Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think Thanksgiving is my favorite family holiday. I LOVE Christmas, I love everything about it, the songs, the shopping, the decorations, the cookies, the parties, the church services, of course most of all our true celebration of Christmas. But to me, Thanksgiving, is a simple time that focuses solely on family and blessings, and it gives me warm fuzzies!

As I get a few years under my belt it also is bitter sweet. Because, as we all know, things change. My grandparents, who we always spent the day with, along with all my aunts, uncles and cousins, have both died in the past 6 years, and it makes me so incredibly sad at times. And now of course, so has our tradition of getting together with that side of the family every Thanksgiving. It happens you know, all the aunts and uncles get their own grandkids, and everyone has scattered to the wind, and it is near impossible to get us all together.

Anyway, I digress. I want to say how today how thankful I am for my grandpa, what a man! He was a Southern Baptist preacher, he was warm, caring, loving, and didn't ever have anything bad to say about anyone. In my entire life, I had never heard him say an ill thing about a single person, ever! That is quite an accomplishment. He made sure that we all knew that he loved us. Every time we saw him, we got hugs and I love you's, every time. He was a true example of what it meant to try to be Christ like.

I guess though what makes him even more special to me is that, he wasn't even my biological grandfather. My mom and dad, even though he is not my biological dad he is my dad, always has been, in every sense of the word, got married when I was 2. I have no memory of that so my life as it is now, is simply to me how it always was. But if I didn't know the facts about my birth, I would never have known I wasn't an "official" member of that family. There was never ever a difference made, I was his granddaughter and that was that! I don't think people can really know how special that is unless you have experienced it, it touches me more than my words can express. My dad is the same, but this post is about my grandpa, so he will have to wait for his own post, lol. My grandpa married my husband and I, and that gift is so precious to me. I will see him again in Heaven someday, and wow, what a gift God has given us to say that!

Sorry about the rambling post, I was just reminiscing a little.

So anyone Black Friday shopping! I am! My friend and I are leaving sometime around 3 am, with no kids and no husbands, and will be back sometime with the next 24 hours. Honestly that is the bestsest Christmas present I could get, I am so excited about that, I do feel like I felt as a kid the night before Christmas.

I will let you all know if I survived.

Have a wonderful day with your families, and take a picture in your mind of these times, they certainly are fleeting!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Counting my Blessings.

Hello to any left of my friends out there who might have checked in on my blog. I am going to try to get back into my blogging life again. I've missed everyone, but I still know what you did last week, lol!

Of course this is a "corny" counting my blessings blog. I say corny because at this time of the year the word thankful just becomes so reduntant. I of course , like anyone living in the good ole' USA, have more to be thankful for than I deserve. So I am listing two things today.

#1 I am thankful to my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. First, He died a horrific, painful death on a cross, so that I could spend eternity in Heaven, not hell. Second, I am thankful because I accepted that gift of salvation, for without acceptance that death means nothing. And last because He has been/is more to me than just a fire escape. He has been my best friend, my confidante, my dad, my Saviour, my "bank" when I was in need, He has held me when no one on this earth could comfort me. He has loved me unconditionally through all my imperfections, and although we think people on earth do to, He is the only one who can see what we are like on the "inside", and I know for me that can be pretty ugly at times.

#2 I am thankful that my children have plenty of food. I know this one sounds trite and overused, but I am going to link a picture here that has changed my life. WARNING, it is quite graphic and very sad, and is a downer right now, so if you are on a holiday high, and want to stay there, you might want to view it later. www.snopes.com/photos/people/kevincarter.asp This picture says it all about how much we have to be thankful for, and I have never viewed my life the same since seeing it, I actually printed off the picture, so I can never ever forget how blessed I am.

I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving, and I will post a much more light hearted post next time, I promise!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Hiatus

In case you haven't noticed, I have been taking a bit of a break from posting. Well the trend is going to continue. I know that is a faux pas in blogger land, that you are supposed to post often to keep your followers and gain new ones, but it can't be helped. I am going through some things personally and I just need a "break" from feeling the need to post every other day. I really love blogging, so this is stinky for me.

Don't worry, nothing major is going on, my marriage and children are fine and no one has a fatal disease or anything. It's just a "me" thing. So pray for me, and I will be back soon, I promise.

Mean time I will lurk alot on your blogs, but may not comment, just want you to know that I will still be around in "spirit".

Love ya all!