Top 10 Thankful List

Thanksgiving is sometimes called the forgotten holiday.  There is so much anticipation leading up to Christmas that we can hurry past Thanksgiving to other festivities.  If we were to construct a top 10 thankful list what would we include?  It's humbling to think about the most precious gifts in life that we are thankful for.  Most of us would not list our car, 3 story house or our jewelry, but the things that mean the most to us, which impact our lives greatly. 

Let me encourage you to make Thanksgiving season last a little longer before jumping into Christmas preparations and make a top 10 list of the things/people you are most thankful for.  Carry this spirit of thanksgiving into your Christmas season.

Top 10 Thankful List

1.  God loving me and wanting a relationship with me. 

2.  Jesus' death on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for my wrong doings, making a way to know a holy God.

3.  The gift of forgiveness and salvation when I accepted Jesus in my heart.

4.  Allowing me to find a wonderful Godly husband to serve God alongside and share my life with.

5.  A precious Son who makes life full of joy and excitement.

6.  Loving family & friends who help me to be a better person by simply being with them.

7.  Directing me to the right Doctors to help my body to function through my illness.

8.  God constantly working in my life...continually pursing a relationship with me.  He never gives up on me.

9.  Life itself.

10.Bright spots along the day that make even the hardest days more pleasant & bearable.  Encouragement.

What are you thankful for?

Tired and Worn Out?

Life has a way of wearing us out.  I can't remember who, but I heard someone say that Life is What Happens When We are Making Other Plans.  Things can get so crazy very fast.  Here's a little story to brighten your day.  When my Son was around 3 years old he became frustrated very easily.  If you've been around any 2-3 year old's you can understand.  

One day he was sitting up his toy animals on the large picture window sill.  Since the animals are cheap plastic, they don't always sit up perfectly.  Well, my son didn't understand this.  When an animal would topple over, he would pick it back up and tell it to stay.  This worked until the animal decided to fall again.  Time and again he sit them back up and demanded them to stay.  When they repeatedly fell, he became at the end of his rope.  I heard him loud and clear say, "That's it.  I've had it!  This is ridiculous!" and all the animals hit the floor. 

Of course in a 3 yr. old language ridiculous came out hilarious and I couldn't hold back the laughter.  Aren't there days that we as adults feel like we've had it.  Have you had situations in your life where you can't make it work and time and again you try and still it just falls apart.  Often I have felt like screaming...that's it I've had it, because life can be down right ridiculous sometimes.  Don't you agree? 

Let me share some encouragement for those days.  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  Philippians 4:13.  When we've had it...God can help us.  When we see a ridiculous situation, He came make all things right.  When we are ready to throw in the towel, He can pick up the towel and minister to us like He did His disciples.  When we are ready to give up, we simply need to look up! 

Beautiful Autumn

Thought for the Day:  Autumn Leaves- God Doesn't

 

 

As Autumn leaves and Winter begins we see the changing of the seasons

and can be reminded that although change happens in our lives,
there is one who never changes and never leaves us. 

God is always working in our lives and wants us to turn to Him

and allow Him to guide us.  He never leaves us!

Fall Scrapbook Pages

Simple Fall Layout

Paper:  My Mind's Eye

Flowers:  Prima

Cricut Cartridge:  Lyrical Letters

 

Paper:  My Mind's Eye

Cardstock:  Bazzill

Cricut Cartridges:  Doodlecharms & Lyrical Letters

Assorted Die Cuts & Buttons

It's all a Matter of Perspective

On a particularly beautiful Fall day, I had my front door open and was waiting for a friend to come visit.  When I went to the door to look out I noticed what a wonderful frame the Fall wreath made on my door.  It was like looking through a looking glass.  The bright colors of leaves changing was just mesmerizing.  I sat for a while looking through the wreath at the beauty around me.  The frame of the wreath gave the perfect perspective on the beauty around.  I began to think about life and how we look at things is all a matter of perspective.

When we are given hard circumstances such as loss of jobs, loved ones, illness and devastating life changes, we don't have a choice of whether we will go through this or not, but we do have a choice of our perspective when we are going through it.  Our perspective means we choose to look for the good and allow God to use the bad circumstance to bring honor to Himself and bring us closer to Him.  He is constantly working on our behalf to give us little bright spots and hope in the bad times.  

Our perspective can be one of hope, peace and assurance that
God is with us and will bring us through what lies ahead in our path. 

 

I decided to scrapbook this memory and journal about the

perspective that God has given me and how He has helped me
with different circumstances in my life.

Preserving Memories

As I think back to childhood stories a smile is always the first thing that happens.  Reminiscing about the good old days even if they were hard old days is a pleasure for most of us.  I recently found a new way to preserve these family memories.  

My Mother loves to write and has recently began a blog in which she writes about family memories in the days past, her love of God and also about antiques and how they were used during their time period.  This breath of fresh air to our families' heritage has urged me to collect these writings.  Since she is writing them nearly daily, it will be a journal written by her that I can collect and preserve for myself and future generations, passing down not only our family memories but also her legacy of faith and insight.

Check out her blog at http://www.apronstringsandfavoritethings.blogspot.com

Since most blog articles are brief I used an 8x8 album by American Crafts which matches my 12x12 Scrapbook albums.  (I found this 8x8 album at Big Lot's for $3.00.)  Such an amazing deal!  Now I just need a great picture to add to the front album window.

I knew that I could dress up the pages and create a more scrapbook type of journal with page protectors and decorations, but I wanted something that I would keep up to date and could simply print the blog article, trim to 8x8, punch holes and put in the book.  We scrapbookers know how hard it can be to keep current with all the pictures and such.  I made a cardboard template of where my holes should be punched and used it with the pages to punch holes since my 3 hole punch didn't have the right spacing between holes.

If you have someone in your family who writes a blog or if you share stories yourself, think of preserving those family memories and leave a lasting legacy for all to enjoy!