REASONS TO BE THANKFUL...

Tomorrow is Thankful Thursday and I will have to admit, I had a tough day...But even as I found this day unfolding, I did manage to find several things to indeed be thankful for.  I have proven this fact to myself many times over the last several years of my life.  There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for, even if you REALLY have to dig sometimes, haha.  I will warn you in advance that this story is LONG and somewhat draining.  I considered nipping it down (as my sons would say) but I am writing this for myself as well so that I will have a record of this day to look back on.  Plus, I think sometimes for me it is just good to go back through hard days in my head, looking for where the Lord blessed me.  To find other grateful hearts, click HERE...

My day started out EARLY (5:30 a.m.) as I had many things I wanted to get done before my son dropped off my grandson Cody as 9:30.  As I quickly scurried about making our bed and picking things up (where does all the "mess" come from?) I prayed and tried to plan out my day.  I ate a hurried breakfast and straightened the kitchen, annoyed now with myself that I had decided to leave the dinner dishes from the night before, as I now had quite the little chore ahead of me.  I finally finished that up and started up my washing machine.  I showered and dressed and began the TOTALLY ANNOYING task of trying to track down a UPS order that SHOULD have arrived yesterday.  I PAID for it to arrive yesterday, but it had not come.  I did a lot of my shopping online this year do to my arthritis making it difficult to get around.  I have decided NOT to do that again.  Not only was it difficult to see what I was ordering, all the different packages arriving and trying to remember what I had done etc., was not something a somewhat disorganized gal like myself should be on.  Figuring out that it was to be delivered sometime today between the hours of 10 and 2 presented a dilemma to my day.  First of all I had to leave to pick up my grandson from KG at 11:30, and had a hair cut appointment for him at 1:30 and plans to have the kids pics taken after that.  I arranged for a my middle son John to be here today while I was gone so that someone would be here to sign for it which this particular shipment was requiring.  THANKFULLY it was the ONLY one that had required a signature, or online shopping would have REALLY been dumb.  Anyway, I was THANKFUL that he was able and willing to do this, HOWEVER, AGAIN, the package did not arrive.  This will mean a repeat of this problem tomorrow.  Now to top it off, this is not even things I need for our Sat. gift exchange/Christmas, it is presents for my husband's birthday which is tomorrow.  However, the fact that it is my wonderful husband's birthday tomorow is definitely another reason to be THANKFUL.   How I praise God for this man.  I can honestly say I am quite certain I don't deserve him, and am eternally grateful that he has put up with my high maintence ways for 35 years.  I love him beyond reason, and my life has been blessed abundantly because of him.  But, on with my day.  My oldest son calls me quite frantic with several problems that have cropped up unexpectantly for him and wants to bring the baby over early.  I tell him that is fine and am THANKFUL that I had gotten up early and got at least a few things off my "to do" list before the baby arrived.  However, my son brings the baby in his jammies, needing his breakfast, and already kind of tired and cranky.  I fed the baby, bathed and dressed him, and began trying to get him to take a nap before it is time to get his brother from school.  He just didn't cooperate.  He is cutting 4 teeth and was just out of sorts.   At this point I am re-considering rather or not I should even attempt to get Christmas pictures taken of the boys.  He naps about 15 minutes.  SIGH....Then it is time to go get Jeffie from school.  He was soo happy to see me.  Another reason to be THANKFUL...He was soo excited as he had been sent home with a gift for me from his teacher for helping out in his classroom on Thursday mornings.  It was an absolutely darling gingerbread man box for holding cookies or whatever.  Again, soo THANKFUL for her thoughtfulness.  I took the boys home and fed them their lunches.  Cody seemed to be in a much better mood, so I decided to head out on my planned day.  The hair cut went well.  Definitely THANKFUL....We headed over to Victoria Gardens which is a fairly new HUGE outdoor mall.  The whole thing is like a small town city.  It is decorated beautifully for Christmas and you can hear Christmas music playing wherever you are at.  Things are pricey here and I don't shop here often to be honest, but it is very pretty and I do love to at least stroll around and look at things.  As I pulled into a parking place I noticed that the baby had dozed off.  Not sure what to do as I knew he needed the sleep, I considered just driving on home.  But looking at little Jeffie's face and knowing his excitement I decided to try to slip the baby into his stroller and pray he kept sleeping....yeah right....he weighs 24 pounds and you don't "slip" him anywhere.  At least I don't.  He woke up, and just lets just say, he was a little grumpy.  SIGH....I get him into the stroller and go into a store where I was going to see about getting the boys matching shirts for their picture.  They had a video going that the boys were enjoying and 15 minutes later I had the cutest little shirts you have ever seen, and they were 30% off as well.  Again, quite THANKFUL for that.  I managed to get the boys into their shirts and even changed the baby's pants.  Then considering I still had some time before the picture appointment, I decided that the baby really needed some new shoes.  His were definitely too small and besides they didn't match their shirts very well.  I got him a nice, really cute pair and they were 1/2 off!  I was finally on a roll.  I headed back to the picture place deciding I would just wait out front of their shop which faces the big Christmas tree and Santa's house and lots of decorations for the boys to look at.   Little Jeff was as good as gold.  Cody?  He was done.  Nothing at all was satisfying him at this point, but the appointment was in 20 minutes, SURELY I could make it till then.  I finally decided to let him out of his stroller and let him maybe walk around for the next 15 minutes or so.  In many many ways, THANK GOD I did this, as when I lifted him out I quickly realized he had messed his pants getting IT all over practically everything.  His pants and new shirt were covered, it was in his stroller etc.  I was somewhat hysterical at this point.  My sisters had met me there (with their grandkids), and my sister Diane and I headed for women's bathroom there where we had to strip him and practically give him another bath.  Cody is a very strong baby, and very strong willed.  He was difficult is the only nice way to say he was making this little chore exhausting.  We finally got everything all cleaned up, diapered him, and as I was reaching for his diaper bag I remembered that I had not grabbed him a spare outfit for just such an event as this.  I am somewhat out of practice as you can tell.  Well, after washing out his clothes and putting them in a gallon baggie (how did I manage to remember that you might ask?  Well, I didn't...my sister had one in her grand daughters bag THANKFULLY is the answer to that) we headed outside again as I wondered what I should do.  Get in my car and drive home should have been my answer.  But for some reason at that point (I have been known to be stubborn too) I was NOT going to leave after all of that without my pictures.  So I went back into the store and bought him another really cute outfit to wear.  Now the fact that he is actually in desperate need of clothes (he is growing soo fast) helped take the sting out of that.  I hurried back (by now my knees are sooo done) and re-dressed the baby.  It is time FINALLY for my appointment and I headed into the store and began the "wait".....What in the world I could have ever been thinking?  OF COURSE you will wait, even with an appointment...it is Christmas time and they are sooo busy.  By this point Cody is simply totally wild.  I have given him everything I can toss him from my purse and each item is given 15 or 20 seconds of consideration by him and he tossed to the floor.  He cries.  I pace...and just as I have FINALLY decided, you know what, this just wasn't meant to be, they call our name.  I practically limp over thinking to myself Jeffie will have to do this by himself, Cody will NEVER cooperate.  Here is where I felt the Lord took mercy on me and decided to reward my diligence and desire to have a cute Christmas picture to add to my collection, as Cody suddenly morphed into a dream baby.  He smiled (THANKS to his cousin Jackie) and they actually got several REALLY cute pictures of the boys together.  I was VERY VERY THANKFUL for that.  I picked out a couple of pictures and was THANKFUL that I managed to stick to my goal of buying very few of the pictures and just got a couple of cute poses of the boys.  If I had a scanner (which I don't right now) I'd show you just how cute they were, making all the hassle worth it.  My daughter-in-law arrived shortly after we were done with the pictures.  We were planning on having dinner and then letting the kids play in  the "snow"  they manufacture every night.  I was sooo tired, and sooo done I was wondering if I would have the strength for this.  Little Jeff however was soo looking forward to this, and had been soo good all day that I couldn't bear to say I was leaving.  And after all, Leah was there now to "handle" the baby.  Well, within a few minutes we discovered that due to the economy they were NOT doing the snow this year.  Sooo, we let the kids play for a while and I did take a few pics of the kids by the gorgeous Christmas tree.  But this didn't really work out either as the lighting was bad and no matter what I did I couldn't get the red out of their eyes.  Soo, I only have one to show you but you will at least get the idea. 

I am sorry this was soo long, and soo draining, and for those of you who have stuck with me to the end of this I just want to say that overall I am GRATEFUL for this day.  I got my darling Christmas picture.  I had a few experiences that I know I will laugh about someday.  God is good and I am GRATEFUL that I am in the position I am to enjoy my grandkids.  Even when they are teething and fussy.  I am GRATEFUL for my wonderful husband and am excited to celebrate his birthday tomorrow rather his presents come or not.  And I am GIDDY as my Melly is coming tomorrow.  How I have needed her this week.  Not only on this wild day, but for 100 little reasons as well.  Yes, God is soo good to me, and I am as always soo GRATEFUL.   Just look at all the RED thankfuls and gratefuls in my day!

How darling is little Jeffie's shirt and smile?