Day 5: With Thanksgiving and Prayer

Today we add another milestone in our family life, our 16 year old son obtained his driver's license! He got his permit in June, took driver's education in August and has been getting all the required hours of practice in. He actually passed the road test in October but here in Washington state, teen drivers are required to hold the learner's permit for a period of 6 months before they can acquire the license. The six month mark hit today and so necessitated a trip to the Department of Licensing. I was quite surprised when the lady asked for $89! I thought we had paid all the required fees already when we paid for the permit, the driver's ed. and the testing fees, but no........

Therefore it is with prayer that I give thanks today!

• I am thankful that our son has obtained his license and can now go out driving unsupervised (did I really say that???) Ok, so really I'm thankful that he got his license and I'll be praying for his safety and wisdom while he drives unsupervised. This may take a little getting used to.

• I am thankful that it is not freezing today. Though it is kind of rainy, the rain has brought slightly warmer temperatures. Can't complain about our cold weather, however, when much of the country has been hit hard with severe cold and snow.

•  I am thankful for a home to live in with so many comforts and conveniences.

I hope your day has been blessed and you are able to find several things for which to be thankful.

Linda

Day 4: Taking Time to be Thankful

Thiis was a busy day, but I am reminded that in the midst of the chores, laundry, homeschooling, and church activities I still need to slow down and give thanks.

Today I am thankful for the following three things:

1. For the opportunity to homeschool my children; this is year 9 for us and there have been many challenges, ups and downs, and blessings. I have made mistakes along the way but I am so thankful to have been able to share these years with my kids.

2. For the AWANA program at our church. I am thankful that I can be a part of this ministry; it is a blessing for me to serve as the secretary for the Trek and Journey groups ( jr. high & high school).

3. As I write number 3, I just got home for the evening and I am thankful to be home and looking forward to some rest.

Until tomorrow .....

Linda

Day 3: It's a Test

It has to be a test. Right? As soon as you determine to make a positive change a multitude of trying situations come your way. 

Today was part 2 of the household electrical saga. I won't go into all the details, suffice it to say that we encountered new issues, apparently resolved them, and experienced recurrence of previous issues. Aargh!!

So, to be thankful today??? Here are 3 things for which I can genuinely give thanks:

1. My daughter! She is sweet and thoughtful and fun to be with. I am thankful for the way she tries to encourage me when I am stressed!

2. My son! He loves the computer, gaming, and all such things. I have come to appreciate that we don't like all the same things and that's ok!. I am thankful that he can help me when I have a technology-related problem!

3. My cat- Quincy! He is just so soft, and

cute. He can pretty much always bring a smile to my face. (Except when he's doing something he shouldn't, like stealing ornaments from the Christmas tree!!)

Well, that's it for today, see you tomorrow!

Linda

Day 2: Being Thankful When Things Go Wrong

You know there are those days where it just seems like one thing after another goes wrong, and it's not always easy to give thanks in the midst of unfortunate events. However, there is great benefit in looking for ways to be thankful despite the circumstances.

Recently we have been having some electrical issues in our home; if we would run too many appliances on one circuit the breaker would trip and there were issues with resetting it. A couple of weeks ago my husband replaced the breaker for that circuit and we thought it was all running well. Today, however, I plugged one of our space heaters into my daughter's bedroom to get it warmed up for her. A little while later as we were
sitting in our bonus room we started to smell a fishy odor, we looked everywhere to try to determine where the odor was originating form and just couldn't figure it out. As it continued to get worse I decided to Google the issue to try to figure out what might be causing it. Immediate results showed probable electrical overload or fault, so I figured we should unplug the space heater and see if that resolved the problem.

It seemed like the odor was subsiding and I moved onto other things. Approximately 15 minutes later my son came and told me the power had gone out in that area of the house. We tried flipping the breaker and unplugging everything in the affected rooms, but were unable to restore the power. So, of course this is not convenient and will take some effort and money to fix. All this leads me to my first reason to give thanks today:

• I am thankful that we were able to discover the electrical issue before it started a fire in our home. Although this is one more stress we don't need right now, things could have been tragically worse and I thank God for protecting our family.
• This year I was able to purchase a small Christmas gift for each of my family members back home in Scotland and am thankful that I was able to get them in the mail today so that they can receive them before Christmas.
• I am thankful for my husband who loves me and provides for our family; we have been married for 22 years and I give God thanks for blessing our marriage.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you can find some reasons to give thanks today!

Linda

Day 1: Developing the Habit of Thanksgiving

This morning in church our pastor shared a message entitled 'Five Ways to Give Thanks' in which he explained that it takes 21 days of repetition to develop a habit. He challenged us to express 3 things each day for which we are thankful and continue the practice for 21 days.

So, here I am, I thought I would post my items here just to give me a consistent place to document my daily thanksgiving.

In the past I posted a series called Thirty Days of Thanksgiving, this will be a bit different because these will be more personal things for which I am thankful. So join me if you like and feel free to share things you are thankful for too.

Today I am thankful for:

1. Today's message in church through which God challenged me to be more thankful.

2. For safety on the icy roads today as my family and I travelled to and from church several times.

3. For a warm fireplace to sit near on this cold day, and a yummy cup of hot chocolate!

See you tomorrow!

Linda