Thank You, Lord!

Last night, I was struck with the overwhelming need to just thank God. I pulled out my journal & I just starting writing a list of thank-yous to God.

It being the end of the quarter & the start of holidays has started to get me a little stressed (I'm am easily-stressed kinda girl). Just a couple weeks ago, it literally took me at least an hour of just lying in bed praying for my mind to stop running long enough for me to just fall asleep, for like a week straight. It was tooorture. Has that ever happened to you? All you want to do is fall asleep, but then when you lay your head on the pillow, all you can think about is the fact that you have to take your car in to get the brakes looked at, the assignments you have due this week, the kids at work who seem to be having a really hard time lately, & on & on & on. It's awful.

So anyway, I've been a little stressed lately. But last night it just came over me how I really should be thanking God for all He's given me, not asking for Him to tone it down a little bit. (And really, who has the authority to tell God what to do anyway?)

One thing that really struck out to me is this: He is passionate about me. He is constantly pursuing me & drawing me closer to Him. Does that sound strange to anyone else besides me? I mean, our Savior, the God of the universe, who has created every single thing you could possible ever imagine, is passionately pursuing me! As much as I love my Ben & as much as I know he loves me with every fiber in his body, there is still no way he could ever love me the way that my God does. I'm just now starting to realize this & begin to accept it, but it's true.

My gut reaction is always - Why? I'm a sinner. I'm selfish. I'm controlling. I'm needy. I'm moody. I'm _____. But He doesn't care. In fact, He created me that way. He knows I am all of those things, yet He still chooses to pursue me on a daily basis.

How incredibly earth-shattering is that?!

Needless to say, it left me a little awe-struck.

     “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1,26 NIV

Thanksgiving Weekend Catchup

After spending the last 4 days in San Diego for Thanksgiving, I am finally home. I have been up since 4 am this morning & its finally starting to catch up to me. Anywho, just thought I'd share some of the highlights from my family weekend.

We had the best desserts! I couldn't pick just one so I took a sampling of each (: From left to right - pumpkin pie made by my little sis, sweet potato gelato pie, & apple pie made by my stepmom. YUM.

 The next day we took the leftover turkey, threw it in a big stock pot (well actually 2 1/2 stock pots) with some veggies to make leftover turkey soup. I wish we could have let it simmer longer because it didn't quite have enough flavor, but hey, you live & you learn. It was still delicious.

 After we got the soup going, we started to decorate! This is my favorite part (: We put up the tree along with some little Christmas knick-knacks here & there. These candles are so cute I wanted to kidnap them & take them home with me. These are some of my favorite action shots & ornaments on our green tree (:

 Watching everyone else decorate the tree is apparently really hard work. Wiped the poor doggy out.

 This is our second tree. We've had two tree for a few years now & I actually love it. It used to be that we got a real one & then had this fake white one, but now the other one is fake too & the white one isn't so white anymore (its a little more brownish now due to heater misplacements) & the lights on the top section don't work anymore, but hey, I'm not picky. We put all of our special, sentimental, keepsake ornaments on the green one as well as put all the presents under this one, & we put these fancy silver & purple ornaments on the white one. Its really beautiful. These two below are my favorite.

I truly was so blessed with the time I got with my family this weekend. Now that we don't all live together anymore & we are all spread out & in different houses & states, we don't get the opportunity to do this kind of stuff anymore as a family, so it really got me thinking about how special this weekend was & what it meant to me.

With that, starting on December 1st, I am going to be starting my 100 Things I Am Thankful For list. I did this last year & decided that I was going to keep it going annually. I know most people do the "30 Things I Am Thankful For" over the course of November, leading up to Thanksgiving Day, but I like this way better.
     #1) it causes me to stretch my mind to think of 3x more things that I am grateful for, things besides the obvious,
     #2) I think its a nice bridge between Thanksgiving & Christmas. I will be writing down 4 items a day in my journal for the first 25 days of December.

I am praying that God will open my eyes through this & keep me reminded daily of the thousands & millions of ways that I am blessed - not just 100 ways.

Almost Done!

3 more weeks until the end of fall quarter! I only have 4 more classes on campus! I am so excited to be done with this quarter! I need winter break soo bad. But I guess now that I am thinking about it I always say this, so I guess this is nothing new. I'm just not a fan of school - I can't wait to be done for good, hopefully by next summer!

And on top of that - I will be in San Diego with my amazing family for my [second] favorite holiday in 1 1/2 days! My dad moved down there to be with my step mom 1 1/2 years ago & I miss him so much! It will be so nice to have my whole family together in the same house again. And I get to see my best doggy friend, Zane!

I hope everyone has a stuffed & blessed Thanksgiving Day!