99 reasons I am thankful

Except for the first few, these are in no particular order....

1-The Father
2- The Son
3- The Holy Spirit
4- my salvation
5- my husband
6- my children
7- my family
8- my friends
9- my church
10- freedom to worship
11- The Bible
12- my Christian upbringing
13-my dog
14- my education
15- my health
16- my middle school class
17- awesome in-laws
18- music
19- good neighbors
20- chocolate
21- my beautiful home
22- good food
23- caring doctors
24-being born in America
25-my children's teachers
26- salvation for my husband and 2 children
27-my preacher
28-happy childhood
29-wedded bliss
30- warm cozy bed and perfect pillows
31-a washer and dryer
32- mammograms-yes, really!
33- the Knight's job
34- good insurance
35- no more diapers
36- flip flops
37-vacations
38- pizza
39- wrinkle cream
40-drive thru windows
41-worn in jeans
42- laughter
43-encouraging text messages
44- comments on the blog
45-babysitters
46-date nights
47- good water pressure
48-a closet full of clothes
49-a sound mind?
50-heat and A/C
51-Christian role models
52-that my children love school
53- that Dad didn't suffer long
54-that Mom is incredibly strong
55-that I didn't have to have chemotherapy
56-that I can stay at home with my children
57-that the Knight is not critical of my cooking
58- that I haven't forgotten to meet the bus
59-that I haven't bounced a check in 15 years
60-99% of my Christmas shopping is done
61-frozen mudslides
62- Tuesday morning Bible study
63-cards/letters
64- Christmas cards with pictures
65-warm hugs
66- homemade presents
67-funny stories to tell about my kids that make people laugh
68-caffeine
69- Target is coming! Target is coming!
70- my van
71- drought is over
72- a new year is approaching
73-reconstructive surgery
74- grace
75- mercy
76- that God is who He says He is
77- that God will do what He says He will do
78-that I will get to live forever in Heaven
79- that I can help others
80- The Knight helps me around the house
81- the love of my children
82- school lunch
83-positive people
84-good teeth
85-my hysterectomy :)
86-when I cannot cry or pray I can just sit and let God love on me
87-a good nights sleep
88- living in the south
89-sweet tea
90-forgiven and forgotten sin
91-missionaries
92-the military
93-my kids aren't bad enough to warrant "The Nanny"
94-that my children still love to be read to
95-that my husband is not at all like me
96- that my mom is my best friend
97- that my brother is not the favorite
98- that my third child was a boy
99- that I have so much to be thankful for

This Thanksgiving

Do yourself a favor.

This Thanksgiving, let it be about spending time with family and friends and not about the food.

This Thanksgiving, have real, meaningful conversations with the ones you love.

This Thanksgiving, ask your loved ones to tell you stories about their past.

This Thanksgiving, share, love, laugh, make memories.

This Thanksgiving, make sure you tell the special people in your life that they are special.

This Thanksgiving, take it all in and don't be in a hurry.

This Thanksgiving, remember to be thankful.

I know I will. This Thanksgiving.

Not a road block, just a detour

Thank you for helping me pray. I thought I had run into a roadblock, but God has turned it into a detour. I am amazed everyday at how God works. I have been thanking God today and laughing at the same time, because not only did He work my situation out, He did it with a sense of humor. He has reassured me of several things through this-1) God honors obedience 2)You can't outgive God. 3) He takes care of our needs and even our wants!


There's a quote I read that I cannot get out of my mind. It says "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep for what he cannot lose." As we are entering this Christmas season wrought with stuff and things and the pursuit of more, I want so much to teach my children about the fact that life isn't about "things". We have so much "stuff" we had to rent a storage unit to get our house uncluttered enough to put it on the market. Have we missed anything? Nope. I guarantee you we could fill up two more storage units and STILL not miss anything.

All of our needs have been met- a roof over our heads, food on our table, shoes on our feet. Yet I'm constantly thinking about things I want or wish I had. Clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, etc. I love to look at catalogs and think about decorating a new house. But the reality is this- One day, perhaps not to long from now, I will stand before my Heavenly father. He will not look at me and say, "You had such stylish clothes." He will not say,"Your home was so nicely decorated." He will not say, "I love that purse." or "Didn't you enjoy those automatic doors on your Odyssey van?" Those are things. Things that we cannot keep. Things we will not take with us to Heaven. My prayer is that when I meet my Savior he will say "Good job, you had such courage to witness." Maybe He'll say "Your home was so welcoming to others." "I love that you cared for others." "My how you enjoyed living your life for ME and how you put your relationship with me before your possessions." And "Here are your rewards in Heaven!" Those are the things I cannot lose.

I need to store up as many Heavenly rewards as possible and quit my pursuit of storing up earthly things. Because really, if you can put it in a storage unit, it's just not important.

Windy day

Wow! Its really been a crazy windy weather day here. I keep hoping one of these tall trees don't fall down on the house. I am actually ahead on the laundry and we've managed to keep the house semi-clean after the realtor stampede last week. SO- I thought I'd indulge in some guilt-free blogging this afternoon.

I am still enjoying my Experiencing God Bible Study and I feel like I am truly making progress in my quest to know God more. This past week we talked about how we cannot stay where we are and go with God and that we have to adjust our life to Him. Doing that is not easy and often it affects those we love as well. But the blessings of being in the center of God's will are enormous compared to any sacrifices we must make to follow him. I want to be completely sold out to Him, willing to do whatever He wants, for I know that He has blessed me way beyond all I could have imagined. I trust Him with my life and I surrender all. After all I've been through, nothing else makes much sense.

The kids at Dollywood

Two forty-year-olds at Ober Gatlinburg

I am getting so excited about the holidays. We are going to Jacksonville for Thanksgiving and bringing my mom back with us until Christmas. So my goal is to get all my shopping done so that I can be stress-free for December and actually get to do some of the things I always hope to do-like baking and crafting and no last minute anything!

The Little Man and I had the sweetest discussion. Somehow we were talking about the future and I asked him if he thought he might be a preacher someday and he looked at me with a shocked expression and said "A preacher? Instead of an angel?"
I laughed and said "Angels are in Heaven."
"When can I go to Heaven? On Saturday?" He inquired.
"Oh I hope not." I said and my heart dropped into my stomach at the thought. "You will go one day, but now is too soon.." I said.
"I'm gonna sit by Papa there," he said. I could have just cried.
It reminds me of the time Allison and I were having the same type discussion and she said, "When I die I want them to put me in the same box with you Mama."

I have a prayer request I don't want to share, but I just hope you will help me pray about. I felt the Lord was leading me to do something, but now I've met a road block. There is nothing too hard for God, but I just ask you to keep me in your prayers that this will be worked out for the best.

Love you all.....

Too long

I have been neglectful, I know. Neglectful of a lot of things, I guess. But honestly I don't know where the times goes.

The Fern5 took a quick trip to Pigeon forge this past weekend. The girls had a Fall break and we wanted to get away for a couple of days. The leaves were just beautiful and the drive through the mountains was very nice. We were able to spend a few hours at Dollywood, eat at our favorite restaurant( Calhouns), do a quick trick or treat, go to the Dixie Stampede, and the mom even got to do a little shopping. A good time was had by all.

I've been on a cleaning spree the last few days. I don't think I have mentioned it here but we have our house up for sale. We have had very little activity since we listed it in June, so today our realtor had a luncheon here in hopes of generating some interest. I am getting a little discouraged, but I am trying to trust that God is controling the timing. The house looks so great and clean and I am sitting here thinking I can just go out and have some fun tomorrow and not even think about doing any housework. Please feel free to stop by for a visit, but you better do it quick because it won't look like this for long.

I am really getting excited about the holidays. I got out my holiday planner tonight though and had a little sad moment. I have lists of present ideas from years past and when I saw dad's I just cried. I was running the Little Mans bath so I could just bawl without anyone hearing me and coming to inquire. I usually got him something like a robe or pajamas or a book or some kind of gadget 'cause you know the man had everything and wanted nothing. My heart just aches to think about being with the family for Christmas and not having him there. But in general I feel happy. I know Dad is happy, I am well, cancer is in my past, I am soon going to be "normal" again and just like He said He has taken something bad and used it for good. I am blessed!

I will post pictures soon of our trip.