Grateful....

This week I am writing about thing si am being grateful ful for..

This past week could have been an absolute nightmare. We had a hearing at work and it was very nerve racking to someone who has never been through any kind of hearing, much less one that focused on the work I have done! God prepared me in ways I never could have imagined, though and He brought me through it.

1. I am grateful for my 'little' family. I say little because it's basically just me, Coy and the girls here. We have school and church family, but not much kinfolk around here. I learned that my girls are getting closer (answered prayer) and that they are capable of surviving without constant attention or reminders from me. I don't think there is a better sound than laying in our bed, listening to the girls watch a funny movie together. Their laughter is just precious...and even the 'not' laughter is precious....

2. I am grateful for Coy and our relationship. Even after 18 years he is still the person I turn to. We debated back and forth on whether or not he should come hear me testify and decided against it. I am grateful he wasn't there because he would have probably gotten a  little defensive of me. Talking with him the night before I thought I would testify (which actually turned into 3 nights), he gave me the best advice...answer in love. That played like a recording through my head while I was being drilled with questions. He is truly my best friend and someone who has seen me grow up ( hesitate to use the word 'mature' here) . I love him immensely.

3. I am grateful for friends who love me. Friends who pay for a hotel room to get me away before the hearing started. Friends who leet me run into Charming Charlie's even though we are starving and ready to go eat! Friends who put on a makeup demonstration so I can learn how to do my eye makeup (by the way, I call this Casey style now). Friends who sat with me while I waited to testify (again I waited two whole days). Friends who texted me while waiting to testify...I am blessed with many good and true friends.

4. I am grateful for my body. No I am not the prettiest, nor the most fit. But it held up through an enormous amount of stress. I didn't get sick (sinus, allergies, nothing) throughout last week. Again. God provided. Coy had the sinus infection last week...I'm still not a fan of picures with me in it, but God's working on that.

5. I am grateful for waking up every day and getting to start the day over. When the girls were little and they had bad days, I would put them to bed early so they would be ready to start the next better. That advice works for adults, too. Sometimes it's ok to just stop, call it a day and go on to bed. But waking up the next day guarantees that God isn't through with me yet. He has SOMETHING for me to do each day.

~Laurie

Friday Fave Five

I know it's Saturday, but I'm just now getting around to the Friday Fave Five.

1. Friends. Friends who care enough to whisk me away for a night of relaxation. Friends who care enough to pray for me daily. Friends who I can talk to. Friends who actually sit by me at ballgames-- yep, there's story there! I am blessed beyond measure with true Christian friends!

2. Sweet potatoes-Yams whatever you call them! I love them baked, mashed and as french fries!

3. Air conditioning. I would absolutely melt away in the summer around here without it. I sleep better because of it, too. It helps my mood, too!

4. Hot water. I now it's simple, but I love a good hot shower and I love washing cour 'whites' in HOT water. A good hot bath is also wonderful and definitely in order after a day of basketball and sitting in a gym.

5. The male role models in my life and my daughter's! I have been truly blessed with wonderful male role models in my life. From my PawPaw to my Dad, to #8, to the man I married. I have had the opopportunity to see how God intended men to be. I am most thankful for them!


~Laurie

Friday Fave Five

1. Summer fruits and vegetables...Really is there anything better than fried squash? or a squash casserole made from squash grown from love? Or fresh blueberries for my morning smoothie from Mr. Miller's?I'm missing watching our watermelons and cantaloupes grow this year..we just didn't get the garden in the ground with all the track meets and everything else going on. Very thankful for friends who share, though! 

2. Friends who I don't see very often but make me feel like I see or talk to them every day! I can be quirky at times and my friends help me through it. Very thankful for all of them!

3. My fitness pal... I actually have a love/hate relationship with this app. Love that it helps me, but hate to use it. I mean. it could potentially help me lose weight, but it's a pain and often embarrassing to add what I really ate to it.

4. Melamine plates and bowls. Some know, others don't that we have dishes from the 70's in my kitchen cabinet. Coy hates corelle and other types of plates because he says when he cuts on them with a knife it makes a noise. Now I have never noticed the noise, but if he says so. So all our plates are melamine and most do not match. Therefore, I don't have to worry about JoGail dropping them on the tile and breaking them. I have not always felt this way about the plates. I prefer matching, but that' s almost impossible with Coy's request. Trust me--these plates are durable though. I have baked them, dropped them , microwaved them and done anything else I could to get rid of them......but alas they are still being used on a routine basis. Our current ones are tan with orange and yellow flowers on them. (think 70's)... I say current, they are the ones Coy had when we got married 18 years ago!

5.Our couch. It's microfiber and usually a little dirty and somewhat coming apart in places, but it is AWESOME to take a summer nap on. I keep thinking that when we replace it I might want a leather one, but I'm not sure if it will pass the nap test!