It's The Thought That Counts....Really

I know you've heard someone say it before, "It's the thought that counts". Really? I use to think that too until I started really thinking about it. Sure no one is perfect, but come on, it's more than the thought that counts!

Take gift buying for instance......sure time goes into buying that perfect special gift, you look and look finally finding something that you believe someone will like, then you give it to them. Yep, I can see where "It's the thought that counts" counts here. The other thing that counts is how you present your "thought"/ gift. Do you just leave it in the bag in which you bought it and give it. Most times that would be a negative. Do you just give it away not wrapped or with no ribbon, etc. In some cases you can, such as flowers, fruit, a car(I think you get the picture). Or do you wrap it in beautiful wrapping paper, or place it in a gift bag with tissue paper that matches. My vote is for the second of the two sentences. When we take the time to carefully package our "thought"/gift, we are telling the person that we are giving it to that we really care about you, we took the time to put care and love into how we wanted our gift to be presented to you. If we just throw a gift in a bag and cram tissue paper into it that doesn't even match the bag, what is that saying about our character? What is it really saying to the person that we are giving our gift to? Sure the "thought counts" but how you present it counts to and sometimes it counts more than the thought does.

God gave us the best gift of all and His name was Jesus. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Jesus is our gift and He is the BEST gift that we will ever receive. Give yourself the BEST gift this Christmas and accept Him, ask Him to be Lord of your life.

Living for One Purpose

I was in car line the other day waiting to pick up the Princess from School when something dawned on me. What is our sole purpose of being here on this Earth? I mean, look around you, we have homes, go to work day after day, have a car, buy the things that we think that we need to "survive" and get get get. What is the purpose of all of that. I mean seriously, think about it, what are we accomplishing. Then throw in the ignoring people and it gets crazier! But what is our day to day, everyday life accomplishing? NOTHING! We know when we die, we leave everything behind. We can't take anything to the grave with us. So why does so much material "stuff" matter! Why must we sleep, go to work or even go to School? For one thing.....to accomplish our mission. Our mission, if you are a Christian, is simple, to share Christ with EVERYONE. That means, your neighbors that live in the house by your house, your coworkers at your job, your friends at school, the people that bug you to death, and even family. Even that person that bugs you to death needs to know what Christ did for them, and even that family member that is very distant needs to know that not by works are we saved, but through Christ Jesus. Will you share even though you face the risk of rejection by family, friends, neighbors or coworkers? Jesus was ridiculed and rejected, yet He died for our sins. He loved us so much that He gave His life for us.

So today, I want you to think about the REAL reason that you live and why you continue to wake up every morning day after day.......

One Week Down and Saying Thank You = Many More

We are one week into Deployment, wow did the first week fly by. I guess time really does fly by when you are busy! Today is our down day for this week, all the other days and nights of this week are booked! Booked with Wrestling matches for the Bookworm, marching in the Parade for the Princess, Band concert for the Bookworm, Winter Formal for the Princess, Church, Choir and so much more to even mention! My down day today is going to be used to run lots of errands that I must run for the kids. Things that they need for this week for the things that they are involved in. Somewhere along the way I need to find time to drop by the grocery store, and maybe somewhere along the way I'll also find time to breath!

So, I've been thinking alot lately and the one thing that has been a constant thought in my head is this: we are to thank God in every situation;the good and the bad. I know what you may be thinking, the bad? Yes, the bad too. We all know that it's easy to give God thanks in the good things in our lives, but give thanks in the bad? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says,"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."(KJV) A great example of this is the story of Job. Job lost everything and what did he do, he praised God and gave him thanks. If you've never read the story of Job, I encourage you to do so.

How are we suppose to give thanks for the bad that happens in our life? How can we give thanks for a death of a loved one in your family? We thank God for the time that we had with them, for knowing them, for special memories that we have, for the impact that they had on our life, for the things that we learned from them that we will be able to pass along to others. In a span of 6 years, I lost all four of my Grandparents. I lost my Dad's Dad, whom I called Papa, in October 2002. He died right before my family and I moved to Europe. He was in the Army, served under Patton and survived being blown up in a tank during wartime. My Papa had so many stories to share about his time in the Army, I am sure that he would have been thrilled knowing that we were moving to Germany. Three years later in November of 2005, when the Major was deployed, I lost my Grandma, my Dad's Mom. The kids and I flew to the States to stay with my parents for the Holidays, from Thanksgiving to the New Year, my Grandma was barely hanging on. Everyone in our family had seen her except my brother(whom lived in Chicago at the time) and I. Once we both got to my parents home from our flights, my Dad took us to see my Grandma. Even though she wasn't coherent, she could hear and she knew that we were there. About an hour after we had left from seeing her and got back to my parents' home, we received the call that she had passed away. Did she wait to finally let go until she knew that my brother and I had seen her? I can't say, but my heart feels that she did. December 2007 was probably the most shocking December in our family. Bright and early on the 14th of December I received a call from my Brother telling me that our Granny had died, my Mom's Mom, the night before, which just so happened to be on my Mom's birthday. What a shock this was to hear! I had just talked with her on the phone the day before and she was doing well. One of the most wonderful ladies in my life had now passed away, here I was in living in now Italy and now I was flying back to the States to attend a funeral and to say good-bye to woman that had blessed my life from the time that I was born. I was also flying back to knowing that my Mom had to be completely in shock and devastated knowing that her Mom had passed away not only on her birthday, but while she and my Dad were on a plane flying back to the States from visiting us in Italy. One year and one day later, my Grandaddy passed away, my Mom's Dad. We had just moved back to the States from Italy in early November, a week after we moved back my Grandaddy was hospitalized for his breathing and he stayed in the Hospital until he passed away in December. His dying was so unexpected, death knows no boundaries, no one is ever ready to deal with death. He was a great man, very shy, but if he had something to say, he would say it. In a time span of 6 years, four of the most important people in my life were now gone. Four of the most wisdom filled people that I knew were no longer here. Why do I share all of this with you, because I thanked God. I thanked God when they died. I thank God because he had given me so many beautiful and wonderful memories and years with these four amazing people. I thanked God because all four of these people were there when my children were babies and they got to see my children grow and my children know who they were. I thank God because my Grandparents knew the Lord and they each had a personal relationship with Him. I thank God because when I look at my Nativity set in my home every Christmas, I know that my Grandparents are seeing and living the real Nativity.

Would it have been easy for me to not have thanked God when they each passed away, you bet! Here were four precious people in my life that passed away, I could have been mad, I could have asked God why, I could have been mad because here I was living in Europe and I didn't get to see them and spend as much time with them as the rest of my family got to, but I didn't, I thanked God. It was His will.

What about other situations in which it may be hard to give thanks to God. What about people that hurt you(we can't change people), unanswered prayer(remember God will answer in His time), family situations(let go and give it to God, and sometimes you just have to step to the side and walk away), medical conditions(you may learn to lean more on God), moves especially Military moves(the blessing of new friends and a new place to live where you have never been before), Deployment(look forward to what God may want you to learn and teach you during this deployment), new job(you can share your faith in your workplace be a sunbeam for Him). There are so many things that go wrong in our lives, but one is always good and always remains the same......God! God is there for us all the time. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

Many ask why bad things happen to good people. The fact is that bad things happen to everyone, good and bad. God doesn't give us anything that He knows that we can not handle. Did you hear me? God does not give us anything that we CAN NOT handle. God may let bad things happen in our life so that we can grow closer in our walk with Him, maybe it is to open our eyes, maybe it is to teach us a lesson, maybe it is to draw us closer to friends and family, maybe it is to draw us more into spending time in prayer and in His Word. Whatever the situation is that you are going through, God knows why. We must have FAITH-Forsaking All I Trust Him.

What are you thankful for: the good and the bad.

Cleaning and Scrubbing and Trash "Oh My"

This is in tune to Dorothy's famous line..."lions and tigers and bears oh my." Yep, that's what I did today, day 3 of the Deployment! Funny saying that it is day 3, wow, it is Wednesday already? And I am a happy girl today, I got 2 phone calls from the Major today :) I am all smiles here, just hearing his voice made my day!

I decided that this Deployment I am keeping busy, very busy at the Cottage. I plan to reorganize everything in the house, everything in closets and cabinets, etc. I am even labeling things such as; drawers that tape, scissors, gift bags, ribbon and birthday decorations are in. That way there is no guessing from anyone in my household where anything is!

Not only do I plan on being organized, I also plan on being very very frugal! Yep, you heard me right, FRUGAL! We are doing Financial Peace and I must say that you, yes you, should google it and check it out! So go, go right now and check it out! Then come back to my Blog!

So, some people call being frugal cheap, others call it thrifty, some may call it stupid, others may call it canny, but here is what I call it: SMART! I plan on saving saving saving where ever I can. I am looking at any and all new ideas that I can adapt for our household that will save us on time, energy and money, yet be very efficient, good and a great deal! The first place to put a cap on saving is the grocery store. Yep, and I have been doing this for quit awhile, but I think that I can do a lot better than I am already doing. Three words coupons, sale papers and store cards(I could even add two more:freezer and stock-pile), if you are not using all three of these then you are not saving the most that you can be saving at the grocery store! Next is thermostat setting. If you do not have a digital thermostat, go and buy one now! This reduces your electric bill. Also, set your thermostat and leave it do not change it! Did you know that changing it when you are gone and then changing it again can actually increase your bill! Now lets talk about lights...if you are leaving lights on when you are not in a room, that's not good, turn them off, conserve electricity and save on your power bill! Open the blinds in your house when you first get up in the mornings and use the natural light that God provided for us...the sun! It's Christmas time and we have up the tree and lights outside, yes the power bill will go up, but you can minimize how much buy using a timer and only allowing your lights to be on for a few hours a night rather than all night. Who wants a high power bill? Not me, so timers it is!

With all of this being said I feel that I was very productive today in my cleaning and scrubbing. I cleaned that kids' bedrooms, their bathrooms, the fridge/freezer, and a huge upstairs closet! I did a lot of labeling and reorganizing and threw away a lot of stuff! I had 2 huge bags full of trash! Yikes!

So now I am off to helping the Princess with English 2 and then off to the Bookworm's wrestling match, and then it's off to Church and Choir!

Tomorrow is another day with more cleaning and more things to organize and yes, label!

Blessings-

Deployment, It's Begun

Deployment, if you're a Military Spouse that's the one word that you don't like to hear, but unfortunately, it's quit the norm these days. For our family, yesterday was "D" Day, in other words, Deployment Day. We all four new it was coming, but nothing can ever prepare you for that last hug, kiss, good-bye and wave. Nothing, no matter how many times you've done it before.

We've had a very good past week. We went on a small family vacation, celebrated Thanksgiving, put up the Christmas tree and lights, and spent alot of time just hanging out as a family acting goofy together! It's been great family time together.

So now, we start our ticker for the count down to the end of the Major's Deployment. He called a few hours ago to let me know that he had made it. I praise God for his safe arrival there. I miss him already, as do the Princess and the Bookworm. Night time is the time of day that I hate, when everyone is in bed and it's quiet, I don't like it, it's the only time that I feel lonely so I stay up and watch TV or read or get on the computer. We had rain last night, it was nice to hear the rain coming down, I love the rain.

What else do I not like? Thinking to myself, wow it feels really cold in the house....walk to the thermostat and realize that the air is on! Turn I heat is what I do and put on a jacket!

So on with my day. Today I plan to finish our Jesse Tree for Advent so that we can begin tonight, if you do not do this in your family I want to encourage you to do so. Here is a link that you may find helpful: http://www.aholyexperience.com/ .

Blessings

2 Weeks and Counting

We're gearing up and getting ready in our house, if you're a Military Spouse you know what I mean, Deployment. This daunting one word has been hanging over our house for around 4 months and the time for it to appear and take it's affect starts soon, too soon. If you've been through a Deployment you know what I mean, it seems as if the things that need to be done and the things that you would like to do before your Spouse leaves is all of a sudden getting down to last straw or down to the wire! YIKES...where did the days go!

Lists have been made for me by the Major for bills, etc. Wills and Powers of Attorneys have been done, major things around the house that needed to be done are done with a few last appointments getting done this week.

Time together as a family during these last few days are priceless, you as a Spouse want to spend your every waken hour with your Spouse before he leaves while your two teens try not to talk or mention the word Deployment because they began to fill their eyes with tears. You find yourself eating at all of the Spouse's favortie Restaurants because you know that all he'll be eating for the next months will be the Dining Facility where he'll be deployed at. You suddenly find yourself liking to wash clothes because you know that you want be washing his for awhile and when you make the bed in the morning you realize that his side want be untucked for much longer. You sit by him whenever you can and hold his hand whenever possible because you know that in a few days you'll long to touch him, and you want to remember his touch for as long as you can. You look at the coffee pot when you are putting up the dishes out of the dishwasher and think that there will not be a lot of coffee making going on because unlike your spouse you don't have to have coffee in order to survive your day, but you also know that you'll miss that little bit of coffee that he leaves in the pot every morning just for you so that you can have a cup. You begin to think of all the things that he'll miss while he's away and you automatically begin to add them up and start charging up the video camera.

You've been down this road before and you remember what you've learned through the last Deployments: You've learned to be more independent, you've learned to have more grace, you've lost anxiety and gained patience, you've grown a much closer and special relationship with your children, you've gone through something that not everyone gets to experience, you've gained more self-esteem and you're not afraid or ashamed to ask for help if you know you can't do it on your own.

Deployment, who knew that one little word could be so big and mean so much.

Month of Giving: Day 14

Giving:Day 14
Monday, October 24, 2011

This morning I waited from 8-11 thinking that the Time Warner person was suppose to be here....not...I called and it's tomorrow morning! So I wasted a few hours this morning waiting :(

On another thought, I decided what I was having for dinner this morning after taking the Princess to school. I don't like figuring out the menu each day thinking of what to have for dinner! Tonight we had hot wings and rice-a-roni and broccoli, it was yummy!

Today was nice today being able to pick up the Princess right after school. There is no more Band Practices right now because Competitions are over, so she'll be home right after school from now on, which is huge because we want have to wait till 7 to eat dinner anymore!

So today I pick her up from school and she's telling me about her day, then she tells me that she needs a book,"Lord of the Flies"for English Class and that she needs it by Friday. Note: she did not ask me to go and get it today for her. So I tell her, get my phone and look up the number for Books A Million, she does and she calls to see if they have the book. They do, so I tell her that I will drive right now and get it for her. She looks at me and smiles, then says, but I don't need it till Friday you don't have to get it now. I drive and we get her book.

My gift today was driving the Princess straight from School to the Book Store to get her book for English Class. I didn't have to go and get the book today, but I did.

Have you started your giving challenge?