I, like many of my Facebook comrades, would fill my daily status bar with a shout out to something I was thankful for..some more meaningful than others. This year however something in me felt somewhat bitter towards the whole practice (let me insert that in no way am I taking away from the people who chose to take part of this challenge...I just honestly wasn't moved by the calling as I had before) I felt guilty for not participating but not sure why I felt so annoyed with myself about it...I am not having any trials in my life that would cause me to be jaded; in fact quite the opposite I have been learning so much about myself and have gained a new piece of my life through Faith that up until very recently my life had been completely void. 

Soooo what's the problem? I figured it out today while listening to a presentation this morning addressing the topic of gratitude. We are so focused on the wrong and how to make it right we seem to take for granted all the beautiful things that happen everyday. The presenter nailed it since we are little people are always telling us how to do it right, we are programmed to seek out the wrong in order to make it right. She recommended taking time to smell the roses...to enjoy what is right in the world. My plan: Gratitude journal, actually it is part of my prayer journal however it seems appropriate. Each day I will write down five things that I am thankful for, five things that I have been provided with that I take for granted. 

Today Day One I will share my first five with you:

One: 

My Family..Through them I have the most to teach and the most to learn.

Two:

Country: I am so blessed to be able to raise my family in the most gracious, industrious and beautiful country. God Bless the USA! 

 

Three:

This is multifaceted part A: My amazing job that has allowed me to grow in so many ways and discover my talents and strengths as well as weaknesses. Part B: My crazy friends and their sense of humor! I love that this picture was captured and shared

Four:

need I say more... (ps have you seen it..she is missing!!)

Five:

I so thankful to have been saved.