Where did my "Thankfulness" go?

Every year, around Thanksgiving time, I feel very blessed.  I can easily, without much effort, rattle off a list of people, places, and things I am truly thankful for:  my sweet family, my warm cozy house, my slippers, anything flavored with pumpkin spice...

I am very blessed and very cared for...but something happens to me the minute I start reading the Black Friday ads...my thankfulness disappears and I develop a case of the wants.  I try to dress this condition of greed up by telling myself I will be shopping for others, for Christmas presents, for my sweet family I mentioned earlier, but that is not entirely true.  I like the shopping, the getting, the possessing of material things that are pretty, cool, fun, attractive to my eye.  I struggle with materialism.  I am greedy....and deep down this greed, left unchecked, has the ability to crush my thankfulness. 

My plans were to shop...to buy fun things...to spend money that was better left unspent. 

God's plans were for me to care for my sick family. 

So this year I am thankful for Strep Throat and an ear infection.  Both of these conditions forced me to avoid feeding my greed in an effort to care for my loved ones.  Nothing like illness to produce a sudden realization of the value of health.  Both my husband Jason and my littlest kiddle Joanna were sick on Thanksgiving....Joanna with the ear infection and Jason with the Strep.  Both were miserable...and both needed my care for about two and a half days....about the exact length of the amazing Black Friday Sales.

Even though things didn't go as planned, I still had the opportunity to eat delicious food at my mom and dad's, visit with my FABULOUS in-laws, spend time with my sweet little Lily, watch movies with Jason and hold my baby JoJo for extended periods of time which she normally doesn't allow now that she is a toddler.  All in all Thanksgiving was ok, and I am even more thankful now that my family is healthy again.
 

Lily's turkey hand...love this!

My hero...

Not only is my husband Jason funny, smart, hardworking, and incredibly good looking...but it turns out he is a super hero.  Like Peter Parker or Clark Kent he may look like an average everyday kinda guy, but in the event of an emergency he develops super powers and saves trapped hunters from raging river waters. 

Today, like most Saturdays, my husband got up in the wee small hours of the morning to hunt ducks on the Snake River.  This year has been especially exciting because he not only has built a duck blind on a small rock island located in the middle of the river, he also is keeping a chart to record the results of each hunting trip.  Yes, he is completely obsessed with duck hunting, and I am completely not.  From fall to winter Jason lives for Saturday morning hunting trips.  It is a scheduled weekly event, no questions asked, every Saturday you can find him on the river, shot gun and duck calls in hand.  

This Saturday he of course went hunting...he returned home around noon...he cleaned ducks...he came upstairs looking for something to eat.  Pretty routine, nothing out of the ordinary, until the phone rang.  My parents called, they live on the river, right above the rapids...my dad's question:  "Did Jason leave one of his hunting buddies behind?"  Followed by...."This guy is stranded on the rocks right above the rapids."  My parents had called 911 in the hopes that someone could help this guy out. 

About 10 minutes later my mom calls back and asks Jason to come over.  When Jason gets there about 20 emergency workers have arrived:  EMT's, QRU's, Police officers, Fish and Game, Fire Department, etc.  I should mention that when Jason left he promises me he wouldn't get in the water, no river rafting for him. 

I head over to my parents about 10 minutes later to find Jason down with the emergency workers helping develop some type of plan.  The plan ends up being Jason and an EMT will head across the river in Jason's boat, tie the boat off on the opposite shore and float the empty boat out to the stranded man.

So here we are...on my parents deck...watching Jason and an EMT float closer and closer to the rapids, they find the opposite shore...get out of the boat and begin tying it off.  No problem so far...however, somehow, the plan changed.  Next thing I know, Jason is in the boat rowing directly towards the rapids and the guy stranded on the rock.  When Jason reaches the man, who at this time has been on the rock for about two hours, the exhausted, soaking wet hunter jumps in the boat.  The boat rocks a little...my heart stops a little...the EMT, on shore, begins pulling the boat, which is tied off still up river.  For the next couple minutes my father-in-law Eric, who also came by to watch the excitement unfold, assures me over and over again that Jason will be fine, and low and behold after about three minutes of anxiety, Jason and the hunter are sitting on the shore safe and sound. Praise God!

My husband, the river guide, saved the day.  Who knew that all of Jason's hunting adventures have been but training for life saving.  To the world he may seem like an average, normal everyday kinda guy, but to me he is a super hero in disguise. 

The peace of age...

At 31 sometimes I look in the mirror and fear the effects of the aging process.  Yesterday as Jason and I drove to church with the girls we discussed the signs of aging on our faces.  I pointed out the crow's feet developing around my eyes as he discussed his multiplying gray hairs.  We laughed at our vanity and promised to love each other even if...

I forgot all about our silly conversation...took the girls to Sunday school, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed into church, ten minutes late of course. 

In the middle of worship I noticed something...a woman in her golden years sitting one row in front of me and two people down worshipping God.   She was beautiful, peaceful, and joyful.  As our worship leader prayed between songs she whispered amen and nodded her head, quietly to God, focused on him.  I began to image her life...she most likely is a mother, a grandmother, a wife.  She most likely has experienced mountains and valleys, she most likely has laughed so hard her stomach ached and cried so hard her eyes had no tears left to give.  She has most likely lived at least thirty plus years more than myself, and she holds in her soul the wisdom of age.  The knowledge of experiencing heart ache and surviving it, experiencing joy and savouring it, experiencing trial and growing from it. 

As I sat there taking in this beautiful sight I remembered my silly, vain conversation with my husband and I realized that I was missing the beauty of the signs of age, the signs of wisdom, the signs of peace.

The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.
Proverbs 20:28-30

Splendor defined means brilliant or gorgeous appearance, glory, grandeur, and great brightness.  As I witnessed God's glory in this aged woman's open devotion to him I saw splendor defined. I didn't see gray hair, wrinkles, or crow's feet.  I saw wisdom, peace, experience, strength and faith; a faith that comes from walking with God and seeing what he can do over time in one's life, a faith I look forward to having. 

My Extremely-Bad Couponing Adventure...

So is anyone else trying to jump on the couponing band wagon and missing it? 

I, a new stay-at-home-mom, had a bit of a breakdown yesterday.  After spending one hour and twenty two minutes trying to print coupons off the Target web-site, after driving the 24 miles to the big city of Twin, after spending two hours trying to locate the items on my list while deciphering the rules on each coupon, (Which, by the way, I carried in a zip lock baggy and transferred to my sweatshirt poach each time I put an item in the cart; not the most effective strategy.) ...after bribing my 18 month old with popcorn from the Target snack bar and a Fur-Real Pet she held throughout the store but had to return to it's home once we reached the register.... I saved...Are you ready for this?... $55.52. 

That sounds awesome right, really productive, and at first I was super stoked and proud of myself, but you know what they say about pride....here comes that fall.  Once I got home from my shopping adventure I took a minute to balance my check book and see what I really spent on my saving spree. 

$17.00 in gas to drive to Twin, $1.52 for popcorn, $3.79 for a Pumpkin Spice Latte that I couldn't resist, and $4.97 for a sweater I found on the 70% off rack that I should of tried on in the store because once I got it home and put it on I realized exactly why it was not the only, but one of eight identical sweaters on the 70% off rack....grand total of extra spending $27.28. 

Next, I factored in the time...1 hour 22 minutes searching for coupons, 30 minute trip to Twin times two, 2 hours entertaining 18 month old in Target while shopping, 13 minutes at the register trying to figure out why the check printing machine wouldn't work, and yes I wrote a check, an actual real live check, because my husband had my Debit card...and yes I was that lady, the one with the grumpy child who needed a nap about an hour ago, the one with 15 coupons wadded up in her sweatshirt pocket, the one writing a check when the girl behind her is just trying to buy a pack of gum and some paper towels...
Grand Total of Time Spent...4 hours and 35 minutes. 

Ok, so if my math is right, after extra expenses I saved $28.24 and lost 4 hours and 35 minutes.  Not sure if the savings was worth the investment this time.  

I want to say to all the amazing coupon gurus out there that you are my heroes; efficient, frugal, fabulous individuals. However, for me, right now, in my crazy little world, I think I will wave as the coupon band wagon rolls on by.  Maybe I will just shop the sales at the local markets, buy generic instead of name brand and have extra time to go to the park with my little girls.

I am not super mom. My laundry isn't all done. My kids eat too much sugar and not nearly enough vegetables.   I don't buy two carts of groceries for 3 dollars and 89 cents, and sometimes my check book isn't balanced and the bank charges me the dreaded overdraft fee. 




My breakdown:  I am just me.

My breakthrough:  Right now being just me is good enough.

Quote of the day:  "God made you special and he loves you very much."
                                                                                          -Bob the Tomato