Giving Thanks November 19

I have given up trying to post Thanksgivings every single day.  That's what I had planned on doing, but life gets in the way!

I had to go back to work 8 years ago.  Before I went back to work, I usually spent a day a week with my parents, one or the other or both.  We'd just visit and have lunch, Dad and I would work on a project I needed help with, Mom and I would go shopping or just piddling around.  One of my goals since cutting back to 3 days of work a week was to go back to spending time with my parents while I still have them and while they're still in good health.

 
Today I did that.  I spent the entire day with my mom.  Daddy was busy getting something fixed on their 5th wheel, and so Mom and I went to town.  I even took her to the DPS office to renew her driver's license.  She told me I didn't have to go but I told her she'd be bored waiting if I didn't go with her.  She laughed and said Yes she would!  We did that, we went to the Christmas store ( I could spend all morning there!), we ate at Spring Creek BBQ, went to a Christmas bazaar at a local farm and finished up at Ross and Beall's.  I took her home around suppertime.  We just had the BEST DAY!

I'm just SO thankful to have my mother.  She's an angel, I do believe, and I've been so blessed to have her in my life.  She and dad have always tried to lead their kids and grandkids in the ways of the Lord and be good examples to us.  I'm also thankful to be able to have time to spend with them again.  We've got lots of catchin' up to do! They're getting older - heck, we all are!  I intend to do this quite often. Mother has missed me.  I'm their only kid close enough to do this with.  What a wonderful day.  I think it did more for me than it did for mother!  Thank you God for my mama and daddy!

Giving Thanks November 16

Hello, my friends... Sorry I've been out of town and I have let my Giving Thanks posts go this past week. Shame on me.  I thought I'd have access to a computer and I could keep up, but I didn't.  So let me catch up now!

I am SO thankful this week for the close relationship that I have with my seester. I've been to see her this week!  She is 3 years younger than I - when we were young, we used to fight alot.  I was bossy, I was older, I always got blamed for our fusses, and she was taller, thinner and prettier than me!  She was in the Tyler Junior College Apache Belles and was their poster child because she was so beautiful. I wish I had a photo of her from back then. You'd all agree with me, too!  I was always SOOOOO proud of her, and Still AM!

As we got older, got married and started having our kiddos, we became closer and closer.  She is my best friend.  Is it hard for those of you who have more than one sister to pick just one of them to be closest to? I've always wondered.  Since I only have one sister, I guess I don't have to worry about it. 

We share everything.  She's been there for me through all my ups and downs, and I've been there for her.  Sometimes, we'll both pick up the phone and call each other at the same time.  Same thing with email.  We think about each other at the same time.  It's neat to be together with the family or friends and if someone says something funny or wierd or odd, we both look at each other.  She knows what I'm going to say before I say it, and I know her thoughts as well.  What a blessing she is and has been in my life!  Don't know what I'd do without her!  I thank God for her daily - we're sisters and best friends!  What could be better than that!  Coming from the same family and having the same 'baggage', the same parents, the same beliefs and ways of doing things gives us a bond that is so strong.  My daughter looks more like my sister than she does me. And that's okay.  We use to go places all together, and everyone assumed that my daughter belonged to my sister!  Here's a photo of my beautiful sister and her daughter...

This weekend, I am also thankful that the colors of Autumn are finally here!  The colors popped over the last day or two.  Since I've been traveling, I've been able to see a myriad of color up and down the highway and no two colors are alike!  God's been swishing through with His big ole paintbrush and dabbing a little color here and there, and it's just gorgeous!

Ok, I'm tired, my friends.  I'm still so tired, but I have to go to bed  Maybe tomorrow I can post more. I'm just absolutely exhausted.  Hope you all have a wonderful week and a blessed week.



Giving Thanks November 6

Today, I've spent a simple day doing regular simple things - routine, family, laundry, cooking, spending time with family.  I'm thankful for simple things - all the usual things of life, the things we do every single day.  I feel thankful because I know of people around me that don't have those things.  My husband works with a lady about my age that has absolutely NO family. NO ONE.  A home, a family, clothes that belong to my family that I wash, my hungry family that I have the privilege to cook for, ways to help my husband out here on the farm.  I am so happy to have all these busy, routine things to do because it means that I have a family, a home and a wonderfully blessed life that I'm living.  I feel so sorry for my husband's co-worker who has no one to wash for, no one to cook for, no one to spend the holidays with, no one to share one's hopes and dreams and children with. Simple things - that's what I'm thankful for today...

Just a few little simple things that I love.  There are so many more that I could list. It's the little things that mean so much.

November 5 Giving Thanks

 I LOVE this man ........

Today, I'm thankful for this man.  This big, goofy, silly husband of mine of 32 years.  He's been a wonderful husband to me. I could not do without him.  I've given him alot of grief over the years, and he's always been right here beside me - good or bad.  We've lived alot of life together, been through alot, loved alot, raised our kids together and we both have a strong faith in God and His power to see us through anything this life throws our way.  He has always been home with me and the kids.  When everybody else's husbands are hunting, fishing or playing golf or poker with their friends, he's been home with me and the kids.  Our children were his hobby, his past-time, and his joy.  He's coached soccer for all three for several years apiece, T-ball, football, cheerleading, you name it.  He was never too tired to "play" when one of our kids asked him.  Can you look at him and tell he loves the kids?  Our kids, the church kids, just kids.  He's always taught kids classes at church - they all love him. He's got a way with young people.  He can be stern and  no- nonsense, but he's understanding and kind towards kids as well as adults.

I love him, he's mine and you can't have him. And today (and every day) I'm so thankful to God for bringing this man into my life, breadsticks and all.

Giving Thanks November 4

Today among other things, I'm thankful for the successful surgery of my sweet kitty, Alice.  She got spayed  Monday, and came home yesterday.  She's doing well.  It's a little thing, but I get attached to my critters and worry about them.  Alice has a place in the laundry room until she heals up, a litter box and a little comfy bed.  She's enjoying being away from Jasper, too. Thanks for humoring me...

Giving Thanks November 3

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/johnmccoy/files/2009/11/rain.jpg

photo credit

Today, I have been so thankful to God for the rain.  We've had a long, hot, dry summer - going weeks and weeks with no rain. The last couple of days, we've had a slow, steady, soaking rain - the kind of rain that makes us feel cozy inside, that is quietly dripping off the roof, just a little pitter- patter.  The kind of rain that soaks into the ground slowly but leaves no major puddles. A perfect rain.  My yard has greened up again, my roses are sprouting buds again for another flush of color before freezing temps shut them down for the winter. The kind of rain that darkens the skies later in the morning and earlier in the evening and causes a foggy blanket to hug our landscape here in east Texas.  AND if you're lucky enough not to have to work, the kind of rain that puts you right to sleep...zzzzzzzzz.....

I've noticed through my gardening the last 3 years that the natural rain from the heavens does more for my veggies and flowers and yard than the purified chlorinated water that comes through the water hose. I'm so thankful on this day for this blessing of rain on the earth under my feet here on Sand Flat Farm.

2010 Giving Thanks! November 1 & 2

I decided to join up with Leah at South Breeze Farm this year to enter her month of November-long Giving Thanks Challenge.  I'm going to keep a list on  my sidebar and try to post something I'm thankful for MOST days, every day if I can.  I think this is a great opportunity not only for myself but for everyone who accepted the challenge as well as all the readers out there in bloglandia to look inward, outward, and upward and really search and find those things that we are truly thankful for.


If you know me, you already know that I'm most thankful for my Lord and His saving grace. AND my family, those are a given. I'm going to try to dig deeper and get down to the nitty-gritty - even if there's some particular aspect of God or family that I can be thankful for and share with you.

Since I'm just joining and it's November 2, I shall have two things to be thankful for today.  Yesterday, as I woke early to get ready for work, my husband and I walked outside to see what the weather was doing. It was still sorta darkish, but it was muggy and warm and the dark clouds kind of enveloped us.  Now here in Texas where we live, there are tons of trees. It's hard to get a good look at the sky sometimes depending upon where you are.  Well, at our farm, the hay pastures are wide open and we can stroll out to the middle of them and see 360 degrees of sky.  I absolutely LOVE looking at that sky. So, yesterday I was SO thankful for the ability to see a complete sky above my head. I can spin around in a circle and see nothing but sky! Whether it's cloudy and grey, starry at night, or filled with fluffy clouds & sunshine - I LOVE ME SOME SKY!!!

Today, since it's on my heart & pertinent to all of us, I'm thankful for our country and the right to vote. I'm thankful for our way of government that we can be a part of putting our leaders into office and we are free to vote for whoever we think would best fit the job. I've already voted absentee, but I know there are many, many people that are exercising that right today.

I hope you'll check out Leah's blog, South Breeze Farm, and see all the others who've signed up for this challenge.  I'll bet each and every one of you can find at least 30 things (or more) to be thankful for this November, the month of Giving Thanks! Hope you'll join in - or at least in your own hearts and minds, find things for which to be thankful in this season of the year!