December Dublin Update

He is stumping around on that cast like it isn't even there. Hopefully just a few more weeks and he will be free from his peg-leg. But even through his dis-ability, Dublin is bravely:

*enjoying his pedi's...



*loving the snow...



With fur like that, he doesn't feel a bit chilly and heads for the biggest piles of snow to bury his face in.!

*has taken up yoga...



Uhmm-ouch!!!! How can that be comfortable?!

Today I am...

thankful for the book of Psalms!

I love how I often find just the right wording that has been escaping me as I try to communicate with God or wrap my brain around something my heart is feeling.

When my heart catches sight of a special phrase, it is like a gift directly to me from the Lord, through the ages, through the fog of my own issues, right into my soul.

God's Word is amazing!

Dublin Update

Dublin has wisely decided to embrace his injury as an opportunity to fine tune his already stellar "pathetic puppy" look. Check out the droop in his eyes. Classic!



Anyone who comes within his range of vision is the "chosen one"...the one who may stop everything to sit at his side and stroke his fur and say sweet nothings to him like:

Who is the best puppy in the world? You are!
You are so brave!
Do you want a treat?

Admittedly, I am the worst offender.

And to top it off, he has now received mail in our mailbox...addressed to him...someone actually paid for a stamp to mail him get well cards. You can see below how excited he is about his mail as he "reads" his cards... Oh wait, dogs can't read! Silly me!



And he has received two chew toys from a family at church. And organic doggie treats from a neighbor to top things off.

I have one word for it...spoiled!!

But I am so thankful that he is still with us! And while I think it is funny how we are all treating him, I do think it is sweet that people care!

Nothing Trumps Forgiveness

I am, in fact, a fairly forgiving person. I have taught lessons on forgiving others. My children are expected to communicate forgiveness to each other.

Forgiveness is what we, as Christians, have experienced and so it is what we, as Christians, are supposed to do. The whole "forgive as the Lord forgave you" idea.

And yet I am also a loyal person. Loyalty, most will agree, is a great character quality.

But on this past Sunday, God showed me that a tiny seed of bitterness had grown silently in my heart because my sense of loyalty trumped forgiveness. I am so thankful today that God used that sermon to reveal how misguided that unspoken notion of mine really was. Loyalty is a nice thing, but nothing should ever trump true forgiveness!

Yesterday morning I went through my own process of personal confession. Then I went to work on the forgiveness part, painstakingly uprooting each ugly little shoot from that original seed of bitterness. It wasn't easy. I was afraid of letting go of something that has been genuinely difficult over the last couple of years. Afraid of releasing control, as if I ever had control over the original situation in the first place. Afraid that I would fail to completely remove it all...fail to truly forgive...and find myself back where I was before.

As I put my thoughts and prayers on paper, I also made a list of each grievance that I had not forgiven in this particular situation. And then I pulled out our shredder, breathed, prayed, and watched each of those grievances get ground up into confetti.

And I felt freedom.

Last night I ran into someone closely connected to the situation...in fact, one of those old shoots that I had just uprooted. Not a coincidence, I think, but certainly a test of that new freedom of forgiveness. And by the grace of God, because of His power to forgive, I was able to not just pretend to be nice. I was nice from a genuine heart. And afterwards, my mind was able to move on to other things without my thought patterns taking old routes into old grievances.

I experienced freedom.

I am so thankful today that nothing trumps forgiveness!!

Dublin broke his leg...

The poor puppy was playing and jumping after a toy and somehow landed wrong...and broke his leg. Big D and I weren't at the house when this happened, which was very frustrating, but in the midst of that frustration, I still have some things I can be thankful for. It is amazing how many I can think of when I just try!

I am thankful J was at a friend's house when this happened...it would have been really hard on her to have seen Dublin in pain and panic!

I am thankful that D3 was home, and for his calm and capable handling of a terribly traumatic situation. He will truly be a great veterinarian some day!!

I am thankful for M's attempts to clean the carpet in my living room after the incident, making my job much easier then it would have been. (Dog's, according to my future-vet son, evacuate their bowels when in crisis. Dublin did alot of evacuating!)

I am thankful for C's willing heart to make and serve lunch to her brother and his 2 guests while I finished cleaning the carpet.

I am thankful that though the vet wanted to do surgery, she was still willing to give the cast a try. (So we are praying like crazy! Surgery isn't an option for us.)

I am thankful that God hears our prayers regarding our puppy.

Does God care when animals get hurt? Absolutely! "Yet not one of them is forgotten by God." Matt 12:6

Give Thanks In All Circumstances?!

"...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thess. 5:18

RIght! To say the least, this isn't always easy for a pessimist/realist like myself. But I can be a creative realist, so when I put some thought into it I can usually formulate a fairly decent thankful attitude.

When the scale is saying ugly things to me when I step on it, I am thankful the only Trick or Treat candy left in the kids' bags are of the non-chocolate variety.

When I dread the ordeal of parent/teacher conferences this morning, I can be thankful because it means I don't homeschool anymore. ( Hey, it was great for the season God called me to it, but no one can deny that it is challenging.)

But what about the big stuff in life.

Like my two friends who just this week were diagnosed with cancer, one breast and the other lung/brain. They both have children. They both have husbands and parents and friends...how on EARTH can there be anything in these circumstances to give thanks? Come to find out, there isn't anything on earth that can accomplish that goal.

As I backtrack my way up the page of the Bible, looking for some context, my eyes find I Thess. 5:10:

"He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him."

And then what I have just read begins to sink into my heart.

"He died for us..." (!!!)

"so that... we may live..." (!!!!)

"...together with Him." (!!!!!!)

I am not thankful for cancer or my friends' pain. I hate to even think about what their family is feeling, having been there with D's mother's diagnosis several years ago and her death two years ago. But I can be thankful that both of these ladies have Heavenly help in the form of a Heavenly Father. These women can live their life together with His Son, Jesus Christ, regardless of the swirling circumstances that surround them, including cancer cells, and Dr. office smells, and countless medicines to ingest.

Randomly Thankful...

So I am being all thankful lately. And there is just so much to be thankful for that it would seem like the easiest thing to share those thoughts with you in deep, meaningful ways.

But the most random, non-deep, things pop in my head so here is a little sampling from the last few days...

*Thank goodness I don't rake leaves for a living. (My shoulders are still sore.)

*Thankfully, the dog hasn't growled at Jenna in 2 weeks so we aren't going to have to ship Dublin off to that "farm in the country" to the jolly farmer who actually likes to keep dogs that growl at little children. ( A long story that may lead to unthankfulness so I will leave it at that. It seems to be working out!)

*Thankyou, Kelloggs, for ready-made cereal. (As opposed to Kellie's homemade granola recipe, which is delicious AND healthy but my kids eat it like candy so I am continually running out of it. It is on my to-do list today.)

*I am so thankful that God created vanilla beans and cows and coffee beans so that I could put flavored creamer in my coffee and stay awake through the missions meeting last night. (Seriously, I really wanted to be there and be awake, I just needed a little help.)

For His love...

Earlier this week I posted on thankfulness "for love", specifically the love my husband and I share.

(And this is my formal apology for being so sappy. I just couldn't help it.)

Our earthly state of marital bliss is mostly for real, by the grace of God.
But it isn't perfect...our human love has flaws because we are flawed.

Today I am posting my thankfulness for His love.
The perfect love...an enduring love of continual perfection because God is perfect.

"You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
your are my God and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
His love endures forever."

Psalm 118: 28, 29

Abundant Goodness

Psalm 145:7

"They will celebrate Your abundant goodness..."

Take a look at some of God's abundant goodness poured out on us just a few weeks ago:

Four sweet crabapple trees that will blossom in the Spring, bear darling little red cluster berries, and then in the Fall flaunt red and gold leaves! This picture is from our deck and so you can't see that they are really 10 ft. tall.



An enormous oak, again with gorgeous Fall foliage! Darril's Dad just so happened to be in town to help plant this 700 lb. tree.



And this beautiful maple!



They were all free of charge...a local nursery owner/friend who goes to our church was rotating stock and we got to be the recipients of these wonderful trees that "needed to be moved". God is so abundant and good to us!

68 degrees

How is it that 67 degrees is a delightful temperature for a summer evening, but a Fall 67 degrees is chilly-hands/cold-nose temperature in my house?!

At the moment, I am feeling thankful I can walk over to the thermostat and bump it up to a balmy 68 degrees!

For love...

"...for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned."
Song of Songs 8:6,7



This picture was taken last month when we were all dressed up for a wedding. I love going to weddings with D. He officiates my dream wedding...the kind of wedding I would do if we had it to do all over again. And weddings remind me every time of how God graciously prepared us for each other, brought our lives together, and has continued to bind our hearts together for these past 20 years.

I am thankful for love, specifically for my love.

"This is my lover, this is my friend..."
Song of Songs 5:16