Giving Thanks!

On today, the day before Thanksgiving, before it gets all crazy and wild tomorrow (cause you know it always does!) I am gonna reflect on many reasons I am thankful.

I am thankful for Jesus Christ. I am thankful that He died on the cross for my sins and yours. It is in Him that we can have a new life. I am thankful that He can forgive us of ALL of our sins. I am thankful that I grew up in a family that taught me to love the Lord!

I am thankful for my kids. I am thankful that they love the Lord. They are the light in my life everyday. Maybe there are days when they absolutely drive me insane, but I am thankful that they CAN drive me insane, that means I am not there yet all by myself!

I am thankful for my parents. Although it was a rocky road to where you guys are right now, I look at you and see hope for all the rest of us! I am thankful that you guys love me unconditionally, because I am sure that I give you reason not too sometimes! :) I love you both so much!

I am thankful for my sisters and brothers. I am thankful that we are all so close now, Lord knows we weren't when we were younger! I am thankful for your friendships and your support. I always know that I can call on you no matter what! I love you big goobs!

I am thankful for all of my friendships. I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people that actually claim me as a friend. :) I am thankful for the Flip Flop Club! You girls have put a light in my life that I thought had gone out. I feel so blessed to be apart of the most wonderful group of ladies ever. I am also thankful for all my blogging friends. You may not know it but you have all encouraged me so much through your kind words and your own posts. Thanks for that!

I am thankful for my health and the health of my children.

I am thankful that God let me go through some really tough times because He knew that I would grow and become the strong, independent woman that I am. I am thankful that He gave me a talent that I could use to provide for my family (and enjoy it!). I am thankful for all of my customers throughout the years, all of your support has made it all worth while!

I am thankful for my church family both CBC and St. Helena. You know what I need when I need it. I am thankful for J-Miah for making me cry every single Sunday morning with your lessons. I truly think that God has blessed you with a great gift. I am sure that you are speaking to me and only me every Sunday.

I am thankful for our home and our freedom. I am thankful for the rain and the sun. I am thankful for fun times and bad.

I am so blessed! Happy Thanksgiving! So, what are you thankful for?

Thanks

I am so thankful for all of your prayers the past couple of days. I have felt a real peace. I am still not sure what that means but I will take it and run for now. I had forgotten how much better I used to feel after blogging about things. You guys are a great bunch, real prayer warriors! So thanks!

I am waking up kinda tired this morning because we had some pretty bad thunderstorms here last night. I slept but it was not good, sound sleep. I could hear the wind blowing through the trees. I am always afraid when it storms at night because what if a tornado or something develops. We live near the Marine Corps Air Station and I kept listening for the tornado alarm to start sounding, it was that bad. My yard, which I raked and cleaned up this weekend, has pine cones and pine straw all over. It even blew my flag down. My chairs out front are blown over. I even think I heard hail falling for a second (hope my van is alright!). So, I laid in my bed last night with Jackson snuggled up beside me and prayed for our safety. And it felt really good to pray and feel it. They are saying that we are going to have more bad weather this morning.

For lunch today I am going to my kids school and have a Thanksgiving Feast with them. This year I am eating with Jess. I have to alternate every year to be fair. The kids always love it when I come to their school. All of the kids know my name so my kids think that I am famous at their school. It's kinda cute! So, off to work I go with a hat on my head (the rain makes my hair frizzy). Hope you all have a great Thursday and Friday. Tomorrow I am in a golf tournament on Parris Island with my sister, Lori, and our friend Jessica. It is going to be a lot of fun. Then tomorrow night I have a small show. Saturday night the flip flop club is having dinner at my other sister, Amy's house. We are going to start working on the float for the Christmas parade. That is my weekend wrap up so far. Have a blessed day!

Tough Times

I have been going through some "stuff" lately. I am having a really hard time dealing with my situation in life. I have been second guessing some big decisions I have made in the past. Which has in turn brought out a lot of very old feelings that I had pushed way deep down inside. Things that I really didn't want to remember, things I thought I had forgotten. And there is a lot of hurt down there.

Tonight I went and had dessert with a really good friend (oops...shhhh) , she helped me out a lot. She asked me, of course, if I had been praying. I said yes, but I had felt very distant. It is like I start to pray and I feel empty, so I stop. I have always tried to do the right thing by everyone else and in everyone else's eyes. That is just the person that I am! And it hurts me really bad when I feel like I have let other's down. But I am only human. I have always tried to do what everybody wants me to do. Maybe that is my problem. I tried it their way and I am still not happy. I really am not sure what to do next.

I am a much stronger person now than I ever was before. I have come a really long way! Ask anyone who really knows me! But these struggles are not going away! They are right up in my face 24/7. Maybe I still have a ways to go. I am hurt and disappointed and I am tired of feeling like I have been walked all over! This is hurt that I thought I had buried a long time ago. Perhaps I just tucked it away, not too sure! But now I am trying to take a step back to look at the big picture. I will get through this time and come out on the other side with my feet planted firmly on the ground. I have really great friends that I know pray for me. I have an awesome family that I know I don't spend enough time with. Sometimes it is just easier to hide than to face the ones you feel like you have let down and disappointed. So I am gonna pray more and I am not going to stop until I can hear Him talking back to me. I am gonna pry the devil's hands from my ears.

On a much happier note.....I lost 4.8 pounds this week in WW. I am down 36.2 now. I do feel really good about that! I am getting compliments everyday! That really keeps me going. My kids tell me all the time that I look nice and that I am skinny! I never ever thought that I would be called skinny EVER!

A quickie post....

I am sitting here and thought I would try to do a quick post. Things just have not slowed down for me lately and I think that they are only going to get busier till at least Christmas. I am very thankful for that but am just so pooped.

We are planning a float for our hometown Christmas parade...a Carolina Rags float. It is going to be too cute. We have lots of god ideas. All of my really good friends, also known as the Flip-Flop Club, are helping to put it all together. Have I told you guys about our Flip-Flop Club yet? Well, these ladies are the best friends I have ever had. Their are 9 of us. We all do WW together and we all hold each other accountable for everything. We get together once a month at one of our houses and have an awesome time. The one hosting cooks us all a WW friendly dinner and dessert. Then we play games and just act silly! We also go to Applebee's (WW menu) once a month after our Monday WW meeting. We are always getting together for whatever reason we can come up with...ie...shopping, golfing, shopping, golfing...oh and trick or treating. I am so thankful and blessed that God brought all of these ladies in my life (well, 2 of them are my sisters so I guess they have been in my life since the beginning).

Anyways, back to the float...it is going to be really classy, cute. Since we are the Flip-Flop Club we are going to have lots of flip-flop decorations. I can't wait. Plus, I hope to get my business name out there a little more. It's not all about the fun...it's about business too...a little. I will be sure to post pictures of the parade and float after the 3rd of December.

Oh, and in WW I have lost a total of 31.4 pounds so far. I feel so good about myself now. I have some of my skinny sisters' hand-me-downs. Sunday I wore Lori's size 10 gaucho jeans to church. Did you hear me...I said size 10. I was a size 18 (probably bigger, though I would not admit it!) when I started this the end of June! Mostly though I am wearing 12 and 14's. I never though that losing weight would be so much fun. These girls have really made it FUN! Thank you guys...you all know who you are. (Aren't you proud of me...I am finally blogging!)

But I am afraid that for now this is all I can do. Lots of work to do. I am supposed to be going to lunch with an old friend. Then to the gym, then back to the home studio to sew, then church tonight, then back home to sew...you get the picture, right? But I love it! I really would not have it any other way. The busier I am, the better!