Being Thankful

today is thanksgiving eve.  my house is clean (somewhat) and i have started some of my cooking but i wanted to take a moment to rest and reflect on the things i am so thankful for in this world of mine.  there are all the basic things that i take for granted day in and day out like, electricity, running water, gasoline in my car, my car, a warm home, having a home, clothes, shoes, food, medicines, stores close by, my church, freedom to worship and about a zillion other things.  i am also so thankful for my family, my friends, my church family, my coworkers and my job.  good health insurance (so far) and the access to physicians and dentists that is bar none around this world.  i am so thankful to live in the united states.  the issues and problems this country has are very real and very large but i am still grateful to live in this wonderful land of plenty.  i am thankful for personal things that are just for this woman...my precious grandbabies...oh, how i love them.  my daughters and the privilege and wonderment at watching the women they are becoming.  my great sons-in-law, really, really good men.  the opportunity to live next door to my parents.  it is so funny to watch them growing old and helping them out now and then and secretly knowing that one day all too soon i will be helping them more and more.  i know that they will take a great deal of my future time but before i know it i will look out my window and someone else will occupy their home.  i won't be able to run over there on our well trod path just to show my mama something or take my daddy a piece of cake or pie.  well, now that i am crying i might as well start thinking on the things that are hard to be thankful for.  like being single in a world that is not so kind to older single women.  in the last couple of years it has taken quite a bit out of me to get used to being alone but now that my baby is married and gone and i am truly all by myself i can say that through this valley i have grown so close to the Lord and for that i am thankful.  would i ever have chosen this path???  no, never.  i love the idea and thought of being married and all that goes with that commitment.  when i did marry, i married for life but when things spiral out of control and people make wrong choices and go down the wrong trail looking for something else....well, we won't go there today.  let's just say i would love to marry again but only someone that i have no doubt or fears about and someone that loves God and Godliness and not what things this world offers that is just so fleeting and so deceptive.  i am thankful for this time of need, insecurity, self-doubt and sadness because it has made me look at things and people differently.  given me a whole new outlook on matters of the heart...and soul.  i am not as quick to judge...a little softer...a little more tender and a whole lot kinder to others who find themselves in places they never planned on being.  a few other things i am thankful for...good health, good sense and a sound mind.  now i surely cannot leave out the trivial stuff like hair dye, make up, good moisturizer and a daily hot bath while i admire a not so recent pedicure.  massages, manicures, jewelry and 300+ thread count sheets.  the luxuries of this world are nice at times and i am thankful for them.  but mostly i am thankful for Jesus.  He loves me when i am so unlovable.  He is with me always...even at night when the phone doesn't ring and there is no one to laugh at a stupid commercial with or talk to.  so i do talk to my dog and myself a whole lot but i also talk to Jesus out loud a whole lot.  and for Him...i am most thankful.

Hospitality

Last night at church we had our 14th annual Ladies Hospitality Banquet.  It is a fabulous evening where each lady hosts a table of eight seats and decorates her table however she wishes.  From the finest china to simple paper plates, each table was beautiful and elegant.  It is by far my most favorite event we do at my church.  The idea is to invite unchurched or unsaved ladies to hear the gospel and possibly accept Christ.  I do try to each year to invite some of my unsaved and unchurched friends but I also like to include some of my friends who are in low spots in their lives and just need some encouragement and fellowship with other believers.  I also include some family members like my mom because....well, she is my mom.  We always have a speaker and some wonderful music from either an individual or a group.  Our speaker this year was Reba Bowman.  She was great and I will never read the book of Ruth in the Bible again without using her accents and scenarios....very funny.  But the gospel was so evident last night.  Several women accepted Jesus as their Savior and many women said they were refreshed and many rededicated their lives back to Christ.  It is the one event that I participate in that I really feel that God uses me.  I usually host four tables but this year I scaled way back and only did one.  I invited two co-workers who are unsaved and do not go to church.  They both really had a great time and though neither one told me she accepted Christ I know that seeds were planted.  My mother and her sister came and so did one of my cousins.  Also two friends from church who have both been going through very hard things right now.  My aunt that came just struggles with issues and choices that just control her life and my cousin is the sweetest woman but she is so bound in worry and fear.  I just pray that each of them heard what God wanted for them to hear and lets it sink in their hearts and radiate out through their lives.  My sweet daughters hosted a table together for their friends who all said they were amazed and blessed by the whole evening.  Here are some photos I took....so many tables were just gorgeous but I will just post a few....


This is the table my girls decorated.  Kind of a cowgirl theme.  So pretty!

This is my table.  I used my old reliable Thanksgiving theme.  It is my favorite holiday!

This was our stage.  I was so pretty in the low lighting and it made us all feel very Christmasy!

I love these pilgrims on this table.  And her chair coverings were so pretty.

This lady uses this giant gingerbread house she has and it is just gorgeous in person!

Our children's pastor and youth pastors wives did this table.  Such sweet ladies.

It's Never Too Early For Peanuts

I have had so much on my plate lately and I have nothing on my mind (now that's a big, fat lie!!) so instead of writing or whining or sounding my opinion-horn loudly....I though I would send a little present your way.  Peanuts....I love them and it is never too early for Snoopy.

Observations

I really enjoy people watching and observing things.  Okay, okay...I am nosy.  I said it.  Nosy Rosy is my middle name.  I even walk down the beach and will alter my path to see what books people are reading.  I like to eavesdrop on conversations in stores, restaurants and grocery stores if they look interesting.  I could choose to not do this but.....I like it!  I like it a lot!!  So, since I have had so much going on lately that has given me ample time to "observe", this is what I have been seeing.

Yoga pants are not one size fits all and not really...pants

Leggings are also not pants

Pants should stay at a middle of the body spot...not around your thighs nor under your armpits

Pajamas are not clothes

Can y'all tell I broke my rule and went back to Walmart???  Well I did and now I am once again renewing my promise to not go there anymore...ever...ever...ever.  Now back to my list.

Little girl clothes are getting really cute again.

Little boy clothes are looking pretty good too

This has been the prettiest fall I have seen in several years.

I am falling in love with Christmas all over again

Smiling at people usually gets you a smile back

I could go on and on about all the stuff I see and hear but....who really cares??!!  The last one is my favorite.  I am trying to make an effort to be kind and smile at people I do not know.  To compliment complete strangers.  To be...well...kind.  Not nice, but kind.  Anyone can be nice but to be kind is a fruit of the spirit that I lack production of.  Kindness takes effort.  Real effort.  Because let's face it, we do not always want to be kind.  It cannot be faked.  Niceness can be faked.  So as the autumn season starts winding down and winter comes blasting in, take the time to observe the people you see and be kind to them.  Everyone needs a smile.  An acknowledgment that someone sees them.  Let's be kind to one another.  We all need it.

Bridge over troubled....teeth??

I am an amazingly healthy woman.  I do not say that in any kind of bragging way at all.  I have no health issues other than menopause to deal with.  I have never had strep throat, bronchitis, the real flu, sinus infection, respiratory issues and only the occasional stomach virus or slight cold.  I am so, so blessed in the good health department.  My blood pressure is always good, cholesterol good, thyroid good.  I do kinda wish my thyroid was outta whack so I could claim the extra 15 pounds I carry is its fault instead of my fault!  The only issue I ever have is my teeth.  Today I had to have the 7th root canal of my adult life.  this one was a doozy too.  My endodontist (fancy word for super expensive dentist) had to break through my fairly new bridge that went over two teeth with the one that was lost in the middle due to a horizontal crack under the gumline from an old root canal.  That one was super-fun too.  The good teeth under this bridge were okay with only one of them having any prior dental work.  So for the past 18 months or so I have had a quickiness under this bridge.  I told my regular dentist at a cleaning and he recommended seeing the endodontist.  So off I went and he told me at that time it was probably nothing and I was just very sensitive to any foreign body in my mouth.  Yay for me.  So I plodded along and still had trouble with this bridgework.  I fussed once again when I went for a cleaning a while back and low and behold I was back at the old endodontist office and he told me that I was right all along.  there was definitely some kind of shadow at the back canal of my last molar under this bridge.  Great!  Whooopeee!!  I am super-pumped!!  Not.  So for a solid month I have had a temporary filling and had to eat on one side and not chewing gum or crunching candy.  So today I had the final visit for the actual root canal work.  Let's just say holding my mouth wide open with a big rubber sheet over my mouth while drowning underneath for and hour and a half is not my ideal way of spending a day off of school.  Excuse me waiter,  can I have some cheese with my whine, please???  I am so very thankful that I have such good health and the only issue I ever have are teeth issues.  Though, I do admit sometimes I would just like to pop my teeth out and drop them in a glass.  Hey, I can always eat ice cream...no teeth required!

Halloween 2013

I got the treat of going out last night and trick-or-treating with my two little grand daughters.  It was so much fun!!  Savannah was the cutest lion you have ever seen....and, NO, I am not biased or kidding.  She really was the cutest lion you have ever seen.  Piper was a good witch.  My daughter, Megan, has a co-worker who gave Erica all kinds of costumes she made for her own daughter several years ago and in the bag was a very cute witch costume.  It had feathers on the hat and super-cute tights and it came with an orange and black tutu that was super-cute too!  I, personally, do not care for witchy stuff.  Let's just say that it does not give me that peaceful, easy feeling....name that tune!  I saw a ton of kids from my school who were having a blast and I got to hug a few that have moved on to middle school but still knew me.  I must say that it does my old soul good to have kids hug me and tell their parents, "I know her.  She works at my school and she is so nice to me."  Makes me feel good!  Especially when I know doggone well that I am not always nice and that shows the sweet nature of children.  They don't care if I am not so nice sometimes.  They forgive me and hug me anyway.  I suppose that is what it means in the Bible that we need to become like little children.  If only we adults didn't take everything as such a personal insult and offense.  I digress.  I saw the cutest little boy of maybe 15 months old walking around as a vampire.  He was so tiny and so serious!  I saw ladybugs, lalaloopsey girls, fairies, zombies, super heroes of all kinds and a ton of other costumes.  While I will admit that Halloween is my least favorite holiday, I will admit that eating candy by the bucket-full is awesome.


Erica went as a Carolina Panther player.  Steve Smith to be exact and Blake just wore his hoodie from a local spook trail that he has to work at for the Sheriffs Department during the Halloween season.

See??  The cutest lion...ever.

My little treats for the year!

Sitting with sweet Aunt Megan.  She brought over a ton of candy for the girls to eat!

A rare photo of me with my sweeties.  I went dressed as a worn-out tired old granny!

Piper's bff Emma.  Also known as Sweet Cinderella.

Look at all the loot.  Candy for days!!

Savannah shoved a hershey bar in her mouth right away.

I love getting to spend time with my little grand daughters.  It really is the sweetest thing to watch them grow up and to have fun with them when I can.