Thankfulness II

When you try to arrange furniture in a room and there are too many pieces to work right, it means that I am blessed with more than I need. I hope that in the upcoming year I will learn to be a better steward and give to others more. I am sitting here right now looking at a beautiful Christmas tree in front of a fireplace and watching movies on my new flat screen and sipping ice tea. What a life! I am so blessed.
This morning I drove to Piketon to take Brian and Toby to meet their ride back to Harding. It seems like I just get used to having him around and he is gone again. Oh well, three more weeks of school and he will be back for Christmas break. Lisa is still visiting and I am enjoying spending some time with her. Life is good!

I am thankful for

warm comfortable home
lots of food
Lisa & Brian being home
My mom getting better
Griswold using litter box
sunshine
mincemeat pie
best sister in the world
best friend in world
Karen being safe
Dorian for loving Karen
Antonio :(
Cindy Lou
four day weekend
And as I think about all of these wonderful gifts I am reminded that my heavenly Father blessed me with them all. He is so good to me and I am so unthankful...........but at this moment I want to express my appreciation to a Father that fulfills my every need.................

I needed to laugh....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzMUxMp1ndk

Crazy week

Been a busy week. My Mom had a total knee replacement on Tuesday and part of Wednesday and Thursday I was manning a booth at a Senior Expo. Every extra minute I was at hospital with Mon, including spending the night one night and then to work. Well Friday I was in office all day and things were wild. Maybe it was my tiredness of the week but things were just hitting one after another and I wrote down all that was happening and emailed it to my home email. Below I will copy and paste word for word what I wrote.

inside my brain
one client missing, one threatened me and has requested another worker, one got someone to get her utility bills lowered but she insists she will not pay them, and another client's daughter called for the 82nd time to warn me that her brother is trying to arrange to have her mother brought home from nursing facility so he can have her money and still another is still in danger due to his caregiver's girlfriend who has beat him before and continues to sneak into the home but probation officer can't find her there. I found her last time hiding in the bathroom........even though her probation was to have not contact with my client. So that is the last 15 minutes of my life.

So now that you have had a glimpse into my brain you see why I struggle to remember which way I am headed some days....... And then I received email from one of the commissioners stating that there is a meeting Monday morning to choose insurance plans for the coming year. And it also stated which two plans they were considering. As president of the union at my agency I am rep for bargaining unit. Within thirty minutes everyone wanted copies of the the two options and a meeting to discuss. Maybe it was the week, maybe it was my realization that I have done what I was capable of for the union....but I left work on Friday I knew that I was resigning my office. I just want to use my time to help the most people possible and I do not feel that president of the union is the place for me right now. And I have an awesome vp that will take over so things will be fine......without me feeling guilty. So I feel good about the decision. I just have to tell everyone tomorrow.
But back to my mom; she is so awesome. She is one tough lady. The amount of pain I see her going through blows my mind. It would be so much easier for her to have not had surgery and been content to use wheelchair, etc. but she is focused on many more years of independent living. I hope I have half of her spunk when I am 83.
God has blessed me with so many things but I am thankful today for the small amount of insight that He has blessed me with. I go to see an endocrinologist this week, so pray that the dr. with have the wisdom to figure me out.

My Three Greatest Needs

One of the questions for small group tomorrow night is "What are your three greatest needs?"
Got me to thinking. My greatest need was easy to name, I need a closer, more intimate relationship with God. The second is I need to become a better steward of all that I am given and use what I have to bless others. I had to think a while to come up with the third of my greatest needs. I think it ends up being wisdom. I need wisdom to stay focused on chasing Him. I need wisdom to know the better ways to manage my resources.
Maybe I need the wisdom first. If I had the wisdom I would realize that "I" can't achieve any of this. I need to turn it over to God. I need to trust Him and quit believing that I can work harder, read more or do something. Bottom line is my only need is turn my entire live over to HIM

Picasa Web Albums - Anita - November 08

Picasa Web Albums - Anita - November 08

Good bye Summer

If the weatherman knows what he is talking about, this is our last 70 degree day. This has been an awesome summer. Visits from The Durbins, and Karen and Dorian were definitely high points. Brian was not "home" but nearby. I have enjoyed spending time with friends and making new ones. I am posting some of my favorite summer photos and feeling pretty thankful for all that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with.

Thoughts

I have kept my opinions to myself during the last year and a half leading up to the election. But these days, I am less interested in what others think and more concerned that I speak my heart. All I have heard lately is how we must vote our faith and values. Well I thought and prayed about the election and I voted for Obama and I feel that I did vote my faith and values. Christian values to me are more than abortion and gay marriage. They are about value in ALL human life. What about the people in Darfur and the innocent killed in wars? And also the really difficult one, what about death row? If human life is valuable then who are we to decide which lives are valuable? I think the moment I heard the interview that Rick Warren had with both candidates, Obama had me. When he talked frankly about his belief in Jesus and that his sins were covered by Jesus sacrifice I was intrigued. Values? My values are for the disenfranchised, the poor, the lonely the unloveables. And sorry I don't get scared at a redistribution of wealth. I am tired of seeing the poor get poorer. I am also tired of "fixes" like Medicare Part D which only give another hoop to jump through. This great program automatically signed seniors up for plans that would not cover the specific meds that they were on. I don't like labels like liberal, conservative, democrats, republicans. Too often I have found that we use labels to limit people and take their power away. I have been ashamed of emails that I have received concerning Obama such as his being a muslim, won't wear a flag pin, won't put his hand over heart during pledge of allegiance. I am never disappointed by someone with a differing opinion but I am disappointed when people use fear and hatred to get their way. So while I am cautiously optimistic for this president I realize that no one can change everything. This is a monumental moment for our country when you realize that history was made. For today I am glad the emails and commercials are over and we can all pray that God will lead our leaders and our country back to HIM. Born Hopeless, Lovingly redeemed, Chasing Him.

This is the day that the Lord has made...

Worship was awesome today. Preaching was on expressing gratitude and that is something that we all need to do. I am so thankful for so many things. Ron mentioned this morning making a list of blessings. I will use this blog to do so but remember that they are in no order other than how they pop into my head. They are also far from being all inclusive.
My church at belpre
Lisa, my princess
Karen, who inspires me
Brian, whose wit makes me laugh
Sue, the most wonderful sister in the world
Sharon, the friend who feels like family
a job where I get paid to help people
a car that runs (believe me there have been some that didn't)
Enough food to eat whatever I want, whenever I want (blessing & curse:)
a beautiful home
a yard that helps me think
Terri, a coworker that encourages me on
BJ's Buddies, small group that rocks
A funny MOther
One good dog and one demon dog
computer to talk to my children on
cell phone that works most of the time
a bed that is so comfortable
a passion for others
a relationship with the King
caffeine
a Christian country
socks to keep my toes warm
and I am forgiven of all the mistakes I make
Born hopeless, lovingly redeemed, chasing HIM