THE BLINK OF AN EYE

Jer 17:7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope IS the LORD.

Tomorrow is Thankful Thursday and my heart as always is full of the many little things going on in my life right now that I am thankful for.

As most of you know, I babysit my oldest son Joe's children a couple of days a week.  With the holidays and such I have been on a much needed break.  In fact I have not spent much time at all with the baby, Cody, who will be a year old next month since that WILD day a couple of weeks ago when I got their pictures taken.  If you missed that post you can read about it HERE.  Anyway, this morning my son brought the baby over and I was quite anxious to see him.  I can't believe how much I missed that sweet little face.  He was soo happy to see his Gamma too.  He is soo active and has perfected his walking now and gets around in that darling little toddle type walk typical to babies as they are first learning.  He laid his head down on my shoulder and was content to just lay there a while, as I sang to him.  On a side note, you'd have to be a baby who doesn't know any better to enjoy MY singing, haha.  But for some reason it has always calmed Cody, and he enjoys it.  At noon we headed over to the school to pick up Jeffie, the KG, and brought him back to fix both of the boys lunch.  He too was happy to see me, though I have spent a couple of days with him and his sister Lindsey during my "break".  They aren't nearly as much work for this Grandma and so we had done a couple of movies and play days together.  But back to today...Jeffie wanted me to fix all of his favorites for his lunch, which of course I was happy to oblige him with.  He talked almost non stop as he frantically tried to get all his stories told in between his baby brother Cody's interruptions.   At one point he said to me, "Grandma, I just have soo much to tell you.  Let's just put Cody to bed."  haha  Another hour or so later and their daddy arrived to pick them up.   After they left and I sat enjoying the quiet after I tidied up the kitchen, I thought to myself, how blessed you are to be able to spend this time with them.  Before you know it, in a blink of an eye, they will grow and mature, and won't need me to watch them as they toddle about, or be picked up from KG and have their lunches fixed.  They won't curl up in my lap and want me to sing.  It really is amazing to me how quickly they grow.  So let's see....

1.  I am thankful I got a MUCH needed break from my babysitting.

2.  I am thankful I got 2 whole hours to myself this morning with that sweet little toddling baby.

3.  I am thankful he is healthy, and active, and curious, and LOVES his Gamma.

4.  I am thankful for little Jeff and his obvious enjoyment of his time with me.

And a few others I can think of without much effort are..

5.  I am grateful that as I took a break from 6 months of Jenny Craig, that I only gained 2 pounds!  I went somewhat beserk, haha, but I got all it out of my system and feel ready for another 6 months at least.

6.  I am grateful that our women's Bible study group at my house is starting up again on Friday morning, as I have really missed it and the ladies.

7.  I am REALLY grateful (for the first time I think) that I am at this season in my life.  Where I don't have the daily responsibility of children, but yet have soo many little ones to enjoy whenever I would like.  I am free to spend my days as busy as I do sometimes, and yet free as well to not do much of anything at all.  My husband and I can enjoy each other's company and spend our week-ends doing whatever WE would like. (if we don't have any "chores" that is, haha)  I read a couple of blogs this week where the young girls talked about how hard it is to get babysitters and enjoy "date nights" with their men.  I remember those days well, and it has made me grateful that I no longer deal with any of that.   But as always I am grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus.  I am grateful for this New Year He has blessed me with, that is laying before me waiting to be filled with times and memories such as these, and serving Him in any way He would chose to use me. 

I have a few random pictures I want to share with you as well.  ENJOY them, and may the Lord bless you all as you go about these new days of 2010..

Jeffie, the day I took him to see Alvin and the Chipmunks.  He LOVED the movie.  We had a really good day together just the two of us.  I justy noticed his teeth are somewhat blue cuz Grandma let him have a blueberry icee, haha

One day during Christmas break I took my two grandkids, Jeffie and Lindsey, down to my sister Donna's house to enjoy the day with her two children, Katie & Blake.  The kids had such a GOOD time playing together.  We all also went out to lunch and to see Princess and the Frog as well.  How cute are they?

And I just had to share this story about JD, haha  My daughter in law Larissa posted a blog the other day about what happens to Ginger bread houses after Christmas.  This year two of their kids, Capri and JD wanted to eat the candy off the house etc.  They were told that after Christmas, they could.  Soo I guess Capri carefully picked her chosen pieces of candy off the house and ate them, while JD chose to go somewhat beserk and just bit into the roof....haha  Such a Class that boy.   How grandma loves him!!

To enjoy other thankful posts click HERE.

Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.