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