Been along time, too long really.

My dog Charlie. I love this dog, with one of those crazy kind of pet loves that makes me refer to him as my baby, like another child of mine.

I remember when we got him at 7 weeks old, so so cute, so small. And as I soon learned, so needy. Just like a baby I was up every 2 hours, taking him out to potty, to just hold for a bit, then down for another short sleep.

2 1/2 years later he is well ingrained in our family and a big part of each and every day. Saturdays we take him to doggy day camp to play with other dogs while we run our errands or just hang out. Charlie gets walked twice a day regardless of the weather, and knows when it's time for a walk. Charlie has taught me so many things I may have needed a brush up on.

Like:

to be over-joyed each time we see each other, tails a waggin like its the high light of our day.

to be grateful for whatever is on my plate, and just be happy to eat.

that even though I go on the same walk every day, twice, to look forward to just hanging out with my family if that's who my regular walk is with.

to stretch each morning and just take a moment to hug (get my belly rubbed) my family.

to never be in such a state that I need "my space" away from those who love me most. My charlie will hop on on a small couch with 2 people already on it, just to "share his space" with the folks he loves. Sometimes when I feel most like I need some alone time, what I really need is some shared space with loved ones time.

So today I am grateful to my beagle Charlie for allowing God to use him to teach me some really good life stuff.

May Flowers :)

Oh I'm not sure if it's been my time on facebook, or just laziness, most likely a combo of both, but it has been awhile.

I've had and have many reasons to be grateful. The womens retreat this month was an absolute blessing and tons of fun, my tummy ached from laughing so hard and so often, for which i am thankful.

I am traveling to california in July to see my baby brother graduate the police academy, and also get to see my family, I'm excited about that and blessed to be able to go.

I'll have just over a month off of bible study, and grateful to say i am feeling lonely for it. God has blessed me with a hunger for more.

A husband that can make me dizzy in anger and dizzy in love sometimes at the same time, I am grateful for him.

Kids that make me crazy and crazy in love with the people they are emerging to be.

And mostly to God am I grateful for giving and taking away, he blesses me daily.

March has just about marched right past me.

Been awhile since my last post, honestly I get caught up in the many avenues to communicate on this here 'puter. With so many things to be grateful for I'm unsure where to begin. My fingers seem to want to type begin with Esther, so yes I am grateful for my current bible study of the book Esther. What a fabulous story, I love each moment of it, it's powerful and overflows with God while not mentioning Him once, awesome.

I'm grateful for family vacations where we just get to be together without interuption of work, or "stuff". I'm grateful for a husband that I simply adore, he is my bestest friend :)

I have this part time job that just tickles me to go to, the residents there are a national treasure and I am thrilled with the opportunity to see them and speak to them weekly. Gratitude just overflows from my heart for my kids, I truly can not put my love for them into words it is just too much.

So much to be thankful for to a Father that has already been so very generous with me, His amazing grace has sustained me thru seasons that should have taken me from this world, yet didn't because I hadn't been saved yet. God did not allow my mistakes to own me, but to teach me of His love. Today I am grateful to be.

Just so happy :)

Wow what a beautiful flower !!! The color is awesome, the petals reaching to heaven as if rejoicing the Lord who planted it here. This is what I want to look like to passers by, this is the love and glory of my heavenly Father I want to project. Lord to those I know and to those I pass in my daily walk may I please display Your overwhelming love with such an eye catching brilliance. Today Most High I am grateful that you have filled my heart with this same beauty, I am filled with this joy, happiness and love that you have so generously blessed me with. If only a small reflection of this were to escape thru my eyes, it would be obvious to those I see that I am filled with the love of the Lord.
Today Father i am grateful for the verse you highlighted for me today.
Psalm 143:8
Let me hear Thy loving kindness in the morning, For I trust Thee; Teach me the way in which I should walk; for to Thee I lift up my soul.

Flowers :)

Lately I've been on this flower thing. To say I like them seems an understatement. I am grateful for each flower I see. It's really cool when God places this picture in my mind of flowers when I'm thinking of a particular person. I have a few friends that God has chosen to do this for, others I see water, or my husband it's simply a feeling of love, sometimes in a color, or a moment of beauty.
Sometimes I'll be thinking and/or praying for a friend or person and God places this picture in my mind, more often than not it is a clue as to whether I should continue to pray or if He's indicated it's been answered. Weird, yeah I know. But if the picture in my mind feels dramatic or sad, I continue to pray, if the picture is full of color or express' joy I know God has that covered :)
This is why I think I am just so happy to see flowers, more often than not a flower is a prayer answered, or at the very least well within His hands.
This economy is scary, friends and family have been effected greatly, there's uncertainty and people feel the grasp on hope getting weaker. Today more than ever God is showing me flowers, He has me seek them out. The colors are powerful, lots of purples and oranges and yellows. I believe God is taking us all a step backward so that as one nation under God we can move forward. This economy is forcing families to live together again, grandparents, parents and children, this is awesome :) God is stead-fastly reinforcing the family bond, focus on family time, as opposed to me time.
This is a scary time, government is scary, but God is hard at work, I believe He has heard the cry of the Israelites once again and come to save us from our own induced slavery to "keeping up with the Jones".
Today Lord I am grateful for flowers, in every color, shape, and size Lord. To me You have shown me these are answered prayers, and I am seeing them everywhere :)

Brand Spankin' new :)

Today woo hoo I am grateful for a brand new year !!!!

To start off sparkling white and fresh, joy joy joy.

With each day, week, or month maybe I can add some color to my feathers, something bright something sheek, something wild !!! Or maybe I can just maintain my newness, my freshness, my awe!!!

Gratitude washes over me to imagine the wonders possible. To bow down in obediance and just watch God do His work. To find God at work and join Him, there is nothing impossible when God is at the wheel.

I'm so grateful to be able to look back and see when I finally just surrendered my stubborn "self" and He began a new work in me (or actually an old work I had been holding up). There is no way possible I could have ever brought myself to this place, this place of joy. This place of happiness, and family, this place of peace, place of love. God brought me here, God is full of grace to give me this, full of mercy to offer even more !!!

On my own my life was a mess, so much so that I ooozed hurt on others. My life was broken, my heart filled with bondage.

Today I am grateful to have a heart full of love, bursting within itself and constantly amazed at how God squeezes in even more with each new friend, new experience. God has taken a broken mess of a girl and filled me, fixed me, freed me. Oh yes Lord today I am grateful!!!!!