A Different Kind of Thankful

I woke up this morning at 5 am with a gratitude that had to be put into words.

It's a different kind of thanksgiving and I hope you will bare with me.

1) I'd like to thank Cornerstone Christian Academy for deciding to close their doors the year before my husband graduated. If they hadn't, he would have never come to HCA, and we never would have met.

2) I'd like to thank my best friend in high school for dating him first. If they had not dated we might never have gotten to be good friends.

3) I'd like to thank God that even though I felt like the world turned upside down, I read a Dear John letter when I was 18 years old and felt all alone because I had just moved to Texas. If I hadn't gotten a Dear John letter, I wouldn't have called the only friend I knew in Texas and he wouldn't have gotten in his Ford Bronco that weekend and driven 2 hours to come to my house in the middle of nowhere and walk by the creeks and climb trees and find turtle shells and talk with me for hours.

4) I'd like to thank my best friend from high school for getting married and asking me to be her maid of honor. It gave me the courage to ask my "friend" to fly in for the wedding and be my date, so I wouldn't be that sad maid of honor sitting all alone at the rehearsal dinner.

5) I'd also like to thank her for having dancing at her reception, even though it was frowned on by some super religious people at the time. Because the first time he held me in his arms, I knew that's where I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

6) I'd like to thank the Doctor in 2001, who told me I would never be able to conceive a child, after 3 years of failed fertility treatments. As painful as that horrible day was, it made the gift of holding my baby girl for the first time indescribable.

7)I'd like to thank God that even though we thought we were being careful, and I already had a baby in diapers, and I HATED being pregnant, a week after Madelynn's first birthday, we learned that He blessed us once again with a little boy that would bring us more joy then my heart can hold.

8) I'd like to thank the multiple people in the O.R. the day my son was born for the multiple errors that were made that caused his little lung to be torn. I wouldn't know the angels of an NICU ward and how much they matter to you when you feel like they are holding your child's life in their hands. I wouldn't know that not getting to hold your baby until 10 days after he is born, makes your bond with him that much stronger, from all the yearning.

9) I'd like to thank Nestle Waters for closing the load center in Hawkins and transferring us to DFW. I didn't like a thing about leaving home, but it will make the homecoming that much sweeter.

10) I'd like to thank Century 21 in Mineola for NOT getting my house sold two years ago. I was so frustrated at the time, but I now know that the best realtor in the world, can't sell a house, if God doesn't want it to be sold.

I am sure by now that you think this is the worst gratitude list you have ever read, but I just kept thinking, "Thank you God that you really do cause everything to work together for good for those that love you." Even when we don't see it. I could go on and on, but it's now 6 am and I am tired and wishing I would have used my one day to sleep in, to actually you know SLEEP. IN. But who knows? Maybe God wanted me to write this so that someone else would read it and remember: He hasn't forgotten you, He sees where you are, He
knows all about it, and He has it all under control.

The Pilgrims Rided on a Boat

Whose says you can't go home again?

18 months ago we loaded up a Uhaul truck and a Uhaul trailer and said goodbye to the sweet little small town life we had in East Texas. In the beginning, I tried to embrace the future as a new adventure, but as the summer dragged on, my optimism faded. I felt alone.

And I was mad.

I loved our house in Mineola. It wasn't a mansion but it was to me. Why didn't God let our house sell so that we wouldn't be stuck renting it to someone else? I resented fixing it up and painting it with the knowledge that it was all so someone else can live in it.

But boy did He know what He was doing!

Cause, how was I to know that just 18 months later, when life in the big city was just beginning to feel something akin to "normal", that He was gonna move us back to East Texas!!!!!

That's right; as of January 1, 2012 we will be Mineolans again. I do have to say that I feel just awful for our renters who have been there a little over a year now. I hate that they will have to move right in the midst of the holidays and I have been praying for them every time I think of it. I can only believe God has great things for them too. They have been very good to our little home.

What a lesson I have learned. When we don't see the BIG picture....... He does! He knows what He is doing. He really does want the best for us.

I have to say a BIG "Thank You" for all of our sweet friends at The Crossings Church. They have been an extended family to us and have made this time so much sweeter. We love you all and will miss you dearly. Pastor Zach and Mandy greeted us the very first Sunday with a smile and a hug and we'll be honest..... We have been smitten with the whole lot of them ever since!!!

(photo was taken when we first bought the home in May of 2007)

A Good Girl

Since I was younger I have always had a fascination with Grace Livingston Hill. Not only because she is a Christian fiction author, but because she was a female Christian author before her time. In the early 1900's they didn't have a slew of female authors writing Christian fiction novels like we do today. Lack of funds was typically her motivation for writing and I applaud her efforts to make a way for herself and her two children.

Over the last few months I have had something bugging me. And as I often do when I can't leave an idea alone, I finally break down and put it to paper as if somehow it magically releases it from my mind. The common denominator in almost all of Ms. Hill's books is the heroine. Although, she does write a few with a male lead character the majority feature a girl/lady/woman.

While some are beautiful with striking features, others are described as plain, or simple in appearance. Some heroines are not out of school while others are my grandma's age. In all the cases these females are tied together with a common bond. They are all innately, GOOD.

This is a hang up for me. Not just in a fiction reader kind of way, but in a real world kind of way. Like you know, too GOOD to be true. I have met women like this in real life. Women who never have let an unkind word touch their lips. Women who serve tirelessly to their family, their church, the needy. Women who never seem frazzled, or anxious, or depressed. Women who always have their house in order.

This leaves me weary. When I try to be like this I'll be honest, it's as fiction as the women in Grace Livingston Hill's stories. The truth is I get aggravated in the carpool line when people don't pull up all the way. (And when I say aggravated I mean, it's a daily jolt to my blood pressure when I drop the kids off in the morning.) I have pet peeves about the breakfast dishes being left in the sink. I am nowhere near as nice to my family as I should be. I don't eat healthy and I haven't participated in any 5K's. EVER. I forget peoples birthdays and I just this morning forgot for the second week in a row, that Wednesdays are now "walk to school" days. Whose idea was that anyway? Clearly, I am not GOOD at having it altogether.

All joking aside, I realize that goodness is a fruit of the spirit. It's not one you hear about a lot. People love to preach about patience or self control or joy or peace. But you don't hear many sermons on being GOOD. And so for now, I am preaching to myself. I really do wan't to be GOOD. Not the fake kind of good, that fizzles out after a week or so and leaves me feeling worthless because my life doesn't look like the end of a christian romance novel, with everything tied up in a pretty little package.

But for GOODness sakes, I am working on it.

A Romantic Getaway......

Well Todd and I leave today for the Texas Hill Country. We have all manner of adventures planned near Fredericksburg and Luckenbach and a few stops along the way.

We are celebrating my 35 years of living + 15 years of marriage. The celebrating is well deserved on my part as well as his. How he has put up with me these 15 years, I'll never know. I've always told him if he leaves, I'm coming with him!! Oh, I kid. SORTA!

For those of you that know us it will come as no suprise that I was up at 4 am this morning watching reruns of In The Heat of The Night because for some odd reason TV dramas from the late 80's and early 90's have a strange calming effect on me. It may be all the big hair and bad sweaters.

Todd was up at 6 am and we got the kids ready and off to school for picture day. Now most people would at that point pack up and head out. But not Ma and Pa Smith. We did a little banking and house cleaning and Todd went grocery shopping all before 8 am I might add. We are nothing if not efficient.

Now we will be able to relax and know when we get home the house will be clean and the fridge is stocked for next week. See, aren't we smart?

I'll post some pics on FB along the way, but I thought I'd include a picture of Enchanted Rock which we plan on conquering tomorrow morning.

XXXX

OOOO

Here we go again!

Well it's that time of year, and it seems like everyone is blogging about college football. Don't you just love it? I can't wait for Boomama's Diptacular tomorrow. I am always intrigued by what other's fix for tailgating. I'll be honest until I moved to Texas 10 years ago, I thought everyone made jambalaya and gumbo!

But seriously, I could not be happier to tell you about what I will be doing on Saturday! Now you know I have a hate/hate relationship with summer. I hate the heat and I hate how it pushes itself right on into September and even sometimes October too! So you know it would take A LOT for me to be excited about doing anything in this atmosphere I like to refer to as an oven. However, I will proudly sweat with the best of them at Cowboy Stadium this Saturday for the first LSU game of the season.

My in-laws are coming up and we are headed for a rip roaring time! I know for sure I am making Spicy Brisket Sandwiches and Deviled Eggs and my mother in law is making up some great chips and dips. What are your favorite tailgating delights?

Easy Spicy Brisket

1 Large (app. 7 lbs) Brisket Roast

1/2-3/4 of Allegro Hot & Spicy Marinade

1/2 bottle of Lawry's Mesquite w/ lime juice Marinade

Remove any excess fat from the brisket. Place brisket in large roasting pan. Pour marinades over top. Cover and bake overnight (or about 8-10 hrs) @275 degrees. Remove brisket from juices, cool for 30 minutes and slice. Place in crock pot or large serving dish. Save the stock and pour over the sliced brisket.

THE SECRET INGREDIENT IS THE ALLEGRO HOT AND SPICY MARINADE.

DO NOT SUBSTITUTE.

School Shopping

Well today I took the kiddos school shopping. School doesn't actually start here for two more weeks but next weekend our church is having Sports Camp Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we will be pretty busy with that.

Thankfully, I already have all their school supplies, back packs and lunch totes. I finished that back in June. Yes, I am one of "those moms". I really just wanted them both to have a couple new outfits for the school year, not that either of them are hurting for clothes.

I realized that this was actually the first time I took Zachary clothes shopping. In the past I have always just bought his outfits and brought them home to him. Madelynn had her outfits picked out in the first 10 minutes we were there. Zach took his time, and my time, and his sister's time and he still couldn't decide. I might not take him clothes shopping again for a few more years. HA!

Once we got home I decided I needed to clean out their closets and drawers of any clothes they have outgrown. I always HATE to do this, partly because it makes me sick when I realize how much of Madelynn's clothes she only wore once or twice (don't blame me, blame Maw Maw) and partly because it makes me realize how fast time is flying by.

Well the closet clean out turned into a complete room clean out, and then the toyroom too! 4 hours and several garbage bags later I decided that I think I might need to send Santa a letter and tell him he can skip the Smith's this year. My kids just have entirely too much stuff!!!!

Zachary is pretty good about weeding through his stuff and deciding what he wants to donate, but Madelynn has a much harder time. I am afraid she has the hoarding gene passed down from my parents. Thankfully it skipped a generation ! I don't have a hoarding bone in my body. Poor Madelynn, she is so sentimental about everything, even paper that she is colored on or written on. Everything has special meaning to her. Every broken toy and discarded crayon has value to her.

I guess God is a lot like that. All the people that the world has no use for any more; Broken, Shattered, Defective, Burned Out, and Messed Up. He loves us everyone!