so many thankful things

Oh my goodness! I don't even know where to start. God has just lavishly poured out blessings upon blessings upon blessings on me. I'm so thankful, and I know that I'm barely aware of even the tip of the iceberg of all the blessings God's given me.

I was just about to start listing my thankful days, starting with November 12th, which is where I left off last time, when my most favorite person in the world just walked up, ran his hand through my hair, and asked if I wanted to go watch a Christmas movie with him and sip hot chocolate.

Yes. Why yes, I do. :o)

So... I'll sign off for now, but not without saying this first:

November 22nd- Today, I'm so thankful for my husband; he's the happiest and most holy person I know.

ok.. I'm back

so it took me a little longer to make it back here than I expected (first, the little guys needed me. Then, the big guy needed me, then the house needed me, etc, etc) but i'm finally back! Where was I...

November 6th- friday, I was so thankful for the Clausons and our continued friendship that lasts the span of time and miles! They came on Friday to spend the weekend with us and to introduce us to their sweet babe, Elliott, and it was such a joy to have them here! Oh, how all of us love all of them! Our friendship with them is a true treasure from the Lord.

November 7th- Saturday, I was so thankful for the Kells! They are more dear friends of ours with whom we've been friends with for years. They used to live up in Ohio with us and we went to the same church together. Then, a few years back, they actually moved down here to my in-laws basement and then to their own house near to here. We love them so much! They are close friends with the Clausons, also, so Danny and Bridget invited us Meades and Clausons over to their house for dinner on Saturday eve. Bridget is just one of those dear, dear friends who always radiates joy and I'm so thankful for her continued friendship throughout the years! :o) (also, yay for their newest babe who is due to arrive in a few short weeks!!)

November 8th- Sunday, I was so thankful for our local church! Oh, how I love sitting in those blue chairs in the auditorium, listening as the Word of God is faithfully preached each Sunday. The Lord really encouraged my heart by this sermon, especially; I've asked Andrew if there's any way he can get this sermon onto my tablet so I can listen to it as I drive up in to Ohio in a few weeks. And Sundays also brings K-groups, which I LOVE!! Our k group is so, so sweet! There's so much energy and transparency and love and encouragement and fellowship, and all 4 of us greatly look forward to K groups each week.

November 9th- Monday, I was really thankful for fresh veggies. A year ago, my sis-in-law Melissa (who is a certified nutritionist and crossfit trainer) told me that if she can only give a person 1 piece of advice pertaining to exercise and diet, it would be to add 1 cup of fresh veggies to each meal. We've really taken that to heart and have started eating lots of fresh veggies. We don't always do it at every meal, but we try to. Anyway, Monday, as I was munching away on fresh celery, broccoli, and carrots, I was thinking about how easy it is for us to go buy fresh produce, whereas it's much harder in other areas of the world. I feel so healthy and so much more energetic after eating fresh veggies and I'm very thankful for them!

November 10th- Tuesday, I was thankful that the day ended with everyone still alive.

November 11th- Wednesday, today, I'm so thankful for sunny days, great parks for the kiddos, and sweet friends to play the day away with. God has blessed us with lots of really great friends down here, and it's such a joy to spend time with them! Specifically, we spent the day with Erin Walter and her 3 precious kiddos. This is a special treat for several reasons. 1. Erin's youngest is a tiny, itty-bitty new born and Erin made the huge effort it takes to get all 3 kiddos out of the house just to meet us at the park. 2. Erin got no sleep last night, yet she didn't cancel on us. 3. Erin's oldest daughter, Lily, is one of Jasper's best friends on planet earth. 4. Erin's middle son, Jimmy, is one of Brody's best friends on planet earth. 5. Erin is just one of those friends that you can talk to. Like, realllly talk to. And she's one of those friends who's real. Friends like this are so precious and rare. It was a treat to talk with her for several hours about how God's working in our lives and different joys and struggles that we're each facing.

It's fun, really fun, to go throughout the day thinking, "what is going to be my thankful thing today?" I encourage you to do it, too. As mine often does, it's ok if your thankful thing changes as your day continues to unfold. It's ok if you have many thankful things in a day. And it's ok, too, if you're simply thankful that the Lord got you through the day and the day is now over b/c His mercies will be new and fresh and waitin' for ya when you wake up the next morning.

thankful things :o)

While I haven't been back here to the computer since last week, I've been writing down my "thankful things" on an actual piece of paper (so oldschool, right?!) and am just now getting to update them on my blog.

November 4th- On Wednesday, I was so thankful for long phone conversations with my momma! We had a long one on Wed, just getting caught up on life and such, and they're such a blessing!

November 5th- Thursday, I was so thankful for many helping hands throughout the day. We had a very busy day that included seeing Rosalee in the morning, going to the Y, line dancing class, then a HUGE grocery shopping trip after line dancing. It was 2:30 pm, we were checking out at Krogers, none of us had lunch yet (the boys were being such great, obedient little shoppers), and a sweet lady from Krogers helped us get out to the car (I had the boys in one cart and tons of groceries in the other cart). Then we got home and Dad Meade came out to hand me our mail. Upon seeing the groceries in the trunk, he immediately stepped into action and carried all the groceries to my kitchen for me. Such a huge, unexpected blessing!! That evening, Laura, my little Mother's Helper, came over and helped take care of the boys that evening. And then..  after the boys went to bed, I had a few "incidents" with the boys (andrew was still at school) which lasted for a few hours and left me feeling crazy exhausted. Upon hearing that I was having some "incidents" with the little ones, Mom Meade immediately asked how she could help me. I felt SO blessed by all the servant hearts/helping hands throughout the day!

November 6th-

hang on... the little ones need help... I'll be back in a minute...

always and for everything

The other day, I was talking with my dear friend Ashley about certain things people do during the month of November (IE no-shave november, write a 50,000 word novel November, 30 days of thanks november, etc) and after our conversation, I was greatly encouraged to spend some time each day during the month of November and think about what I'm thankful for. Also, I would like to record those thoughts on my blog. Knowing how hard it is for me to find time to sit down at my computer every day, I doubt I will blog daily. But I hope to blog semi-daily and record my thoughts this month. :o)

So., here's the start to my "30 days of Thanks"

November 1st- On Sunday, I was so, so thankful that Andrew, Jasper, Brody, and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary of living in Georiga. What a blessing it has been to be here. We love it here and we're so thankful the Lord brought us down here. Not only did our sweet Savior bring us down here, but He has lavishly provided for us while we've been here; Andrew and I are so thankful and we had a sweet lunch with Mom and Dad Meade on Sunday to celebrate.

November 2nd- Monday, I was so thankful that Brody didn't cry at all during his nap or nighttime sleep. For the past week or two, he's been rather ardent in his crying and it hasn't been easy to live with. My theory is that he's weaning himself off of sucking his thumb, and he's had to learn how to fall asleep without sucking his thumb. He hasn't been sleeping well, due to the lack of thumb, so now he was over-tired, WAY over-tired, and he couldn't figure out to soothe himself. Which led to him being mad. On Monday, however, he slept perfectly. No crying, no whimpering, no screaming, nothing. And I was so thankful!

November 3rd- Tuesday, which is today, I've been so thankful for so many things. I can't possibly narrow it down to 1 thing. I was talking to dear Ash at lunch and told her my "thankful thing" for today was ladies bible study. LBS is such a treasure to my heart. I'm learning so much about my dear Savior and so much about the intricacies of the Bible and how so much foreshadowing happens in the Old Testament. I've also been learning so much about my awful, wicked sinful heart and how much God hates sin. I've been learning so much and I treasure it greatly so I thought for sure my "thankful thing" for today would be LBS!

But then, this afternoon, I just had the sweetest afternoon with the boys; they were so cute and such great little helpers at church and great little shoppers at Krogers and very patient while I was carrying in groceries and unloading them. They were so obedient when I gave them instructions and really joyful in their obedience and sharing well with each other and just so cute. My heart could barely handle how precious they were. So then I thought for sure my "thankful thing" for today would be God's precious gifts of Jasper and Brody.

But then during this evening, I was getting quite tired and the boys were still being precious but also quite energetic and Andrew's gone till 11:30 tonight and I feel as though I single parent quite often during this stage of life and today was turning out to be a rather long day of single parenting (I think the fact that it got pitch-black during supper dampened my mood tonight. We normally always go out to play outside after dinner but now we're kinda stuck inside) and I was getting rather tired. And this is what I'm most thankful for today. This, coming up, is my "thankful thing" for today.

I could feel myself getting cranky. I could feel the self-pity coming on. I could feel my impatience growing with the boys and the temptation to turn on an extra show for Jasper "just to get him out of my hair". I could feel all these ugly, wicked things growing in my heart, and the Holy Spirit stopped me dead in my tracks and started speaking truth to my heart. He started bringing precious Scripture to my mind and He set my eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of my faith. The Holy Spirit got a hold of my heart, convicted me of my sin, reminded me that no temptation will ever overcome me, and by His grace turned me into the mom that He wanted me to be tonight. He helped me to speak of Christ and His plan of redemption to Jasper and Brody while we were building a mountain out of pillows. He helped me to joyfully help Jasper with his random project of building a "garden flag" in the pitch black outside, even though I was internally struggling with impatience. He helped me to be encouraging and patient and thankful with J and B as they joyfully "helped" me make dinner, which resulted in triple the cooking time and less-than-fantastic egg & ham sandwiches and a very sticky kitchen floor. He reminded me that the dinner-time spills didn't matter but their worried eyes gazing up at mine, to see how I was going to react, did. He helped me to respond kindly and with love when I needed to correct Jasper and discipline Brody before bedtime, even though I was facing real temptation to yell and tell them how inconvenient their disobedience was to my life. He helped me to put them to bed well and truly lovingly hug and kiss them goodnight and answer their questions and look for Jasper's flashlight and Brody's crab, even though there was real temptation to leave them to fend for themselves and curl up in a fetal position under my bed with a bag of Cheetos and watch Netflix for the next 14 years.

The Holy Spirit gave me grace. He gave me endurance and strength when I was weak. He gave me Scripture. He reminded me of the importance of J and B's hearts and the insignificance of a chaotic kitchen and sticky floors and a weird garden flag and a mountain of pillows on my living room. He is my ever-present help during times of trouble, and tonight was one of those.

So today, my "thankful thing" is definitely the Holy Spirit.

"And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." Isaiah 30:21

So precious!!

This afternoon, during Jasper's nap time, I heard him softly singing to himself, "what can wash away my sins? Nuffin' but da bwood of Jesus..."

I'm so thankful for God's grace in Jasper's life.

fall :)

Fall... my most favorite time of year! :o) what a sweet day we had today. It was not without its occasional hiccups here and there, but it was overall marked by sweetness. We had peaches and oatmeal for breakfast, went and got a few pumpkins from the vegetable stand down the street, got Dunkin Donuts, went trick-or-treating at the Avenue (Jasper got his face painted like a dinosaur), celebrated sweet Jackson's birthday and remembered sweet Toby's life, and now we're cozy on the couch watching the Buckeyes. We're very blessed- God is good to us!

a few random updates

On Tuesday of this week, Brody said his first 2-word combo! I know this sounds minor, but it is quite exciting for me to see his little mind and speech continuing to develop. he said, and I quote, "Buh-bye, Dada." when Andrew was leaving to go to school. It was precious.

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The other day, I was getting Brody dressed for the day and Jasper came ambling into the room. Jasper casually glanced at Brody and then stopped dead in his tracks. He just stood there, staring at Brody. I just stood there, staring at Jasper, wondering what on earth was going on.

Finally, Jasper said, "Wow!"

and I said, "Wow what, buddy?"

and Jasper said, "Wow! Brody looks really cool today."

I looked at Brody, who was wearing blue sweat pants and a long-sleeved blue onesie that looked like it's been around since 1980.

and I said, "He does?!"

Jasper said, "Oh yes! He looks really cool. He's got a PENGUIN on his shirt!!"

I said, "he does?!?!?!"

Jasper walked over and pointed at this tiny, itty bitty, tiny little graphic of a penguin on the bottom corner of brody's shirt... and said,

"oh wow! Brody looks so cool! He's the coolest friend I have!"

and then Jasper turned around, walked out of the room, and mumbled to himself, "oh wow. Brody is finally starting to look cool. He's REALLY cool. He's gotta penguin on his shirt. He's so cool!"

and I turned to Brody and said, "well how 'bout that!? your big brother thinks you're cool!"

and Brody said, with the biggest grin on his face, "Hiiiiiiiii!" I kinda think he knows what we were talking about. :o)

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Jasper has started teaching me a lot about animal habitats (his words, not mine). He loves animals and their habitats and is always either asking me questions about their habitats or telling me things, such as...
- butterflies taste things with their feet
- blue whales are over 100 feet long
- beaver dams are strong enough to keep out the strongest of animal predators.
- etc, etc

What I find particularly endearing is that whenever we're driving and pass a pond or lake, he always pipes up from the backseat and says, "I think there's a coral reef in there!!"

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The last few weeks, we've had some sweet opportunities to minister to friends through a variety of ways. I'm thankful the Lord is giving us these opportunities!

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I've started canning for the long, hard fall and winter months ahead (haha! j/k. GA winters are the perfect blend of cold but not too cold). But I really have started canning again. I have a mother's helper who comes over once a week to help with the boys and I've used that opportunity to start canning a lot of things. Over the last 3 weeks, I've made/canned ham and white bean stew, black bean and vegetable stew, green pepper relish, and apple butter. I can't wait for next week's canning!!

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You know you've married a good man when your husband tells you that your Fantasy Football QB is having a bye week and suggests that you might want to substitute a new QB in, even though your husband is your opponent in this week's fantasy game. If that's not true love, I don't know what is! Andrew Meade, you're a darn good man!

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I've been taking line dancing classes at the Y and it has been a blast!! An absolute blast!!! Oh my, I love it so much!! This upcoming Saturday evening is the monthly line dancing party from 7-11pm at the local community center and I think Andrew and I are going. I can't wait! As my sweet elderly instructor said, "It's a dancing party, not a drinking party, so be ready to dance the roof off!"

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I had the sweet opportunity to lead my small group at ladies' bible study on Tuesday, and I LOVED it. as I was sitting there, leading the small group, I just felt so thankful to the Lord for the opportunity and like this is what I was made to do. It somewhat goes along with the opportunities I've had recently to minister to friends. It's all kinda wrapped up in ministry to fellow women. I love it!

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Most evenings, Andrew, the boys, and I share prayer requests during dinner time. When Andrew's gone at school, the boys and I still do it. Most evenings, especially when Andrew's gone, my prayer request is that God would help me not to sin. I then go on to explain to the boys that I am feeling tempted to be impatient or selfish but that I know God can change my heart and I ask them to pray that God would help me and I wouldn't sin.

Well, that has apparently stuck in Jasper's mind. Quite well. Because now, all he ever prays for is for mommy to stop sinning so much. In his sunday school class, he shares this as his prayer request. If he prays for breakfast, it goes something like this: "Dear God, thank you for this food and please help mommy to not sin so much. Amen." He shares it with his friends when they come over. He prays for it. A lot.

Yesterday morning at breakfast, I got a text from a dear friend and told Jasper, "Hang on buddy. I need to pray about something real fast." And I closed my eyes and silently started praying for what my friend texted me about. In the background, I hear Jasper tell Brody, "Don't worry, Brody, mommy's just praying that she won't sin so much today."

It made me laugh, but it also humbled me on the spot, and I instantly started praying that God would keep me from temptation and sin. Out of the mouths of babes. :o)