Since Tuesday morning, my back has been oh-so-sore. I have needed to lie down quite a bit, and can’t stand up quite straight; I’ve been shuffling along like a little old lady. I haven’t really been able to lift anything or do my usual motherly, wifely work. In the course of this little trial, some things have come to my attention for which I am thankful:
- I am thankful to my children for “taking up the slack” so that I can rest without fretting about things not getting done.
- I am thankful to my husband for bringing me cups of coffee, and for not telling me that I sure look like a little old lady, shuffling along, bent over!
- Thank you, Rebecca, for cooking a wonderful dinner today: turkey (Rick prepared that and lifted it into the oven.), whipped sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, and stuffing! Nummy!
- Thank you, Sarah, for the delicious gingerbread with lemon sauce. Very tasty!
- Thank you, husband and children, for your heart-felt sympathy! I’m sure it is helping me to heal sooner. 🙂
- Thank you, Lydia and Seth, for helping Rebecca to keep the house neat, and for helping so willingly, without many reminders at all!
- Thank you, Philip, for volunteering to drive Kayla to work tomorrow at 5:30am, so that I don’t have to do it.
- Thank you, Michael, for helping, too, with clean-up. I know you’re busy with school work.
- Thank you, Debra, for bringing me breakfast in bed this morning, so I could take it easy.
- Thank you, Kayla, for helping here and there at my request. Also, I’ve enjoyed watching your latest art project evolve!
- I am thankful for Lucy cozy cat to sleep by my feet when I rest.
- I am thankful for interesting books to read while I’m down: You, the Owner’s Manual, Positive Discipline, and Your Child’s Growing Mind.
- I am thankful to the Lord for the love which He has put in our hearts for one another.
- I am thankful for those early years of homeschooling, when I worried that I wasn’t doing enough, and it turns out (at least according to the books which I am reading on child development), that I did the right! things for the children’s optimal development, emotionally and intellectually. And, I enjoyed that time, too!
- I am thankful to the Lord for food, clothing, shelter, and safety from harm.
- I am thankful for the interesting class I’ve been taking at Bellingham Technical College. I’m learning a lot, and doing a lot of thinking.
- I am thankful we have enough money to pay for music lessons, art supplies, books, skating lessons – the things which enrich the homeschool experience.
- I’m thankful for Internet access. It’s a great way to keep in touch, and I’m enjoying all your blogs!
- I know I’m thankful for many more things, but it’s late, so Goodnight!
P.S. – Laura, you and Darren are busy building your own life together, so you’re not as involved in our day-to-day life here, but please remember I’m thankful for you, too. Thank you for suggesting the author Ross Greene, who has so many insights into helping children learn to obey. You know I miss you, my latte/mocha buddy!
You’re welcome for the dinner, Momma, I had fun making it. 🙂 I’m very sorry that your back has been hurting so much though! 🙁
Mom I really hope you start feeling better soon. I had to laugh at the part about Dad kindly taking coffee to you and consoling you by saying that you look like an old lady shuffling around. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” When I get laid up in bed because I am so sick I try to think, like you, about all the good things God has given. And it is really at those times when we become close to invalids that we realize how much those God has given us really do care. Like last winter when I completely lost my voice for a week everyone catered to me, trying really hard to understand my needs and making an effort to involve me in what was going on. I am thankful that all of us have been able to give you peace of mind as far as keeping the house in order, etc.
I am SO sorry you are suffering with a bad back, Joyce. I sincerely hope
it will be mended soon, and that you will soon start to feel some relief.
Your “thankful” post was a blessing, and a great tribute to a lovely family.
May God be merciful and heal you from this present affliction. I will
pray to that end. Take care.
joycee…look into bromelain dear sister great anti inflammatory w/o the GI upset :).
I am thankful for the blessing of each moment… to treat each moment as a loving gift from the devine..no matter what it is perceived as a blessing or no. I am thankful for the thought of “Namo” = I bow. As whatever comes to my door is a gift from the devine..welcoming the guest. Walking through life as a positive “yes” rather than the negative “no”. That every good gift comes down from the father of lights..whom there is no change, nor shadow due to turning (paraphrased).
Thankful for my children ~ for the lessons we have taught each other.
Thankful for my family ~ for the lessons we have taught each other.
Thankful for my friends ~ see above 🙂 !
Thankful for the devine light that never goes out even through the darkest hours.
Thankful for the loss of a wife that taught me how to love unconditionally even myself (love your neighbor as you love yourself) i.e. setting loving boundaries 🙂
Thankful for the dis-ease that took so many years away from my life ( as a robber ) taught me to be loving and humble in the midst of even the most fearful of times and homelessness.
Thankful for the breath and light to norish my soul.
Thankful to be full of thanksgiving and cheer. 🙂
Thank you, John, for your comment and for the advice about bromelain. We will try that, for sure.
Why do you say *devine* rather than *divine*? Just wondering.
I am thankful that YOU are thankful for the difficult circumstances of your life, that you have not allowed yourself to be poisoned by bitterness. Are you thankful to the LORD, or just a generally cheerful person?
Love,
Joyce
I write “devine” rather than “divine” because I am blessed with error as all men, and suffer from spellonese in this case 🙂 . What constitutes going through life with a thankful heart? Can it be that I was wonderfully and fearfully made? Can it be I was a tabla la rasa to be written upon by lifes’ circumstance, and be the product of my environment? Am I blessed with the indwelling of the devine as peculiar, or all things equally imbued with divine essence ( only perception constitutes recognition ) ? I don’t know how to say it other than… when I was beyond all that constitutes me – I was loved/held up and sustained by the breath that holds all things together. That love has forever been my light, and I used to try to confine that love to the precepts/doctrines of religion, but found that “religion” fell short of the divine. Love is a natural state with the sweet, loving creator who loves us children with a parental love. Religions tend to dictate the perception of the individual in relationship to the divine…how dare they! Yeshua didn’t tolerate the religious of his day, and those religious took his life. Often I consider the thought “…where two or three are gathered…” ~ this doesn’t lend one to consensual validation, and the writing was considered heretical from the OT as the christian faith broke away from the jewish faith. So… basically my dear sister I can give you the edification that the love of the divine is greater than all types of efforts of the creation… I am so happy in that thought. ^:)^