Thankful for Water

The other day my water was shut off for a few hours, unannounced. With a sink full of dirty dishes, a table caked with children’s breakfast foods, heaps of laundry to do and a shower to take. I cried, more because I had held it in while my family left, and the water being shut off was the trigger that allowed the tears to flow. I knew that it was ridiculous to be emotional about this, and proceeded to make do by loading un-rinsed dishes so I didn’t have to look at them in the sink and wipe my table with baby wipes. Which, by the way, were not designed to clean caked on oats and milk off of a table.

 All the while I couldn’t stop thinking of the missionary wives who deal with this on a daily or weekly basis, month after month, year after year. They never get warning and I can only imagine that it happens at the worst of times, when they have so much to do. I’m sure it’s frustrating to them, maybe even maddening to not know when you’ll lose water or when it will come back on, but it’s their way of life and they have come to deal with it. It’s just one of the many sacrifices they make to live on a foreign mission field so that lost souls will hear the gospel.

 My hats off to these women. You are my heroes.

 I’m feeling grateful tonight. Grateful for our country, despite it’s problems, and grateful for our freedoms. Grateful for family, friends, church and God’s Word to guide us. Grateful for a faucet that turns on whenever I need it to.

 Right now I’m also thankful for the weather. It’s currently 34 degrees and I’m wearing a hoodie while my husband works to start a fire.  Tomorrow the shopping for our big Thanksgiving dinner is happening and it’s only appropriate that it should be freezing while filling our cart with abundance. Even though we’re listening to Christmas music and have even decorated the house, Thanksgiving is not a forgotten holiday in this home.

Going through pictures of when my family was here...

My baby sister cooked us a full meal and served it. It was delicious, and I felt really, really old.

And then...the big Christmas decorating party. I'm usually a firm after-Thanksgiving is Christmas person, so this year is very different for me. However, my after Thanksgiving schedule is crazy and it seemed like it would be so much easier to do it now while I had the help. We baked cookies and listened to Christmas music and tried to save as many bulbs as we could from being broken by curious little babies.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and rest of your week preparing for your Thanksgiving. I know that many of you have trials you are going through, but please try to focus on the good, even if for just one day. There is always something to be thankful for--even if it is something as simple as water!

We May Be Listening to Christmas Music

Where I grew up, we were eased into seasons and then it stayed that way for a while. At the end of summer you would start to notice the evenings getting cooler and start smelling the glorious Fall smell. Then the days were cooler too, and then it would start to snow and winter was here to stay. 

 In Texas, we are not eased into anything. We have a 70 degree day and suddenly it's 50 for a few days, then back up to 70's. I'm just happy we GET those cooler days, and we cherish them because they won't last long. The minute we sense the temperature dropping, we break out hats and hoodies and boots, even though we don't need them. We've been breaking out a lot of needless hoodies and hats this week, and it has put us all in the best Holiday moods. We may have even started to play Christmas music, against my strict no Christmas music before Thanksgiving policy.

The last few weeks in pictures, enjoying our Texas cold while possibly listening to Christmas music....

Quiet moments at home:

Italian mobster for Missions Dress up night

Family outing for frozen yogurt

Making paper snowflakes. Paper and glitter everywhere--it was so fun!

First sugar cookies of the year!

Halfway through the week! Have a great one, friends!

Beautiful Chaos

Fall is definitely my least-blogging time of the year because of my family being here. As I predicted before there have been way too many late nights followed up with strong cups of coffee in the morning, family talks and girl talks and kids screaming and us yelling over them and generally just beautiful chaos.

We designated a day to spend together as a family and after a little google discovered this trampoline park and it was perfect. I cannot even tell you how fun it was! The minute we walked in we all were instantly transformed into small children grinning from ear to ear and couldn't wait to start jumping. We had the whole place to ourselves, so we raced and climbed and jumped and screamed and laughed for an entire hour until we could hardly move. We even attacked my Mom and Dad who were sitting on the sidelines and made them jump for a few minutes. Best. Day. Ever.

 2 days later we are still sore from head to toe.

Look at our smiles. We are 5.

The trampolines brought out the best in us. Obviously.

Sonic happy hour was a must afterwards!

I still have a few more precious weeks and I'm soaking up every minute. Last week was our Missions Conference and it was the best ever (which I say every year) but more on that later! Have a great weekend!