Thankful

Tonight I am breaking the "Here's To..." series to go back to my irregular, sporadic, sometimes sarcastic blogging style that is, frankly, a little easier for me.  Maybe you don't like "random thoughts" as much as I do, but I think it might be a reflection of how I think!  Tonight's randomness is inspired by my friend Becky's post (by the way who are Dave and Karen?) and by my Sunday night women's Bible study.

On Sunday nights I am studying "He Speaks To Me" by Priscilla Shirer. I was somewhat skeptical about the topic, but I think that's what drew me in.  The study has taught me so much, and one thing I am really taking away is the power of gratitude.  Then today at work I had a really good conversation with a friend about the true power of perspective.

Here are just 5 of the things I am thankful for, in no particular order-- knowing that I am obviously omitting several fantastic things for the sake of brevity and my early bedtime.

1.  That Sunday Night Bible Study.  We are an eclectic group of women and we are a small group of women.  But dog-gone-it I believe God had an awesome purpose bringing us together and knew exactly what He was doing.  And thank you Beth for stepping out to lead and in doing so, offering us all the opportunity to get to know one another and join in the adventure of positioning ourselves to hear from God.  This study has impacted my daily life and my everyday thinking in pretty cool ways.

2.. Our family.  I am so thankful for Dave and Dekker, and that we have such awesome family to go through life with.  We love our Monday night dinners and trips to Aurora and random texts and phone calls and fb chats and getting spoiled at The Cheesecake Factory by Lao and Pao.  I know the saying is that "you can't pick family" but I honestly don't think I could have picked better!  Thank you God for this blessing in my life!

I think Josie looks a little tortured here. 
She is not.  I promise!

3.  Our friends and small group.  That they are there for the hard times and the great times.  That they are so much fun and have this type of influence on me.  Do I look like I'm having a ball or what?  That's because I was.  We had an awesome Girls afternoon celebrating with our friend Micaela. Cari, you are truly an awesome hostess!

4.  The absolute beautiful weather we are having.  And that my allergies aren't totally awful and that I am finally feeling some true relief from the mono.  I'm still having  a hard time "bouncing back" from big events, but the day-to-day is sooo much better.  Like other things, I really didn't realize how "bad" it was until I was feeling better.  Next week my mom is visiting Sun-Mon and Beth and I are taking a girls trip Tues-Wed.  Then Thursday I work a looooooooong day and teach at Grace that night (Glory, another blessing).  We have tickets to the Texas game Sat (Go Big Red, can I call this a blessing, too?) so I am hoping I'm not a total mess by Sunday.  What a fab problem to have-- so many fun things in one week!  One day at a time, take care of myself, rest when I'm tired.  I can manage.

Big thanks to my friend Katie for this awesome pic of Dekker. 
We were enjoying this weather at the nearby park.

Dekker, Quinn and Max.  I love these boys and their Mama's!
Dekker has a squint.  Not just in this picture either.  I think it's
a learned look from me.  That, or he needs glasses.

 5.  Our daycare friend, Laura.  I was just beside myself when Leigh quit.  And I still miss Leigh and seeing her regularly.  But our new friend, Laura, is wonderful, too!  Today she helped Dekker through a rough day of teething and she hasn't reneged on our agreement yet  :)  She puts up with my "checking in" texts and my loooong good-byes.   God Love You, Laura!  What a blessing.

Even as I type I have more things to be thankful for-- like Dave's work from home job, the sweet girls I have met at bootcamp, my awesome water bottle, open communication with Dave/laying in bed laughing, facebook, my counseling mentor, the guy I work with at Grace... ...

Speaking of Grace... I was suppose to "teach" tonight at Grace.  I texted the professor I work with about 3:30 and suggested maybe we cancel class for the game.  I'm pretty sure he laughed out loud but he did insist I stay home.  Didn't have to tell me twice!  I'm 6 hours into my 10 hour commitment there.  As long as we're done by finals!  And the Huskers look awesome tonight!

On the journey,
Stef