Gratitude Friday

I read Martie's post this morning and decided it was time that I do another one of these myself.

I'm thankful for:

- my girls' happiness at school. They both basically have nice, good-natured friends who they can count on to help them out and be there when they need them. They've had very little bullying and 'mean-girl' syndrome.

- John's daycare caregivers. I've mentioned Sam and Mike before; they provide such a great place for John to be during the day. They're like an extra set of grandparents for him, and the bonus is there's always lots of other kids there for him to play with.

- the general kindness of strangers. People letting me in, when I'm in traffic, holding doors open, going out of their way to help when they don't have to. (yes, a very nice man let opened two doors for me when my hands were full, on the way in this morning).

- my husband's sense of humor. He's been making me laugh this week talking about his new experiences with his new job.

- my mom helping out with all of my kids' school projects. Thanks God for her when creating Anna's family tree!

- a job where I can take off an hour here and there when I need to, b/c Lord knows that happens a lot.

- coupons! I'm about to use one right now to save on the latest school project for Emma.

That's all for now; Anna is on her way to see Hannah Montana tonight. She's so excited!

I hope y'all have a great weekend.

**updated 1:21a.m. Saturday. I'm making an addition to this entry. I'm thankful to God for keeping my girl safe. On the way to the concert (about 75 miles away), on a very rainy drive, the car she was in hydroplaned, spun out of control on the interstate and hit the guard rail. Everyone involved was very shaken up, but thank God, no one was hurt. She called me crying saying all she wanted to do was come home. That call was followed, about 5 minutes later by a happy call saying the police were there and she felt safer. Cue Mark to go pick her up, followed by a call saying he was taking the whole crew to the concert. They had a great time and got home safely about an hour ago. Thank you, Lord for watching over my family and thank you Mark for making your girl a happy one. Oh, and for sitting through an entire Hannah Montana concert.

Just to get out of the slump

Okay, so my mom requested a new post because she's tired of looking at my ass. Since she is one of my total of 10 readers, I'm going to comply with her request.

So, does this post have to have a point? I suppose not. What's on my mind lately? Unfortunately, what's been on my mind this week is sickness, death, and the uncertainty of what the future holds. Cheery, eh?

The reason for this is news that I've heard in the last several days; a friend's husband just learned that he has leukemia (he's just 33) and a former co-worker was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has only a few months to live. Both of these things hit me hard. It's a reminder of how fragile life is, how quickly things can change, and how we should appreciate every moment that things are good. Of course, that's not going to happen. I'm still going to get annoyed at day-to-day things like the car dealership taking forever to fix my car, finding baby mice that took up residence in my closet, and whatnot. So, let's scratch the 'every moment' from that thought, and just say 'more often'.

I'm going to work on recognizing the good things in my life and living by one of my favorite phrases 'Count your blessings, not your troubles'. Oh, and praying more b/c that's truly the only way that I feel have the slightest bit of control over anything.

That's it for now. I forgot to post a 'Happy Birthday' to my mom. She's just 26, if your dyslexic. I love you, Mom! Even more than my ass.

My ass

Well, actually it's my kids' ass, but here she is.

This is what happens when the kids join Mark at a livestock auction and some yahoo decides to sell a donkey dirt cheap.

John named her 'Toto'.

She is pretty cute though, don't you think?

Me in 2008

Happy 2008! (check me out on the left there; I wanted to post a picture of myself for this post and I have so few, so this is it, folks).

I've tried to think of an idea for a 'New Year' post, but couldn't really come up with something specific, so I thought I'd just jot down a few things I'd like to work on in the next year (or possibly forever).

- being more positive and complaining less.
- listening to others more and REALLY listening, not halfway
- spending more quality time with Mark and the kids
- eating more healthy foods
- decreasing the amount of 'stuff' that I have. Getting rid of the excess.
- reading more

I'm sure there are many more but those are the first that came to mind. Oh, and saving more money. But, I always say that and it never happens so ...

I hope 2008 has been good for you so far.