Thankful Thursday

I think I participated in this once, but it's been awhile. It's not that I'm not thankful, as a matter of fact, I'm a very thankful person, I think, but I know I would sound monotonous writing the same things week after week. So, I don't usually post a Thankful Thursday, but I am this week. Why? Well, I think I've had some specific things to be thankful for this week that I wanted to write about, so I decided to just post them under this.

First, I'm thankful for our bodies. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say, but I was praying for someone I can't remember right now and they had had a bad time physically. This got me to thinking about our bodies and how much trauma and abuse we heap on them and how they sustain us through a lot of that until they just can't take it anymore. It's amazing how resilient our bodies are. I know our bad choices like smoking, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, and other abuses we heap upon our bodies cause negative consequences, but most times these consequences don't show up for awhile and sometimes not at all. That's amazing, isn't it? I was just thanking God for our bodies and for the fantastic construction that makes up our bodies.

Second, at the fair, I was so thankful that the boys had each other and that I had them.

Third, I have been so thankful for trees for some reason. It's never cool enough here in the fall to get the trees to lose their leaves. But, come January, it gets really cool, which shocks the trees into "fall" mode. This lasts with different trees for a couple months and right now there are trees right and left losing their leaves. It's amazing how many bald trees we have right now. As I walk in the mornings, I see trees all over losing leaves and it's so beautiful. I only wish it was actually fall when they lost their leaves. Oh well, you can't have it all. But, I have noticed these trees so much lately and have been very thankful for them.

Fourth, after the nice long visit I recently had with my mom and grandmother, and with so many of my friends' parents in declining health, I've really been so grateful recently for the length of time I've had to enjoy my mom, grandmother, and even Nicky's parents. I've been so grateful that basically all their health is doing well and sustaining them and that we've been blessed to enjoy time with them that so many others miss. Of course this makes me miss my Dad, but I'm even grateful for the time I had with him and that he got to see 3 of my kids.

Fifth, I've been really grateful for Nicky's job. Jobs seem to be getting more scarce by the day, but thankfully, Nicky's job is still there supporting us. He's in construction, which is a very unreliable career, but he's been at the power plant for so long that it's been wonderful not to have to worry about when the next job will come up and when we'll get a paycheck again. See, we used to live that way. Before Hurricane Andrew, in 1992, there was literally no work....none...zip....nada. It was bad. He actually worked only about 3 weeks during a 5 month period one year. We lived on my measly preschool teacher paycheck and his unemployment. He even applied at Home Depot, but he was "over qualified". Ha! He could have swept the floors, we didn't care. I am sooo thankful we didn't have children then because that was a very difficult time. Even after we had kids, he would get laid off from a job when it was complete and have to find a new job. That's stressful not knowing when the next job will be, so him being at the plant for so long has been wonderful....BUT.... It's still a construction job and he could still get laid off at any time. We hope that won't happen, but there's no guarantee, so we try to keep mentally and financially prepared for such a possibility. In the meantime, I'm so grateful for his job.

Sixth, and final, I think. As I was walking and praying for my two girls, ages 14 and 16, I was lamenting to God how this has been such a difficult few years for me. My heart was overflowing with love for them as I lifted them and their futures and all that entails in prayer and the Lord just gave me a glimpse of the awesomeness of the responsibility and gift to me it is that I have been given. That He has allowed me, out of the goodness of His heart, to be the steward of these young people, helping them and guiding them through such a difficult and treacherous time is just amazing....and such a gift. It was such a sweet revelation that I almost cried. Yes, it's hard and not always fun. Yes, it's stretching me in ways I never even knew possible. Yes, it can be wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time, but it's a gift that the Lord has given to me and I am so grateful for that. (Did that just confuse you?? I hope not.)

Anyway, that's my Thankful Thursday post. To see other Thankful Thursday posts, hop on over to Laurie at Women Taking a Stand.