Not Finished

Time for another list, the blessings keep coming, I need to slow down to record them more often!

1. Rest in the sun

2. An iced drink with a good and true friend 

3. The ability to learn

4. Consignment shops

5. Community

6. Mid-week worship

7. Lunch with my new team

8. Boxes

9. Extra income earned babysitting 

10. Garage sales

11. Naps

12. Options

13. Joyful, joyful

14. Generous obedience

15. Prayer warriors

16. Warm sunshine early in the morning 

17. Conviction and grace

18. Teachers 

It's been a busy and fruitful week, God is bringing big and exciting changes my way and stirring my heart in ways that are hard to describe! I'm thankful that He put it on my heart to start writing. I don't want to forget how He brought me through the last 6 months and I want to be ready to record all that He continues to do in my life! Thank you for sharing in the joy and pain that this life brings, thank you for reading and for doing life with me! Stay tuned, God's not finished with me yet!

Change

Just when I'm getting old enough to appreciate the joys in each day, they are slipping away faster than I can blink. I cannot believe we are almost half-way through 2013! If anyone has figured out how to make time slow down, please clue me in! Maybe these past 5 months have flown by because there were days and weeks I wished away, days and weeks I didn't want to savor or enjoy, days and weeks I'd rather forget. I'm not really sure the reason, but one thing I am sure of is that I want to enjoy today and not waste a minute of it.

If I had to choose one word to describe the last 5 months it would be, "Change". My job has changed twice, my living situation has changed twice, I've joined a new small group, developed a number of sweet friendships, and changed significantly as a person. Some of this change has been welcome and joyful, while some of it has felt like ripping off a bandaid. There's a vulnerability when a bandaid is ripped off. You have to expose a wound that's been protected by a soft, secure bandage. With every step I take further into establishing my life here, life after a broken engagement, it's like I'm exposing my freshly healed scars. God has graciously allowed me to take these steps gradually but He's been pushing me to take them. He always knows when I'm ready and He's always walking right beside me, sometimes even carrying me. I'm not sure if this analogy makes sense, but I wanted to try and share with you what this recent progress has felt like. It's exciting, scary, beautiful and painful progress. ...walking through it with my Savior...

Some blessings in the midst of and because of change:

Saturday: "3 Gifts about your parents"

In watching my parents walk through a tough season with me and then immediately after watch my brother leave and return and leave again, I have been wowed by their unconditional love for us. So blessed my their steadfastness and loyalty.

1. Unconditional love
2. Firm and loving instruction
3. Unfathomable generosity

Sunday: "3 Gifts Held in Hand Today"

1. His Holy Word
2. High Fives and Hand-Shakes
3. Baby Jack

Monday: "3 Gifts found in you Mother"

1. Never-ending support
2. Sacrificial giving of her time
3. Encouragement

Tuesday: "A Gift picked up, put away, put back"

1. A letter from my sponsored child in Ethiopia
2. Home Exemption successfully filed! :)
3. Time to organize

Basking in His love and mercy today! Happy Tuesday!

Continual blessings

My goodness, it's time to catch up! Life is moving at the speed of light, but that's no excuse for slacking on my list!

Here we go!

1. Bargains at goodwill

2. A kind hello

3. God's protection (even protection from my own emotions)

4. "Never once did we ever walk alone"

5. Family gatherings

6. Sunday nights 

7. Baby monitors 

8. Baby cheeks

9. Family dinners

10. Comfort from the Holy Spirit

11. Family closeness through trial

12. Small group laughs

13. Off work early!

14. So many friends

15. A night in the park

16. Dinner with a friend

17. Worship in the middle of the week

18. Froyo with with friends 

19. Baby kisses and giggles

20. Family in town

21. Fun plans 

In awe of God's continual blessings, I deserve none of them. 

Humbled

Wednesday: "3 Gifts Tasted"

1. Sweet baby Jack's cheeks
2. Summer
3. Tender BBQ Pork

Thursday: "3 Gifts Flat"

1. A new shirt for $3
2. The sidewalk ( long walk with the babies :)
3. A moist lemon cookie

Today: "3 gifts found in difficult people"

This is one of those days when I'm in awe of how God has planted just the right "topic of thankfulness" on just the right day to convict me and challenge me! I've been ignoring and complaining about the difficult people in my life and today He's calling me to gratitude for them! When He calls me to be thankful for difficult people, things, circumstances it's a challenging but beautiful thing. Challenging because it goes against my sinful nature, but beautiful because it requires me to rely on Him, I simply cannot do it on my own.
So by His mercy and grace alone, here are three gifts I've found in difficult people:

1. Conviction
2. Closeness with my Savior
3. A reminder that I may be a difficult person in someone else's life, (hopefully) resulting in humility and a greater reliance on the Holy Spirit! Lord, have mercy on us all!