thankful

Hi Blog.

to be honest, i had forgotten about you.

we were sick.

then away and sick.

now back and not so sick.

and today i remembered you.

so.  

what's new?

i went to church last weekend with my mom.

the worship leader asked a question that has stuck in my head since she said it.

"if you were to wake up tomorrow morning with only the things you had been thankful for today, 

what would you have?"

i thought about that.

i had thanked God for my kids that morning, 

i immediately thanked Him for my husband, and my family.

but over the last few days i've been thinking about specifics.

i am thankful that we're only fighting colds. 

i'm thankful that we're not fighting anything debilitating, or life threatening.

i'm thankful my dad is cancer free.

i'm thankful that i have a husband that loves me, and that he's alive and well.

i'm thankful that i have my sight.

my hearing.

my kids and husband have those too.

i'm thankful for the roof over our heads.

our home.

for the furniture God has blessed our home with.

the food in our cupboards.

i'm thankful for the land we live on, the trees in our yard.

thankful for our dog and cat.

thankful for the job my husband has, that supports our home so i can be here with the kids.

i'm thankful for my friend Theresa who has been with me through many years, and we are able to raise our kids together.

i'm thankful for the sunshine.

i'm thankful for the different seasons we are blessed to enjoy, and complain about.

i'm thankful for my childrens' smiles and joy of life.

i'm thankful for my memories.

for my salvation, through Christ.

to name a few.

what are you thankful this day?

if you were to wake up with only what you had been thankful for today...

what would you have?

beauty

I have a beautiful little girl.

when i say beautiful, 

she truly is.

she loves others. 

she is excited about life.

she loves to help people. 

she is sad when people are sad.

she loves to laugh.

she is creative.

she is a dreamer.

she is shy.

she gives awesome hugs.

she loves kisses...

and tickles.

she loves to learn.

she adores her big brother.

she adores her daddy.

she wants to be as big as mommy one day.

she loves pink..

and purple...

unicorns...

doggies...

her best friend is her lammie.

she knows Jesus loves her.

she knows God can hear her when she asks him stuff.

her eyes are a gorgeous blue.

large, 

expressive.

her button nose is adorable.

her smile is contagious.

i have a beautiful daughter.

when she cries, her tears fill her blue eyes..and make you feel like crying too.

yesterday those eyes, were sad.

i wanted to hug her and never let her go.

yesterday we brushed her tangled hair and i put in two small pigtails.

i love her hair in pigtails.

she felt them and asked me to take them out.

"why" i asked.  definitely not expecting the response.

"because people will laugh at me."

*stunned*

"oh, honey, no one will laugh at you, they'll love them."

she just shook her head.

"you're so beautiful."

i looked into her eyes.

she averted her eyes, now full of sadness.

"I'm not beautiful."

*gasp*

she's not even 4 yet.

i was floored.

for someone who has struggled with my own self doubts, i wanted to smother this beautiful girl with so much love and reassurance.

all i could do was bring her to my lap, 

hug her.

"do you know why i know you're beautiful?"

she shook her head.

"because God made you.  He decided that me and daddy needed a beautiful little girl to love, so he gave us you.  when God does something he does exactly what he says.  He made you beautiful."

oh my little girl.

my prayer for you is that you have a strength and confidence in the beauty that God has made you.  

may your beautiful character shine out.

may you believe that the Jesus you love, and have in your heart, made you beautiful.

i know you are.

please don't ever doubt it yourself.

*some may say - oh, don't worry about it, she doesn't know what she's saying.  to you i say you're an idiot.  

my daughter knows what is beautiful, i hear her tell me things are all the time.  she knows beauty.    

don't ever think a child doesn't know.  if your daughter says shes not beautiful, it crushes you, at any age.  

build your daughters up to know that beauty is not just in the physical appearance, but that it comes from within. 

likewise raise your boys to understand true beauty and praise it in the girls in his life*

the blue marble

So, yesterday in my morning Bible time i read Psalm 19.

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech; 

night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,

5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavillion,

like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other,

nothing is hidden from its heat.

it got me thinking about being surrounded on a canoe trip by the trees, the sky, the water, rocks..the things that i look at and remember the Creator of it all.  

And God said, 

"Let there be light (day)...

Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water (sky)...

Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place (seas) and let dry ground appear (land)...

Let the land produce vegetation (trees & plants)...

Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night (sun & moon)...

Let the waters teem with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky...

Let the land produce living creatures according to it's kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals...

Let us make man in our image..."

taken from Genesis 1

Last night Psalm 19 was mentioned at our Bible study.

and we also discussed about the universe, how expanse it is.  

the smallest caterpillar, how intricate it is.

The Lord God made them both.

we do not even know how vast the universe is, but what we do know about it is unfathomable.

God made it.

this is the God i pray to.

do i truly think about who He is when i sit to pray?

"let there be"

he spoke the world..the known universe..and the still unknown.. into existence.

this morning i woke and sat to do my Bible time.  

when i started to pray i paused to think about the God i was going to be speaking with.

to get my focus right.

i was speechless.

space is vast.

but what astounded me even more is that i began to think about Earth.

now.

stop for a moment and truly think about the size of your world.

the daily world you live in.

now begin to put it into proportion to the rest of the country you live in.

now include the rest of the world.

yeah.

crazy, massive.

truly pause and think about how BIG this blue and green marble is that we are living on.

*don't even think about the fact that it's floating in space - and is not even the biggest planet out there*

did you pause?

did you close your eyes and try to fit yourself into the picture of the Earth.

not the earth that fits into an atlas.

the earth we actually live on.

the earth that the astronauts watch shrink as they fly away from it.

now think about the God that made that.

He is AMAZING!!

AWE-INSPIRING!!

INDESCRIBABLE!!

that is the God i have the blessing and honor of approaching with my prayers, praises, pleas.

wow.

http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/79000/79787/city_lights_namerica_720.jpg

kindergarten (registration)

i have 2 kids. 

i have a boy.

i have a girl.

i registered my boy for kindergarten in April 2011 (see post here)

what an adventure that first year was.

this past wednesday i registered my baby girl for junior kindergarten.

wow.

she's my baby girl.

she was my baby girl.

she always corrects me and tells me she's not a baby anymore.  

she's a big girl now.

she is a big girl, 

but no matter how old she gets, how big she gets, she is my baby girl.

i don't and won't treat her like a baby obviously.

but she's my baby.

and i adore her.

she is so excited about going to school.

on the bus.

into her class.

having Mrs. M as a teacher.

i sure hope she has mrs. m as a teacher.

it's so much easier to register the second one.

i waited until april last time because i was debating.

this time registration opened up and i got the forms the first day.

i brought them on wednesday and my little one was expecting to be able to stay for her class already.

oh no.

not yet.

please not yet.

i'm sure it will be a difficult day the first time i watch both my kids get on that school bus.

i'm already feeling that sadness in my gut as i write it.

my boy keeps telling her he will take care of her on the bus and help her learn the rules.

he has also told her that he won't be able to help her in her class, because he'll be in his.

i love listening to him play the big brother.

he truly is a great big brother.

i am not planning on sending her every day.

although she keeps telling me she is going every day.

i'm planning on sending her 3 days a week.

and we'll see how  i  we she does with that.

wow.

my baby girl will be 4 in March.

she will be in junior kindergarten in September.

i'm not ready yet.

maybe i'll be ready by September.