Thankfulness is a state of being but it is also a choice.  And it is my goal, starting now, to be thankful in all things.  For awhile last year I was practicing this pretty well.  We were having all kinds of trouble with our health insurance company denying stuff they should have been paying (I almost wrote our stupid insurance company; then I remembered that I am thankful that I have health insurance.)  Anyhoo, everytime I got an estimation of benefits that said what we OWED (read: what they wouldn’t pay that per our policy, they should have paid) or every time I got a bill from one of the  various and sundry medical providers that we (read: our insurance company) owed, I would have a mini-breakdown.

Until I read one day in I Thessalonians 5:18, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

And so I started thanking God for those stupid bills and statements coming in the mail.  It wasn’t that I was happy about getting them, but I somehow managed to muster up thanks.  Thanks that I had this “first world problem” and a God I trusted to provide for my family’s needs.  Sometimes I had to drag myself kicking and screaming to the threshold of thankfulness, but mostly I managed to get there.

Eventually, our insurance company did the right thing and paid all that crap. Six months later, I might add. But they paid, and I am thankful.

Now, though, that all that stuff has passed, I realized today that I have forgotten to be thankful in all circumstances. Or to be thankful for a blissful LACK of “circumstances”.  I’ve started to let the big stuff as well as the small stuff get to me again, in big ways.

So tomorrow, it’s Thanksgiving Day, and I’ve been reminded again that I need to truly be thankful in all things.  And to be intentional about it. So, here I go again, being thankful for the beautiful and the fugly. I imagine there will be plenty of times when I’ll have to drag myself kicking and screaming again, but I will do my best, and though I will surely fail at times, I am going to try hard to keep it up.  Which reminds me of something else I’m thankful for: second, third, and fourth chances!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I’m thankful that you read these words of mine today.

Thanks to YOU and many other generous folks like you, Fostering Christmas Care met it’s $5,000 fundraising goal in just over a WEEK!  So, yesterday a group of volunteers got to go and wrap the wonderful presents bought with the money and love of so many.  We had the opportunity to make a card to go inside the presents.  We had the opportunity to teach our kids about giving, and about how God wants us to take care of others who can’t take care of themselves. We had the privilege to pray for the kids who will be receiving these gifts.

Bitty babies for the little girls

Legos and Razor scooters!!

And we had FUN.  I can’t tell you what a joyful feeling was in the air.  The atmosphere was busy, fun, happy, excited, and refreshing.  It was a wonderful time.  In just two hours, dozens of people wrapped all the gifts, made cards, snacked, and laughed together.  It was just a real blessing to be there and good for my soul.  And I got to share it with some special people, my friend E and her family, my friend Shannon and her family, my sister-in-law and niece, and of course my kids and husband.

Joshua and Sophie help Daddy wrap a present

wrapped and ready!

I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but I got enough holiday warm fuzzies yesterday to last me all season!  I am definitely in the giving spirit.  Thanks again SO MUCH to all of you who gave to make this possible!

In the car the other night I heard some of the John Tesh radio show (and it totally made my ears BLEED by the way) and the topic was how much money people spend to ensure that they will look good at their funerals. Apparently, it’s all the rage now to drop a load on botox and the like after you’re dead to ensure that you’ll look peaceful, young, and glamorous WHILE YOU’RE LAYING IN A COFFIN.

Please, people. The minute I die I am gonna be in heaven with Jesus. HEAVEN! This is the minute my body and my vanity cease to exist! So, (sorry mom) cremate that B****! Burn me UP. The body is not gonna matter anymore. And seriously, if you want to look at my dead body, you have major problems which I am just NOT gonna enable.

Burn me up, and then have a party. I LOVE life, but I am going to love what comes next even more. Very possibly because in heaven I am counting on being totally gorgeous without ever having to style my hair or pluck my eyebrows.

Paradise!

“For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.” Romans 6:9

Hope you all have a beautiful day with your families!

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Photo by photoholic1 on Flickr

I was going to sit down and write a grumpy post about how I hate daylight savings time, and how it is so dark by 6:00 p.m. every night that I just want to give up and go bury myself in a hole until spring. BUT – then I thought – who wants to read that? So I decided to think about what I was thankful for.

I am thankful for my new boots.

A few weeks ago at BlissDom, I made a new friend, Laurin, of Laurin and Kelly Talk (she also writes for Blissful Style.) Laurin is way cool and stylish and she, like me, has to share writes her blog with another person. We pretty much hit it off, and over the course of our convo we started talking about boots. She had on some pretty kickin’ (pun TOTALLY intended) ones and I was in need of a pair of tall, brown boots. (We all know I didn’t really need boots. But I didn’t have any and would have loved a pair.) So, I challenged her to find me a pair, a nice pair, that I could afford.

The next Sunday, I saw a $30 pair of tall brown boots in the Target ad. They were cute, and I had a $25 gift certificate to Target, so I decided I’d get those. Then a couple of days later I got an email from Laurin with some different boots she’d found for me. They were awesome, but they were all like $189. I basically have no clothing budget for myself, I just shop after Christmas and my birthday and whenever else I have a need and we have the cash. So, these beautiful boots were out of the question. (But seriously Laurin, I appreciated your scoutin’ them out for me!) I emailed Laurin back and said “Hmm, maybe if I get any money for Christmas…” but I was pretty sure I was just going to buy those $30 Target boots. I DO love Target, after all, and they were cute and in my price range.

Then, not two hours later, I got an email from Alli, aka Mrs. Fussypants, the owner of Blissfully Domestic, aka the World’s Best Boss. The good folks at You by Crocs had asked her to review their new boots, and she said, “Sure, I’d love to, but I’d like you to throw in a pair for my editor at Blissful Style too.”

We got to pick ANY PAIR WE WANTED.

The pair I picked was $300.00. Ok, $299.99. But seriously. I was going to buy the $30 pair and I got a FREE PAIR worth TEN TIMES as much! You can read my full review of them here at Blissful Style. They are amazing, but once again, this is not about the boots. This is about things that happen to me that I don’t deserve, that are not coincidences. This is about how God gave me a nice, expensive, high-quality pair of boots two hours after I’d confessed to a friend that I was going to have to settle for cheapies.

And once again, I didn’t NEED the boots. I could go on living a very good life without tall, brown boots. But I have a God who does this crap for me just to show his amazing love. It’s all about the little things. My dad recently told me that he used to keep a list of the little things that God did for him, and I think I’m going to start doing the same! In my previous post on this subject, I received a comment from someone who found my faith a bit ludicrous. She conjectured that if there was a God, he would certainly be too busy to care about my little needs. But I argue that He is a God who can and does handle it all – big or little, needs or wants, joys or sorrows – He’s big enough. He gives us good gifts just to show his love – and I’ve got the boots to prove it.

One year ago this week I started couponing. I discovered CVS, I got paid to buy Glade candles at Target, and I basked in the wonder of it all! It was truly exhilarating to be able to get stuff I needed for free and to get paid to buy other stuff. I really felt that coupons were a gift from God, just one more way He had provided for us since I decided to quit my job and stay home with the kiddos full-time. The first week of December, whilst still in the throes of CVS-newbie excitement, I discovered that my kids needed baby wash. So, I thought I’d go to CVS to get myself some Johnson’s baby wash and pay for it with my CVS ExtraCare bucks. I had a $1 off manufacturer’s coupon as well. Alas, when I got to CVS, I discovered the baby wash was $4.29. $4.29!?!? No way was this new-couponer going to “spend” that much of her ECBs on that. I decided I would just save my coupon and use it to get some reasonably-priced Johnson’s at Target later in the week.

The next day, CVS put out an e-mail coupon for $2 off Johnson’s baby wash. I am not lying. Hot Dog! I was excited! With my $1 off manufacturer’s coupon and my $2 off CVS coupon, I could get the price down to $1.29. Now THAT is a price I was willing to spend my ExtraCare Bucks on! So I went in and bought a bottle. And guess what happened? There, on the bottom of my receipt, I got a $1 ExtraCare Buck BACK for buying the Johnson’s. It was an UNADVERTISED special that I knew nothing about. So, between my $3 in coupons and my $1 ECB I got for buying it, I paid 29 cents for the baby wash.

The limit on this deal was five. You KNOW I got my coupons together and went back and got four more!

I went from not having any baby wash to having enough for months, and I got it all for just pennies. Wow!

So, that’s a great story, right? Super-neat how that worked out, eh?

To me, it’s not a story of a great deal. It’s a story of God’s great love for me.

You see, November 2007 had been a tight month for us, and with Christmas looming that first week of December, there is a reason I was being tight with those ExtraCare bucks. But God is my provider, and He meets my needs because I have placed my trust in Him. I needed baby wash, and I truly believe that God gave me that great deal to encourage me on my couponing path. He provided for even my kid’s most basic needs through coupons – the day after I walked out of CVS not willing to pay $4.29 or even $3.29 on for the baby wash, I got a $2 off coupon in my email! And it was CVS coupon that I could use with my manufacturer’s coupon. And THEN I got $1 back for buying it! Not a coincidence, people. (In this post, my Bloggy BFF Jill calls this “God Showing Off”.) God worked that out for me and used it to empower me. I think when I first started couponing, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to stick with it, but after the Great Baby Wash Heist of 2007, I have truly never looked back. I ask God to bless my couponing efforts, and He DOES! My most recent CVS receipt tells me that my year-to-date savings there are over $6200. And to that I say, THANK YOU LORD!

I mean for real, how cool is it that the Creator of the Universe cares what I pay for baby wash?? FREAKING COOL!!

What do you need today? Why don’t you ask God and give Him the chance to meet your needs in an amazing way?

10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (New International Version)

When I was reading those verses in preparation for my talk, it was like a lightning bolt hit me. Most of the time I think that God has put me in the “very little” category, but the reality is, I have so much. Compared to most citizens of this world, I am a millionaire. My three-bedroom 1917 urban home probably seems like a palace to so many who live in just one or two rooms, or worse yet, have no home at all. It has clean, warm running water and beds with soft mattresses. I drive a car that offers the highest luxury of its class (*cough*in 1994*cough*). My children are well-fed, happy, healthy, and bright. My sweet husband is gainfully employed. He works long hours, and we wish he was home more. But when he’s not with us, he’s working hard. He’s not out at the bar, or anyplace worse, he’s working hard using the talents God gave him to provide for us.

I have so much, and I am so thankful.

Having a little perspective is what’s working for me today. For more helpful insights, go visit Rocks in My Dryer.

So, I don’t sleep very well, due to some as-yet-undiagnosed problems. But you know what? As contradictory as this may sound, not much keeps me up at night.

I didn’t used to be this way. Falling asleep used to be very difficult for me. My mind would race, refusing to shut down. I worried long and hard while I longed to sleep. It was very frustrating but I couldn’t stop my anxieties from whispering in my ear while I tried to wind down. I worried about money and work, mostly. You see, I never did love being a working girl. (Not that kind of working girl! I know you were thinking it, Jill!!) The seven or so years I had a career, I didn’t enjoy all that much. Even though I loved the last job I had before I started staying home, I didn’t love the responsibility that went with it. Having a family, I felt, was truly all the responsibility I could handle. But I am a person who wants to give her all and excel at all that is entrusted to her. It was excruciatingly difficult for me to work, even part-time, and have a family, because I wanted to do both perfectly.

But I am getting off-topic. About two years ago, I met my best friend Luanne. We met at church and she soon invited me to a Bible study she hosted in her home. One of those very first nights at her home, I heard her say the words, “I don’t really worry about anything. Not much keeps me up at night.”

My jaw about hit the floor. I asked her to clarify. Worrying was second nature for me. I had to try NOT to worry, and I almost always failed.

She simply replied that since she had given her life to God, she was his, and so were her problems. “He’s my provider,” she said, “and he has never let me down. Lots of people in my life have let me down. Not God. Not ever.”

I had, at this point, been a Christian most of my life, about 20 years, and I had never truly realized that God is my provider. Maybe it is because my life had been pretty “easy”. Isn’t that crazy? I think I felt that I needed to make all the right decisions in life and that by doing so I could control my fortunes. But all that “being in control” brought me were struggles and sleepless nights.

After that night, I began working on simply trusting God to provide for my family’s needs. It is harder than it sounds, for a professional worrier like me. A few months later, for a lot of reasons, Bobby and I decided I would quit my job. When you looked at the math, it didn’t seem possible. However, we both really felt it was what God wanted. So we took the leap of faith and I quit! And guess what? We have wanted for nothing. Because even though it didn’t look like it was possible, with God, EVERYTHING IS TOTALLY POSSIBLE!! We aren’t exactly rollin’ in the dough, but we have everything we need, and all our bills have been paid. God is so good! He has been so gracious also to bring couponing into my life. I know that sounds nerdy, but before I started couponing, I was never able to give things to others. Now I get to give simple, every day necessities to friends, family, complete strangers, and charitable organizations – with little or no cost to me – while also providing for my family’s needs. How amazing is that? What a gift!

I know that I usually don’t blog on spiritual subjects, but if I can share with you all the frequency of my children’s bowel movements and regurgitations, I think I should be able to share with you that I am a follower of Christ! Because if you don’t know that about me, you really don’t know where I’m coming from. Whether I am writing about breastfeeding or barfing, I am always writing as a hopelessly flawed person whose life has been completely redeemed by Jesus Christ.

All that to say that two years after Luanne’s words about worry shocked me, I’ve grown in my faith, and honestly, besides some silly dreams, not much keeps me up at night. I can’t begin to express how thankful I am for that fact.

So tell me, friends and neighbors, what keeps you up at night?