Thankful Thursday: Written Words

This week I am most thankful for books. Books have the power to teach and enrich our lives. They can be encouraging, inspiring, understanding, and distracting (in a good way). I love the written word and admire all those who are able to share so much so gracefully with their words!
Right now I am reading "Beautiful in God's Eyes" by Elizabeth George. It is a book about the Proverbs 31 woman. It is so uplifting to read about this passage particularly and I am inspired to become a better wife, mother and woman of God.
Another book, I will always cherish for the encouraging words I found just when I needed to hear them, was "Your Scars Are Beautiful To God" by Sharon Jaynes. Through that book God helped me to realize I shouldn't be ashamed of the different tribulations and trials I have gone through, because He wants to use them as beautiful tools to reach out to others in similar circumstances.
Ultimately though the best book is the Bible. God's written word, divined by the Holy Spirit through many different authors. The book from which countless others have been penned just to discuss and explain its contents!
If you haven't guessed yet, I love books of all shapes and sizes!

Thankful Thursday: It's YOUR Turn!!

I am thankful for my readers! The blog world is still fairly new to me, but I still get excited to know others are reading and interested in what I write! I deeply miss school for the opportunity to be challenged with a variety of essays to write on anything from history, such as Was the nuclear attack on Hiroshima necessary?, to classic fiction, analyze the topic or pride in Pride and Prejudice. Yes, those were actual essays I wrote in school and still have tucked away somewhere. I had always felt a sense of accomplishment when the teacher would add to the assignment the opportunity/requirement to read or discuss the topic for the class. I just don't think I was as motivated to write not thinking others would be reading my words. Even in my poetry, I longed to share it with friends and to get feedback for what I had written.
So today you are the star! Your comments and feedback to me are appreciated mightily! After all you make it all worthwhile for me to write! You are the one who takes the time to browse and read my many thoughts, and sometimes even tell me your own! So THANK YOU!!

Thankful Thursday: Time Together

This week I am thankful for any time I get to spend with my husband. It has been a very difficult week in terms of the hours he has had to put in at work. The Navy is definitely not the standard 40 hour work week job, and we both were aware of that at his reenlistment almost 6 years ago. Despite my frustrations with his lack of time off, it reminds me to be more grateful when the times do come along and savour those moments to their fullest. Our lives are blessed in many ways, and one is that after serving nearly 10 years in the Navy my husband has only been on one long deployment. Our time apart in our almost 7 years of marriage has only been a total of close to 8 months. That is nearly unheard of among the Navy wives I have encountered and I know most wish they could say the same. I am truly grateful for all our time together. Time is such a precious gift, but we never know how much we are allotted until it is too late.
Yesterday was one of those wonderful days, due to a local holiday and parade, my husband was not working. We didn't do anything special, other then an errand I needed to run, we stayed home with the kids most of the day, just relaxing. During their nap we sat on the couch together and watched a movie as my sweet Jon rubbed my feet, though his were certainly in more need of it.
I don't know how much time we will have together this weekend as his work can come on so suddenly at times if some testing fails, or another urgent job comes in at 3pm Friday afternoon. But I am truly thankful for any and all time God blesses us with to be together as a family and as a couple.

Thankful Thursday: My Mom

I hope my mom knows how grateful I am to have her as my mother. She has done so much for me over the years though I may not have always shown my gratitude properly.
As the oldest of 4 girls, I was more aware of the sacrifices she made for us then my sisters seemed to be. She had help from her own mom, but most of my life she raised us by herself and when I was around 12 she had the added burden of caring for her own mom, as my grandma had a series of major strokes and dementia began to set in. I can only begin to imagine how difficult it was for her, especially on an emotional level when her own mom often times did not recognize who she was- her first little girl. I know it was difficult for even me, the first grandchild to feel forgotten.
I never doubted my mom wished she could be home more with me and my sisters, but that just wasn't a possibility, someone had to bring home a paycheck to pay the bills with. And somehow my mom pulled it off. She supported almost solely her 4 daughters as well as her deteriorating mother. She is amazing!
Growing up though I could sense the stress from her and I did my best to show my appreciation by behaving and trying to keep the peace as often as possible. But I was still a kid, and a kid that did not get along with one sister in particular, who had a short fuse. It wasn't hard to press her buttons without even trying, and once she went off, I couldn't help but feel riled up inside myself and I would retaliate. Of course my mom would dole out discipline as necessary, but I always felt so guilty for causing her any grief and I repented immediately in my heart for whatever I had done. Of course it would still happen again in the heat of yet another moment when my defenses would go down.
As I grew, my mom even helped me to get a job. I worked at the thrift store she managed. Though in efforts to not display favoritism, she was actually harder on me. I understood why, I was just happy to have a job. I knew it helped take some of the pressure off of her for me to be able to have my own money to spend instead of running to her constantly for some cash.
After I met Jon and got married, she even let us live with her for the 1st year so that we could save some money (I still have no clue where all that 'extra' money went- we certainly hadn't learned to save any then!). And again when Jon was sent to Cuba for 6 months, I packed up a barely one year old girl and moved across the country back into my mom's home as she welcomed me with open arms. And I sure took advantage of my time there, as I would sneak off as Natalie slept knowing my mom was home, so I could go out and spend time with the friends I had missed after I left home. She never complained once about watching her granddaughter- and of course I tried to be as considerate about it as possible!
Since leaving home and being on my own, my mom is still always there to help me out when I need it. She is currently caring for my dog, Diamond, while we are overseas so that we didn't have to put her through a flight here, and so we didn't have to get rid of her. And now, as of last week, she has offered to help us cover the cost of tickets to come home for my sister's wedding later this year. I am so thankful for the opportunity she has provided us, and everything she has done for me as I grew up.

Thank you so much mom, for everything you do and have done!! I love you!!

Thankful Thursday: God's Word

I woke up this morning with a cloud over my head. And after a series of disappointing factors my cloud grew a dark gray and began to rumble with the sounds of an wet and horrible storm in the making for me. The cloud continued to build as I cleaned and tidied up our home preparing for the physical therapist to come and work with my son and I. And then the phone rang, it was the therapist, who I hoped was confirming the usual time he had been coming at one. One is the perfect time for it, after Z has had his nap and had lunch. He is happiest at this time of day. But unfortunately and unsurprisingly after how the day had already been going, he was calling to offer other times he may come today, neither was doable for Z, so he had to cancel for this week. More discouraging news on top of an already negative morning.
So you can see I am naturally not feeling very thankful this Thursday morning. But despite this day, I know I am blessed immensely more then I could ever deserve with family, friends, and a God who cares for someone as sinful as me, enough even to die to cover that sin.
Today I am thankful for my Bible, God's words to me for good times and bad. I know I can draw encouragement from within its pages, especially on days like today. As Satan is trying to drag me down, I don't have to search very hard to find scriptures from God in my Bible, as He lifts me back up.

Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. ~Psalm 61:1-4

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ~Romans 8:28

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Romans 8:38-39

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday: Therapists

This week I am thankful most for Zachary's therapists. I was, until recently, completely unaware of this program the Naval hospital offered that allowed children who were lagging behind in different developmental areas to get help within their own home. This is particularly helpful in our situation because the Navy only allowed us to bring along one car when we made the big move overseas to Guam. And initially we just didn't need a second car since I am not working, now its a matter of not seeming as worth it to purchase one when we have already made it half way through our time here. (We would like to save the money for a number of other things- possible vacation & our house fund.) So it is extremely helpful that Zachary's three therapists can come out to us.
We are only just beginning, the physical therapist comes out every other week, and has been out to see us twice since the initial evaluation. And today was the first day with the speech and occupational therapists, who will will be coming out to consult with us once a month, and give us tips and tricks for him to improve in his speech and his eating habits. The physical therapist is coming to help Zachary with learning how to walk, or rather, showing me how to help him work towards it. At 16 months, Zachary only scoots around on his bottom, no crawling and only in the last 2 months has begun pulling up and cruising. I am very excited and thankful for the new opportunities for me to learn how to help my son be were he is supposed to be at on these levels. He is a smart kid, above average cognitive skills according to the evaluation, I can't wait for the rest of him to catch up, and it will be such a blessing for all 30 plus pounds of him to be walking and not weighing me down!!
It is truly a blessing from God that we were able to get to this point as well. We discovered the program simply when Jon took the kids to a church gathering and someone who worked with the program happened to notice his poor gross motor skills and shared. She said she was even hesitant about it, but I am so glad she told us about it. What a blessing it has been even early on! Thank you Lord for opening this door!

What are you thankful for this week?

Thoughts for New Memes

I have been out exploring lately! There is a huge, beautiful world of blogging mommies out there on the world wide net and I think it is so exciting!
And I absolutely loving all the little 'memes' by other bloggers, one for each day of the week! There are so many out there I don't know if I am an original in this but I want to start two of my own.
'Teach Me Tuesday', when I will share what the Lord has been teaching me that week, or maybe just a new skill I am learning. For example this week I would say I am learning a lot about blogging! I think it is important to always be learning something new, new skills to use for Him, and sometimes new lessons He is trying to teach us in different ways in our lives.
And then I thought it would be fun to do a 'Thankful Thursday'. I think too often we get so caught up in life we forget to appreciate the little, and big, things that God blesses us with. We have one day a year set aside for giving thanks, but really we should be doing this all the time! In prayer I know I have the habit of asking, and asking, and asking, with little thought to thanking for the blessing I do have and the answered prayers He has already given.
Join me if you like for 'Teach Me Tuesday' and 'Thankful Thursday'. I will try to learn how to add a link-up gadget at the bottom of my posts....maybe that will be my first 'Teach Me Tuesday' post!