a dozen thankful days...and counting

bear with me...this will be a collection of kind of unrelated thoughts:)  related, of course, by my 31 days of thankfulness challenge!

cultivating a new habit takes time.

cultivating a new habit that cultivates a new heart takes time and work.

not that i'm sweatin' to find things to be thankful for...it's just carving out time to stop and name them.

anyone remember this from sunday school: 'count your blessings name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done'

i like to encourage my children to be more specific when praying.  instead of "thanks for everything", how about "thanks for my bike, my brother, and silly string"?

naming it deliberately and individually shows that you notice and that it matters.

it's amazing how naming something can change how you look at it.  different names can evoke different emotions.

shift gears here...

my husband is def a "hands on" dad.  he takes his children everywhere with him.

the other day, he took the boys to his work to pick up some of  his tools that he needed at home for a project.  they wanted to sit in his truck.  they used his cell phone to make a movie.

this is what i am thankful for!

*in case you're wondering...because i know you are...

i am quite aware that not all men have this kind of extreme breathing aparatus sitting in their trucks.  my husband works for a company that handles all kind of disasters.  you name it, they have done it.  and of course, they need all kinds of "special equipment" and such.

say what?  your man doesn't wear a tyvek suit that covers him head to toe? (they even have hoods:)

any day of work could find him working on an oil spill in the bay/ocean, removing grain from overturned feed trucks, wading through Emeril's spaghetti sauce up to his knees in a factory, using a pick axe to dislodge built up coal in confined tanks, or sucking up whole raw chickens through a massive hose into a huge vacuum/cyclone truck, cause a chicken plant had a broken conveyor belt.  everyday is like the "dirty jobs" show!!
*when he isn't saving the day, he is the resident diesel mechanic for all of their specialized trucks/tanks/equipment the company uses*

praise Jesus!! i'm thankful for my husband and his work!

three day round up

thankful!
my mom cut up fresh pumpkin, stewed it down, weighed it, and bagged it for the freezer in perfect baking portions for me yesterday {while watching all three of my kids}

thankful!
we had an unexpectedly super-fun day on Sun. my oldest son was talking to a friend after church and co-conspired with this friend to ask their parents to go out for pizza together...what is this grown-up boy making plans stuff about??  we did go, and had a great time, but it is so so funny to see my kids growing into more new stages:)

thankful!
for my husband who planned and built backdrop pieces all day long on saturday for a craft show that i am doing in a few weeks!  he has such amazingly USEFUL skills!  he can build anything i dream up, fix anything i break, and rebuild any engine.  btw, did i mention that he did all this building while  taking care of all of children so that i could get some work done?

yes, believe me.  i do know how lucky i am:)

THE CHOICE...an October challenge

i have a lovely friend that i have known for most of my life that has set forth a thoughtful challenge.  she is a dear woman who just lost her husband of 26 years in August.  when she and her 3 children were dealing with his illness, i was constantly keeping my ear to the ground for ways of how to pray.  i knew they didn't need one more person exhausting them with questions...and i was thrilled to find out that she was keeping up a blog.  i would go over and see how they were doing and how i could pray.

let me say...it was overwhelming!  do you want to see the heart of love, sacrifice, beauty, all poured out on a page?  this is it.  her words and heart will take your breath away.  because through all of the traumatic stuff that was/still is happening in her life, her blog is titled Thankful Every Day.  she purposefully looked for something to give thanks to the Lord for. every. day.

about the same time, a dear friend gave me a copy of this book:

which is totally amazing and challenges us to thank God for 1000 things.  for real.  on paper.

could i make a list of 1000 things to be thankful for?

i would say with every fiber of my being that i am thankful to God for everything.

but what kind of changes would happen in your life if you practiced thankfulness out loud, on paper, deliberately?  even when your spouse's body is deteriorating?  when your love is leaving this world?

i read this post that challenged me to do this.

practice thankfulness every day in October.  deliberately.

will you join me?

today i am thankful for my husband!  today is his birthday(30!!) and i could make a looong list of all of the ways he blesses me, but the goal of this thankful every day challenge is to be simple about it.  so there you go!