Thankful Thursday

Welcome to this week's episode of Thankful Thursday.

Bret and I are coming out of our latest big trial, with the possibility of sinking right back down to the bottom. Things are looking much more hopeful than they did a when this whole business started, but we're not going to breathe that sigh of relief until we're sure it's over. That will hopefully be sometime early next week. Very thankfully, we won't be left in limbo for too long because there are few things I handle worse than being left in the unknown.

While I wish that this had never happened in the first place, I am thankful for some aspects. I'm grateful for the good things that trials bring. Hard times remind me what's really important. They remind me that I'm not in control and I need to be humble. They remind me who really is in charge. They remind me that this life is just a short time in my existence and there are better things to come if I make it through. And they remind me just how awesome family is and how great friends are.

Not fun, but definitely not worthless. Today I am thankful for trials. And very thankful that this one is nearly (knock on wood, praying crazy hard:)) over.

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday

By golly it's Thursday again! I am making a mad dash to get the house packed up by Saturday (Friday night, really) and it's a crazy place here. No, I did not waste last week not packing. I still packed a box or two a day:)

And honestly, I'm nearly done. But it seems that packing those last things always takes forever. I've been packing the kitchen for a week and there's no visible change!

And despite all the junk that's involved in this whole mess of moving, I am thankful today (and most every other day, too:)) that we have this opportunity to move. It's been stressful. It's been expensive. It hasn't been what we planned, and we've definitely had our share of bombs dropped on us. It's been something I really don't want to do again.

But it is such a great opportunity.

We've had a great time here and are very grateful that we were able to get this house that has served us well over the years. And now we are very much looking forward to the next one.

What are you thankful for today?

Already?!?

Holy cow, it's Thursday already! I've been having a lot of trouble keeping track of the days this week. On Monday I thought it was Tuesday, on Tuesday I thought it was Monday, on Wednesday I thought it was Tuesday, and all of a sudden it's Thursday. I can't keep up with myself.

And so with all this craziness going on, it's only natural that I would be thankful today for the opportunity to have a slight lessening of pressure on my to-do list. We are moving. We were going to move this weekend and I was stressing about getting everything packed on time. Now we're not moving until next weekend. A whole extra week to pack!

Granted, I'll probably get to this same time next week and be freaking out because half the house is still needing to get into boxes. Once we got word that we had an extra week, I stopped packing because I don't want to feel like I'm camping in my house for a whole week. But when to start again? How to plan things just right so that I don't pack up something we don't need right now, but will need in three days? Moving is ridiculously crazy.

I am so thankful for this extra week.

What are you thankful for on this sunny Thankful Thursday?

Before I was a mom...

Before I was a mom, I knew what to expect.

Before I was a mom, I knew I'd be so great as a mother.

Before I was a mom, I'd get all warm and fuzzy at the sight of a baby sock. Seriously.

Before I was a mom, I knew what it meant to be tired.

Before I was a mom, I remembered everything; names, dates, facts, appointments-everything.

Before I was a mom, I was sooo patient.

Before I was a mom, I had conversations in my head with people whose children were screaming in public about how to properly handle the situation and raise their children right because they were obviously messing up big time.

Before I was a mom, I was so busy. School, church, apartment, work, social interaction. Whew! The to-do list was so long!

.....................................

Now I am a mom and I know that I the only thing I can expect is the unexpected.

Now I am a mom and I pray daily that my kids turn out well in spite of me.

Now I am a mom and I fight the urge to scream when an odd number of socks come out of the dryer...And I do a happy dance when I find a missing sock hidden in a folded sheet.

Now I am a mom and I KNOW what it means to be tired. People ask me how I am and I no longer reply fine. My standard reply is, "tired."

Now I am a mom and the only way I'm going to remember something is if I have two solid minutes of absolute quiet so I can search my brain for it (and even that's not a guarantee). You can guess how often that happens.

Now I am a mom and I struggle moment by moment for the necessary patience. I was no where near patient in my pre-mom days.

Now I am a mom and the conversations are still there. Except they only last a few sentences before I realize what I'm doing, shake my head at my stupidity, cast a commiserating smile at the poor embarrassed parents of a public screamer and get my focus back on my own screamers and embarrassment.

Now I am a mom and I realize that I did not know the meaning of busy. There's normal person busy and then there is mom-busy. The to-do list is infinitely long and I am trying to come to terms with the fact that I will never be able to cross everything off.

I have only been a mom for four years. Four short years. Not even a fifth of my life. And yet those four years have brought me more and taught me more than the previous years combined. It's absolutely incredible how much I've learned in four years. It's even more amazing how much joy I've experienced in four years. Though there are things I miss about the years before I was a mom, I don't ever want to go back to them again. These years as a mom are immeasurably better!

This post was written as part of MamaBlogga's August Group Writing Project. Come join in the fun!

Thankful Thursday

I'll tell you what I'm not thankful for. I'm not thankful for the wind. I should be; it's probably very necessary for weather cycles or something like that, but I still don't like it. I love a nice breeze, especially on a hot day like today. But the wind always manages to get hair in my mouth, dirt in my eyes, and the neighbor's trash in my yard. Don't like it.

I am thankful for most everything else though. Today I am thankful that my husband and I forgot about some paperwork that needed to be signed and sent off today (we're moving!). Forgetfulness is usually not something to be thankful for. But today it was! It gave me an excuse to drive up to his work and have lunch as a family. He works 40ish minutes away, so lunchtime get-togethers are rare. We ate lunch outside and played on the grass. Jonzy and I had rolling down the hill races. All three boys laughed their heads off when Bret started using a squirt gun on them. The sun was shining, the grass was green, a breeze (bordering on wind, but not quite) kept it from being too hot, and it was a lovely afternoon. Hooray for forgetfulness:)

What are you thankful for this Thursday?