Today's Thankful Heart - 7/8/09

No worries - I've not totally dropped the Love Dare. Things have been crazy here, but I'm still going to be posting on these. In the meantime though I figured it has been WAY too long since I've posted here.

Today I thank the Lord for:

• Being part of an amazing homeschool co-op with some wonderful families. The Lord is so much at work in this. I've been slowly getting the curriculum for my daughter (3rd grade) and my eldest son (K) for next year and I'm so excited to get started again. It is lots of work, but so worth it and rewarding!

• Kingdom Builder Books - this is a little local family owned Christian used bookstore. They are a homeschooling family and sell homeschool curriculum. I just ordered the last of my daughter's curriculum which will not be covered by the charter school (b/c the publisher is Christian). It is such a blessing that we have found this store!
  

• Have a wonderful job - everyday I'm so thankful for my new position at work. I feel so tremendously blessed. I appreciate it so much more because I've been in positions in the past years which I did not care for the work, had less than pleasant managers and/or worked horrible overtime during month and quarter ends. Now I am even so much more thankful for a job which I love to do and feel like I'm actually contributing something useful to the company, a manager who is wonderful and no more long hours which make my kids forget who I am!

• My husband - I can't leave him out. I'm daily thankful for this wonderful man the Lord has chosen to place in my life. Today I had to go into work early so he got the boys all ready by himself (he usually does most of it in the mornings anyway). Then tonight I had plans to meet with my cousin for a bit and he picked the boys up from daycare and had them fed before I got home. Even more amazing is that he does many of these things on pretty much a daily basis.
  

Today's Thankful Heart - Jan 16th

Today I'm thankful for many things, most small things but I'm still thankful. We serve an awesome God!

• Friday & Days off - not much more to say here! Except that Monday is a holiday and I have Tuesday off from work as well. I'll get to stay home and do homeschooling with my daughter and am going to take her to the resource center to get her signed up in the AR Reading program. She did it last year when she was at the private school she was in. I'm so happy to learn that the charter school has it available as well.
• New job - I officially start my new position when I return to work on Wednesday. I'll still be spending some days in my old department through the middle of March, however my replacement is really learning well. I used to work with her at a different company and I knew she was going to do well. She's been catching on even better than I imagined though. It will be frustrating for her a bit at first but she's going to do great when she gets it all figured out. I think she's going to do even better in the position than I did! AND she is a Christian. We've had some wonderful conversations over the past 2 weeks.
• Warm weather - the weather has been wonderful the past few days. I'm looking forward to taking the kids to the park again this weekend.
• My Husband - last but definitely NOT last! Once again I just have to brag on him. He recently bought a used computer that did not have it's hard drive. It is the same computer that we have. We had some parts that needed replacing and this used computer was cheaper than buying the parts. I came home the other day and he had both computers torn apart and by the end of the night we had our old computer back, good as new. In some cases even better. He amazes me with the things he takes care of for our family. I am truly blessed.
  

Today's Thankful Heart - Jan 6th

Today/this week I'm thankful for:

• A daughter who surprises me more and more all the time. All my kids are precious, but she is at an age where I'm really starting to see her grow in the Lord and it is amazing and wonderful to see.
  
• Being able to homeschool my daughter. Even though I work full time I've been able to participate in a 3 day a week homeschool co-op and homeschool her the other two days. We are both enjoying it so much and it is drawing us closer together as well. Lots of work, but oohhh so worth it!
• A new Journal! Last night I filled up my journal and today I get to start on a new one! Yeah - I love journaling and starting a new one is always so much fun and so exciting (okay - so maybe I'm a bit of a nerd!)
• God's faithfulness - this year has not really started out any different from any other. Still just as busy as ever, still have the same worries/issues going on in my life for the most part, but for some reason it just seems different. Brighter and more hopeful for some reason! I know God is at work in my life and in my family no matter our circumstances. It is amazing how that changes things even when nothing on the outside has changed!
  

Today's Thankful Heart - Nov 23rd

I've not posted over the past couple days but that does not mean that I'm not thankful! Today I'm posting for a few things from the past days. I am thankful for, praise God for, rejoice because:

• My 4 year old is now begging me to do devotions every day. I've found it is easier for me to engage him one on one, so each night before bed we do the next letter in the alphabet. We'll talk about the things that describe God that begin with that letter. Then we praise God for those things and sing a song. His favorite right now is "Awesome God" and we've added some hand gestures that he loves.

• Days off and good talks - I had Friday off from work again and helped out at our homeschool co-op. I was in the preschool and had a blast. On top of it I had a really good discussion with two other moms. We really connected. One of the things we discussed was love languages and how this can help in raising your children to be strong in their faith. I had started reading the Five Love Languages of Children awhile back and have decided to pick it back up. Just from us talking and sharing I believe my main languages are quality time and words of affirmation. I may need to go get the original book and see if that helps in my marriage too. If I understand my dear husband's love languages better it will be easier to show him how thankful I am for him and to show him the love of Christ.

• Yummy recipes - my husband found a recipe for a layered pumpkin cheesecake that I made last night. It has to be in the refrigerater for a few hours after it is baked so we just tried it today. YUMMY!!! I'm taking some of it to church tonight. The crust is made of gingersnaps. I love gingersnaps!

• Eggnog - seems people either hate or love this stuff. No real in between. I for one, love this time of the year because eggnog makes it's appearance on the shelves again. I was "good" this year and I bought the low fat version and I'm mixing it with milk when I drink it. (My preferred way is the "full" fat version with nothing to dilute it!) However, it may be a bit strange that considering how much I like coffee and eggnog, I really do not like the two mixed!

Today's Thankful Heart - Nov 12th

Today I am thankful for, praise God for, rejoice because:

• A good night's rest and a wonderful husband - I am usually the light sleeper but apparently last night I was pretty tired. Our 4 year old it seems was having a good night of deep sleep as well. He woke himself up when he started to wet himself (been a long time since that has happened). I guess he jumped up pretty fast and hit the wall our bedrooms share pretty hard, waking up my hubby. Then he came into our room sobbing because he'd had an accident. My husband changed him, made a bed for him on our floor and settled him back to sleep. I slept through the entire thing! I woke up at 4am to hysterical laughter though. Not sure what Austin was dreaming about, but it was obviously pretty funny!
• Nice warm bubble baths and a good book (yep I know I've put this one down already but I can't help it. I love them and I'm going to indulge again tonight before bed!)
• Homeschooling - I never would have thought that I would say this but I'm loving the homeschooling thing. Of course ours is a unique situation given our daughter is part of a co-op three days a week and then does homework I assign her while spending the day with daddy at work the other two days - but I'm pretty much teaching her history/geography, science and Spanish. And then I'm also following up on the Language Arts, reading, math, music and art she gets at the co-op. Lots of work but so much fun! And it is drawing us closer together as well. On top of that, I'm noticing less and less t.v. in our household lately. Gotta love that!