What a day

Hi all.
I hope you are having day filled with immense blessing and joy! 

My day did not start that way.  Little #2 was grumbly and angry with me after I woke him up to get ready for school.  I left my lunch at home.  Random woman in school parking lot hit my parked car while pulling out and was grumbly with me about it.  All of this before my first cup of coffee.  Ugh!

But...there is a significant but...none of this random problematic stuff has negatively impacted me.  Was I hurt that my sweet little boy was so icky first thing? Yep, you bet.  Was I kicking myself that I left my lunch at home?  Well, ya!  It seems like I have food with me and I'm not hungry but when I don't have my food I am ravenous by 9:30am.  So not fair!  And the parking lot accident that made me not be able to walk my beloved boy to class?  Well she was angry and a bit hostile.  I honked and tried to get her to stop moving.  She didn't stop and rubbed her bumper down the side of my car.  Damage is barely visible.  It should rub out pretty easily.  The part that got me upset over the whole order was her attitude, not apologizing, demanding I write down all my info for her in addition to taking down all hers.  There is no need for it because the damage is less than either of our deductibles (we both have older cars).  But even that didn't put a long term damper on my day.  She was in a bad mood, we all have them.  Accidents happen.  That there wasn't any really damage was a huge blessing. 

Work has it's own special issues but they are no more or no less than usual. 

Today I am choosing to smile in spite of the stuff that comes at me.  The stuff doesn't define my day but my response to the stuff does.  We all have bad days and stinky attitudes but I am trying to be more aware of mine and change it.  I want my attitude to be a reflection of the joy I want in my life.  To have more joy you have to have more praise (less grumbling) and a thankful heart.

That being said, I am very thankful for today.  My sweet boy started heading into the school and comes running back to give me a big hug and kiss.  As I said the damage to the car was minimal.  My coffee, when I finally drank it was fabulous!  Thinking about my coffee I have to be thankful for my husbands sweet friends who gave us a Starbucks home espresso machine.  That thing has been such a blessing in our lives over the years.  I only wish Ken were still alive for us to thank him again for giving us such a special gift. And I am thankful for my job, with all it entails I really enjoy it.  I am thankful for my little space on the blogosphere and for each person that follows it and comments.  God is good to me.  He is kind and compassionate and I want to be more like him. 

Praying for your blessings and for thankful hearts for you.

Finding Joy in the trials

The past few days I haven't been feeling well in the afternoons so I have skipped my workouts and just gone home to lounge on the couch in pain.  This is much to Thing 2's dismay.  He loves gym time.  He gets to play with other kids, new kids.  He works on his social skills and is very happy there.  I love taking him and giving him that time while I work out my issues on the eliptical and treadmill. 

Yesterday, we went home and worked on his reading.  I pulled books from the secret stash and gave him two to read to me.  We cuddled up on the couch and he read.  One of the books he was having a hard time getting into.  It's no fun reading a book you're not into so I found ways to get him excited about it.  There were different animals doing different behaviors so he got to get up and model the different behaviors for me.  We had such a giggle-fest as he waddled and hopped and oinked around the living room. 

So while I didn't feel good and just wanted to lay around, I am so glad I spent the time working with my littlest love.  We both got good out of it.  Seeing him enjoy reading and using inflection and reading bigger words than he has been used to reading was an answer to this mama's prayers.  I love seeing God's answer to prayer.  God is so good at providing material to fill my "blessings book". 

My heart is overflowing with happiness for my eyes being opened to the opportunities God provides for relationship and fun and joy, even if it messes with my plans and schedule. 

Blessings

Several years ago I kept a "blessings book".  Doing so kept me focused on the many special things God has for me each day.  There were so many blessings that I was frequently overwhelmed and humbled by them.  Nothing to keep a person humbled than watching the God of the universe take the time to reach into your world and do something special.

This year I am reinstating my blessings book.  I am going to keep a record of all the amazing things God does each day.  Not because I am egotistical, but because I want to be thankful for God's presence in my life.  I want to acknowledge what He's doing in and around me.

My prayer is, "show me your hand in and let me say thank you"  I want to see where He is and join Him in that place.  I want to hear Him more.  I think to hear him more I need to say thank you more.

All that being said, some of my blessings today are:
A beautiful sunrise to start my day with, getting to see a dear friend at the gym, being able to workout, having a husband that is a great cook, setting plans with a friend for tomorrow evening, having clean water to drink any time I want it, and being able to pray with my little boy before he goes to sleep.

My prayer for you is that God shows you His presence and attention and that you take the time to recognize and thank Him for them.

Week 1 check in

Hi.

I thought with the wrap up of the first week of the month I would share how I'm doing on my goals for the month.

1)  Stop drinking soda and drink 4-25oz bottles of water.
           On this one, I have mixed success/failure.  I haven't had any soda since last Friday.  None.  Not a drop.  Yay me!!!  I have not increased my water intake as much as I would like.  I am working on it though.  I'm not losing sight of how much my body needs water.

2)  Go to the gym 15 times and start interval running.
           I went to the gym Wednesday and Thursday.  I love the elliptical so I got on it first thing and to my dismay I could only do 7 minutes on it.  When I stopped I almost passed out.  Very scary.  Last time I went to the gym I did 20 minutes and 1.75 miles.  I was there at the beginning of Dec. but had to take a break due to injuries.  I didn't gain weight over the holidays but my injuries sidelined me from most any activity.  After the elliptical on Wednesday I did 2 miles on the treadmill and then called it a day.  Thursday was much better.  I was able to go 30 minutes on the elliptical.  My heart rate is far too high though.  :0(  I'll keep working and it will get easier and I will go farther easier.

3)  Save $100 from each paycheck.
            Well this one is slightly modified.  My husband and I sat down and did a budget and his goals and mine had us going in different directions.  We were thinking the same thing but doing different things to get there.  In December the 1 and only credit card was used.  GRRRR.  We are going to pay it off over this month and next month but still put money into savings, just not as much as I was hoping. Drats.

The sugar free challenge has had its ups and downs.  I slipped up a couple times this week but over all I have done pretty stinkin good.  Any ideas how hard it is to cut sugar cold turkey?  I haven't had any since Wednesday night when I finished off the peppermint ice cream that was in the freezer.  I'm the only one that will eat peppermint ice cream and it was taking up space in the freezer.  LOL!! Seriously though it only had about 3 bites worth of ice cream in it.  And we really did need the freezer space for the frozen fruit for my green smoothies.

The praying for my love challenge is going well. I am really enjoying the focused prayer time.  Each day we focus on a specific attribute such as integrity, relationships, salvation (etc).  It's nice to be specific and not just arrow prayers and "bless him" prayers, although there is nothing wrong with either.

I'd love to hear how you're doing.  I'm rooting for you!  Know that even if it feels like you're all alone in your endeavors, I am cheering you on.

Have an amazingly blessed day.