Category Archives: Thanksgivings

Dad: Nearing food coma. Me: devising a plan to steal the last roll. Danielle: I hate the world. Lacey: Life is beautiful!

I wanted to write something epic today, on the holiday centered around being thankful.  But I have written so many Thankful Thursdays that I think all the epic has left me!  I have no epic, I only have simple.  Today, I’m thankful for so so much.  But in the words of my friend, Stephanie, “my ultimate thanks goes to God.”  For without Him, I would have nothing to be thankful for.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday today and that you have much to be thankful for.  I’ll  leave you with a poem…

Thanksgiving Poem (author unknown)

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn’t sleep.
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned, the dark meat and white.
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation,
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
And gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round
“Til all of a sudden…I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.
But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees…
Happy Eating To All..Pass The Cranberries, Please.

***
May your stuffing be tasty, your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes n’ gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious.. may your pies take the prize.
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS!

Do you know the hymn “Count Your Blessings?”  You can watch the video to hear it, but it’s the song running through my head as I count my blessings over the past couple weeks.

1. I’m going to give the big one first. Dennis got a job!  He starts mid-November and things will be extra-super-duper tight until he gets his first paycheck, but boy howdy are we both glad he’s going back to work!  It’s with the same company that laid him off and they’re happy to get him back–when he went in for the interview it was like a family reunion.  Anyway, he was so desperate he was about to about to apply for the job there that he really didn’t want as nothing else was working out, but right in the nick of time they started hiring for a project he’s done there before and enjoyed.  We’re still hoping that one of the better prospects he had will work out down the road, but at least he’s got a job in the mean time.  *Celebrate good times, come on!*

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

2.  We were blessed to witness the baptism of another person who decided to give their life over to the Lord.  Nick wanted to do it old-school style so after the evening service a couple weeks ago, we all drove out to El Dorado Lake and man…something about the natural setting…it was definitely a night to remember.  Our group gathered in a circle with flashlights, sang “Oh Happy Day,” and then watched in hushed silence as we witnessed Nick become our brother in Christ on his happy day.  Afterward we said a prayer and welcomed Nick into the family with hugs, each of us getting quite wet in the process!  A very happy day indeed.  (Speaking of baptism, another blessing is that we finally have our own baptistry at our church! We always went to other churches for baptisms before.  But ours was finished yesterday! I will have to share pictures soon.)

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

Ron Halbrook teaching in the Philippines (he has made 48 missionary trips since the mid 1990’s).

3.  I was also blessed by brother Ron Halbrook’s gospel meeting last week.  A gospel meeting is when a guest preacher comes to hold a week-long meeting with lessons each night on a particular subject, and Ron’s lesson this time was “World Religions,” which taught me a lot about religions I’d never researched before.  Anyway, my supervisor wouldn’t allow me to start earlier or later so that I could make the meetings each night, and because she forced me to brainstorm beyond what I usually would, I finally thought of working a split shift and taking a long lunch to make the meetings.  And she approved it!  So because of that, I am now able to make Wednesday night Bible studies again because I know I can ask to work a split shift those nights.  I love it!  I just went to my first Bible study in several months last night, and it was wonderful.  I need all the help I can get when it comes to studying the Bible, and I’m relieved to no longer be on my own.  I love how God works and it’s so fun to look back and see how He has led you a certain direction without you even realizing it.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

4.  I’m incredibly thankful for all the people who have stepped up to help me out with raising money for Miss Suzie.  If I told you the stories of these people, your jaw would drop.  Nearly every one of them has something big going on in their life, whether it is doing homeschooling and daycare (yes, at the same time!) with kids ranging in age from babies to teenagers, getting ready for their own cookbook to release the week after the bake sale, grieving over the loss of a father and grandmother both within the last month AND training for a marathon AND raising money for cancer research, are two weeks past their due date and just a wee bit excited for the birth of their first child, or are just busy with a full-time job and the minutia of everyday life, I’m just amazed at the goodness and generosity of these people.  I hope a lot of people will visit and bid on their goodies on the day of the online bake sale to validate their efforts! And of course, to raise bucks for Suzie’s sucky health-lol.  (Update on Suzie–the doctors are now thinking her liver might be in trouble as well as her gallbladder but she still isn’t well enough for surgery and is going in next week for more tests.  The good news is she is starting to lose the 18 lbs of water weight she put on from her low potassium.  She is so very thankful for everyone’s help!)

What blessings can you count today?

Wow.  You guys.  Seriously.  I’m nearly at a loss for words here.

First of all, thank you so much for the encouraging comments and emails following my “Thumbful Thursday” post last week, and for sharing your own ups and downs with me.  We all suffer & struggle daily with something and I felt like we had a little group therapy session together, which was made positive by also noting the “thumbs ups” in our lives at the moment.

What I didn’t expect was this, which came in the mail on Friday morning:

I was expecting my cell phone that I won on eBay, and I looked at Dennis, dumbfounded when he brought in a huge box.  I was like, “This can’t be my phone, can it?  They wouldn’t’ sent it in this big of a box, would they?”

He knew by the weight it wasn’t my phone but just told me to open it.  So I did.  Inside was this wrapped red package with a note and I knew right away it was a gift.  I’m quick like that. ;)  As soon as I tore open the note, tears started falling, and they didn’t stop for a while.

You’ve got to be kidding me, right?  Wow.  I mean, wow!  WOW!  Yes, this is more than a little encouragement, Jenna, thank you so much.  I started using it immediately and have already lost four pounds now that I’m back on Body by Vi. Thumbs way up! :)

Now this is when things start to get really ridiculous.  I mean, the blender was too much right?  Who gets a blender in the mail the day after they whine about theirs breaking?  But that’s not all, guys.  Nope.  Last night I came home from work to be greeted by this sight on the kitchen table.

A new personal CD player!  In fact, the exact same one I had that broke! *tears*  This is from a reader I’ve mentioned before here, who also sent me a pie carrier after she won three ribbons for her pies at her state fair using my pie crust recipe.  Apparently her generosity knows no bounds!  Thank you, Kerry!

Dennis told me that with readers like these, I need to start complaining that I have never received a million dollar check in the mail.  Ha! :D

But seriously, how can you not feel that God is really looking out for you when he puts people like this in your life?  I’ve had some thumbs downs this week but right now, they don’t matter.  This is all that matters.  Earlier this week, I put as my Facebook status, “Thanking God for the people He’s brought into my life, and the family I was born into. You make every day better. ♥”  And that pretty much sums it up.

Your turn to gush: what is an act of kindness someone showed you recently, or the biggest one in your life?

So I wanted to try something a little different today.  I have some thanksgivings, and those will be my “thumbs-ups.”  And I have some gripes, aka “thumbs-downs.”  This is something Karen used to do, a blogger I used to follow when I was a weight-loss blogger myself, which I thought was a fun way to share life’s blessings and curve balls, keeping both sides in check without becoming unrealistically positive or annoyingly whiny.  We all have our daily struggles and battles, and while I do like to focus on the positive most of the time, I also like to keep my blog as real as I am, and I’m not always a ray of sunshine. lol!  So let’s try this out…

Thumbs down: The Haus is still unemployed and it seems the longer he is, the tighter our budget gets.  Things keep breaking and they pretty much have to stay that way.  My car hasn’t moved from the driveway in almost a month.  Which means more gas money spent since his ginormous extended bed F150 guzzles it, which means less money available for fixing my car–vicious cycle.  My cell phone broke two weeks ago.  My CD player broke two months ago.  I started Body by Vi and my blender broke…so no more shakes.  (The irony of me finally saving enough to pay $100 for a month’s supply of shakes (that’s two shakes a day) and not being able to replace my blender to drink them is not lost on me.)

Thumbs up: I have a cheapo CD player I bought in 2004 that uses up batteries like nobody’s business, but at least I can still listen to audiobooks at work! Plus I have rechargeable batteries so that cheapo thing can just suck up the juice as fast as it likes…I’ll keep on keepin’ on with the rechargin’.

Thumbs up: The Haus finally has a job prospect that is promising.  PRAYER IS APPRECIATED!

Thumbs up: While typing this, I just won a used phone on eBay for a song!  Woot!

Thumbs down: I missed Aerosmith when they came to Wichita in 2003, I believe it was, and soon after became a huge, HUGE fan and kicked myself black and blue for missing the concert, which by my sister’s account was in-cred-i-ble.

Displaying my Aerosmith love during a night out with some girlfriends.

I didn’t think I’d ever have another chance to see them since they were old fogies-lol.  Several years ago I found out they would be in OKC, just a few hours from us.  I snapped up a couple tickets only to get a refund just a few weeks before the date because Steven Tyler had to have throat surgery and they cancelled much of their tour.

More Aerosmith love, this time decked out for my 80s themed 30th birthday party.

And now, now they are coming to Wichita for the first time in like ten years…and I just can’t go.  This is such a big deal to me that I would go to the concert over fixing my car, but there is just no money to work with.  Seriously a big bummer.  There may have been some tears.

Thumbs up: God brought a very special woman into my life during a time when we both desperately need each other.  We are both dealing with fertility issues and we met for lunch this week and it was just wonderful.  Wonderful.  She’s actually the sister of a best friend but I fought becoming friends with her because that’s what I do with everyone.  I hold them at arm’s length, scared to get too close.  I knew she had fertility issues, and I happened to run into her after she just had a miscarriage after trying for a long time, and the book I was holding in my hands when I saw her, I kid you not, was He Remembers The Barren.  It just was meant to be.  And now she told me that she might be able to get free Aerosmith tickets for us through the base (her husband is in the military).  I’m not holding my breath, but that would be icing on the cake.

Thumbs up: we switched to an insurance plan through my work when Dennis was laid off, and it has been a big blessing in allowing us to get many tests & see doctors for diagnosing our fertility problem with very little cost to us.

Thumbs down: Unfortunately my prescriptions (I have five-two insulins, one thyroid pill, blood glucose testing strips and needles) are twice as much through this insurance, and with money being scarce these days, a $120 increase per month is a big deal.

Thumbs up: open season for switching insurance plans starts next month!

Thumbs up: I started selling my award-winning carrot cakes, and thanks to my cake money, I was able to pay for my prescriptions this month.  The irony that sugar money is paying for my insulin is not lost on me. lol

Thumbs up: Before I say this, I want to preface it with telling you that I consult with Dennis before I share anything about him or us on my blog and I don’t share anything he would be uncomfortable with.  In the case of our fertility issues, he actually has said he’d like to do a guest post from the male perspective when it comes to infertility to help other couples facing it, so he’s obviously pretty comfortable with the subject.  That said, I had several tests (still am wanting one for progesterone, though, as I suspect it’s low) and an ultrasound and it was a relief, and truthfully a shock, to get some good news.  I got an A+ and I didn’t even have to study-haha!  Our situation could be so much worse.  We are waiting on the results of one more blood test but it’s looking like natural supplements will be our main help and I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from women on twoweekwait.com that have overcome problems like ours with supplements alone and had children, so I’m cautiously optimistic even after all these years.  In this instance as well, prayer is so much appreciated!

(P.S. The irony of trying to get pregnant while my husband is jobless and I can’t even afford fix my car is not lost on me.  What can I say, I know it’s going to take a while and I’m not wasting any time!  At the same time, I know everything will happen the way it is supposed to, and I have faith it’s just all going to work out, whether it’s how I hope or not. :))

So that’s three thumbs downs and nine thumbs ups. There are very rarely any times in my life when my thumbs downs will beat the thumbs ups.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with acknowledging upsets, allowing some complaint, as long as it doesn’t turn into the focus.  The silver lining is way too shiny to dismiss. :)

Your turn! What is a thumbs down for you right now, and what thumbs up cancels it out?

Just a bunch of random thanksgivings again.

The biggest one: my banana bread journey is over!! I have to devote a blog to this 6 month journey in finding the perfect banana bread during which I baked 26 loaves, but in the mean time you can check it out on my facebook page here (I know that’s a lot of breads, so just skip to the last photos where we judge them–those are more fun).  There are only 24 in the album because after I posted it, I made two more banana breads and #25 is the winner.  I think. No. It is.  I can’t bake any more banana bread this year or my head will explode.  Kinda like it will explode when I don’t get even a third place ribbon in this category at the fair (the whole reason I set out to find the best banana bread).  A word to the wise: never ever place this much importance on food! It’s not balanced. lol

twoweekwait.com.  If you are trying to get pregnant and go crazy each month during the two weeks you’re waiting to test, you might want to check this website out.  It has really helped me stay grounded, encouraging other women on message boards, commiserating, reading success stories of those who beat odds similar or worse than ours.  I also love to vote on the “do you think I’m pregnant?” stories when I’m starting to obsess on my own “signs.”  Can’t wait for my first appointment with a fertility doc at the end of the month to make sure everything’s good on my end.  I mean, besides my diabetes, but that is under control and my diabetes doc gave me the thumbs up on his end, at least. :)

My co-workers.  They seem to be diminishing quickly, as they move on to other jobs and countries, and now my favoritest favorite friend at work is leaving soon as well (that’s her up there after winning a weight loss contest between a few of us back in 2010–see the below photo for our group “before” shot).  I’m going to be squeezing and hugging and calling the few remaining friends George until they leave me too.  *sniff*

And I’m pretty excited to be joining blogger buddy, Debbi, in doing the Body by Vi weight loss program.  I have gained 15 pounds from emotional eating since March (you can see proof in the one and only picture I shared of myself in the banana bread album–it was the best and you can still see the chub) and though not happy about the fat clothes I have had to buy, I have not found the motivation to do anything about it.  I finally bit the bullet and ordered a month’s supply of the shake mix and am hopeful this will help me get back on track.  I honestly don’t really support diets that use shakes instead of real food, but these are so healthy and it’s gotta be better than what I’m doing now.  If you are interested, check it out here and watch the short video.  If I get two people to sign up, my next month will be free (and so will yours if you do the same)!

Hows about you?  What are you thankful for today/this week?