30 days of Thankfulness

This year I followed the crowd and posted 1 thing I'm thankful for each day. I try to be thankful on all days, good and bad, but this was interesting trying to recognize something or someone to be specifically thankful for each day. There were times I got behind, but I did end up doing it the whole month. 

Day 1: I'm thankful for Jesus!

Day 2: I'm thankful for my crazy husband who always makes me laugh!

Day 3: Thankful for wonderful grandparents who love Taylor so much! She is so happy to stay with them, it doesn't bother her at all that Mommy and Daddy are leaving!

Taylor waving bye as we leave for Baton Rouge

Day 4: I'm thankful that our parking and seats at Bryant-Denny are a lot easier to get to than what we had in Baton Rouge, otherwise, this 7 month pregnant lady couldn't be going to anymore games. :(

Day 5: In honor of Orphan Sunday yesterday, I'm thankful for the many, many friends that have adopted, are in the process of adopting, are involved in foster care, or are otherwise involved in orphan care through child sponsorship, adoption support, etc. These people challenge me daily to be more involved in the orphan crisis! I wish I could tag all of you, but I'd surely forget someone!

Day 6: Thankful for the ability to vote on our leader! Hopefully after tomorrow all the nasty political posts will cease, at least for a little while.

Day 7: Thankful that most (unfortunately not all) of my FB friends surprised me this morning with their comments on the election's outcome and their acknowledgement that God is sovereign! I'm sorry to say surprised, but during the days/weeks/months leading up to yesterday, I saw a lot of comments that weren't very Jesus-like.

Day 8: Thankful for the ladies in my small group. I look forward to meeting with them every time!! 

Day 9: Thankful to feel the many kicks and punches my little Leah gives me everyday! 

Day 10: Thankful that there is so much more to life than Alabama football...Taylor gave us big hugs when we got home! 

Day 11: Thankful for my wonderful Grace Life church family! 

Day 12: Thankful for clothes and linens to wash and a washing machine and dryer to use when washing them!

Day 13: Thankful for our veterans, especially the ones in my family!

Day 14: Thankful for a job I enjoy going to!

Day 15: Thankful for wonderful co-workers that always make me laugh!

Day 16: Thankful for my sweet, little Taylor. Daddy is hunting out of town this weekend, so we are having a girls' night. We got our nails done, eating pizza for dinner and watching a movie.

Day 17: Thankful for a wonderful mother who came up and helped us paint Taylor's bed, vanity and nightstand. I couldn't have done it without her! She was even babysitting Andi!

Day 18: Thankful for the good Samaritan God sent to Exxon to first put air in my tire and then change it when it wouldn't hold the air. I prayed on the way over there that someone would have mercy on me and help. I had barely gotten out of the car when this guy asked if I needed help. He said he had a wife and two daughters and hoped someone would do the same for them. Thank you Lord for providing, please bless this man!

Day 19: Thankful for the wonderful nurses that work at UAB Women and Infant's center and take care of the little bitty babies. I've been volunteering there through the Junior League and have gotten to see all the amazing things they do! They love and care so much about these little ones and their families! 

Day 20: Thankful for all medical professionals! My OB is great and I have several friends and family members that are nurses. Thanks for what you do!

Day 21: Thankful for the many ways God speaks to me--the Bible, brothers and sisters in Christ, Christian authors, etc--all through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. 

Day 22: Thankful for my huge, loud, wonderful family. We had 22 people at my parent's house, including 5 kids 4 and under. We were also missing 7 people! 

Day 23: Thankful for a house to clean and Christmas decorations to put up. 

Day 24: Thankful for wonderful in-laws to celebrate Thanksgiving with today!

Day 25: Thankful for the wonderful Sunday school and nursery workers at GLBC who take such good care of our little ones while the we're in class or worship. 

Day 26: Thankful for Wee Flip for providing a wonderful birthday party for Taylor and a stress-free birthday party for me! The kids loved it! I highly recommend!

Day 27: Thankful for my wonderful sister, Hilary! I am so proud of her and watching her be a mommy to Alexis and Andi is amazing!

Day 28: Thankful for my wonderful dad who was and is always there for his girls. He is always there for his granddaughters too! Thanks for being a wonderful Dad and Papa Rex!

Day 29: Thankful for a healthy pregnancy! Less than 9 more weeks before I have another beautiful little girl in my arms!

Day 30: So thankful for my amazing 3 year old! Happy Birthday sweet Taylor! She is funny and smart, sweet and strong, curious and witty and oh, so loving! God has blessed us with an awesome little girl!

Pumpkin Patch

Every year our church does a Pumpkin Patch in October. They have inflatables, face painting, clowns, a petting zoo, a hay ride and a train ride. Taylor went twice this year and had a blast both times. The inflatables are her favorite!!

The first time Taylor went with me and several friends and family members. I'll have to update with pictures from that later, but here's a pic of Taylor and Jules I stole from Misty's blog.

The next weekend, Taylor went with Adam while I worked at Pumpkin Patch.

Getting her face painted

Petting a bunny

In the petting zoo

Playing cornhole

Cinderella

Sliding, her favorite!

Playing ring the crows

Just for kicks, I looked at the blog post from last year's Pumpkin Patch and pulled some pictures. Look at how much she's grown!!

Youth Group Girls Retreat Weekend

Almost two years ago, God led us to our amazing church family, Grace Life Baptist Church. I've been finding my way into getting involved in the ladies' ministry and the youth ministry. Ever since we had such wonderful youth workers in my youth group (including my wonderful brother-in-law and sister-in-law), I've wanted to give back in the same way.

Bryant, the youth minister, and his wonderful wife Ann, asked me to speak at the girls' retreat this past weekend. The theme was missions, which is so near and dear to my heart. I went Friday night and listened to Leslie Williams speak to the girls. She dicussed learning to be a missionary where you are by 1) loving God, 2) putting on the character of Christ and 3) loving people. It was a great lesson!

On Saturday morning, my friend Julie, who's adopting from China, did a fun little craft during her class and made some super cute headbands! I thought I would talk about our time in China, and I did a little bit, but I more wanted the girls to see how they could be a missionary here and now (since they can't really move to China (or anywhere) to become a missionary right now (but, prayerfully someday!).

I immediately thought of Riley Dreyfus and the amazing organization she has started, Hope for Hearts. Her parents (another of the wonderful youth workers I mentioned earlier), adopted a baby from Ethiopia and she went with them to pick him up. She was so moved by what she saw, she started this organization to support orphan care. She has become a missionary where she is! This was Riley's third time to speak to a group of girls and she did wonderful! She even got a little sermon in at the end, it was great!

She told the girls how she held a Croc drive at her church and sent 52 pairs of shoes to the orphanage her brother came from! She told them how God came through and provided more than her goal of 50 pairs. She told them how she continued to feel like God wanted her to do more, and that's when she started Hope for Hearts by selling handmade Valentine's Day cards. She raised over $1500 for Embracing Hope Ethiopia. She finished by saying she's not doing these things for credit for herself, but to give all glory to God and follow the example of Christ. She encouraged these girls with 1 Timothy 4:12 "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in love, in life, in faith, and in purity." Amen, Riley! Thank you Jesus for her heart and drawing her so close to you!

Once Riley had finished, I told the girls about a project that has been on my heart for a while. Instead of just encouraging them to find a way to be a missionary, I wanted to give them an opportunity. I also encouraged any girls that were inspired by Riley's organization to work with her and raise money, or to start their own. Several of them exchanged email addresses and phone numbers with Riley. So exciting!

The project that I offered up to the girls is a Backpack Buddies program, which provides food for children that are at risk for not eating over the weekend. I first heard about this through the Junior League of Birmingham. It's one of the projects for which we provide volunteers and funding. I've been wanting to start one in our area for a while, but I just don't have time to do it myself. I've been waiting, asking God to show me how and when, and felt the time was now. I brought it up to the youth group girls to see if they could take it and run with it (with help from the adults). 15 girls signed up to help with this program! Praise God! As I was talking to some of them, I mentioned that coupons could help us subsidize the cost, but I didn't know how to use them well enough to make it worth while. About 5 of them said, "My mom coupons! We don't buy anything without a coupon!" Thank you, Lord, for providing women and girls with all different skill sets to get this program accomplished.

We will spend the next 4 months fundraising and having food drives to prayerfully be able to provide 50+ bags of food per week for 10 months! One girl asked, "What about over the summer?" I told her that was a great question and I didn't know yet. I hadn't thought that far ahead. We'll have some more praying and thinking to do for that one.

This was a great weekend and our students continue to draw closer to God and desire his will for their lives.