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Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I have been thinking a lot about how grateful I am in my life today. I thought I would share why I feel this way. I'm sorry this is long, but it could have been a LOT longer! :) There are many things for which I am so very grateful, but here are just a few:

First and foremost, I am eternally grateful for my salvation! Now that I am a parent, I look at Emmalyn and think: Could I EVER sacrifice her for a group of people that would disobey and forsake me, despite how much I love them? NO WAY! I cannot even fathom how much God loves me, willing to watch His Son beaten and murdered, just to cleanse me of my sins. WOW! My feeble mind is overwhelmed! I am thankful that He provided a way to life with Him, because I know I could NEVER have earned this! "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."-Isaiah 64:6 I'm trying, but I could never put into words how thankful I am for the completed work of my Lord Jesus Christ!

Not that I can really compare other things to my salvation, I am also very thankful for...

I am also very grateful for my wonderful husband, Kris. I am so blessed to have found a man that is so generous in spirit, kind, and loving! He takes awesome care of me when I am in poor health. He is a GREAT daddy to our baby girl, he loves her unconditionally! He provides for us, and planned that years ago! He makes me laugh every day! He loves me! He really, really loves me! He takes seriously Ephesians 5:25, which says "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." He tells me how much he loves me, probably daily! And he tells me I'm beautiful, which every woman needs to hear, right? :) And most importantly, He loves the LORD with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength, and encourages me to do the same! I am blessed to be called this man's wife, and pray I am a worthy help-meet to this terrific man! I love you, Kristopher!!!

I also feel indebted to God for my precious daughter! Emmalyn makes my heart literally warm and fuzzy! :) I am so overwhelmed by my love for her, every day! I always knew I wanted to be a mom...but was clueless about how it would change me. She has taught me so much about love, patience, and compassion! I have never experienced as much joy as I do now, watching her learn new skills and just caring for her each moment of my day. She makes me laugh, she makes me cry, how wonderful is parenthood!!! I pray I am the mother this baby girl deserves, and that she grows up to love and serve the Lord every day of her life!

I am also giving thanks today for my family! My dad, my sister, and my brother and I are very close, and I am thankful that I have a family that loves me, that prays for me, and that will always be there! I know this sounds like a "given", but how many people don't have a strong family support system? More people in this world than we probably realize. I know that there will always be people that love me by my side! How blessed I am!!! Not only do I love them...but I LIKE them! Even if they weren't family, I would love to be friends with them! :)They are all very smart, funny, and very very loving! Dad, Kim, and Cal, I love you!

My husband's family is also a reason to give thanks this week! My mother, father, and sister-in-law are very close to me, Kris, and Emmalyn, and for this I am very grateful. They too are very sweet, generous, and caring people. They are truly a support system for us, praying for us, caring for us, and loving us! They have welcomed me into their family with open arms, and I love them! I am blessed to be a part of this family! Mike, Cheryl, and Kelli, I love you!

And what would I be without my friends? Old friends, and new ones I have made recently...they are a source of strength I could not imagine living without! When I am down, they lift me up, when I am happy, they share my joys! To have true friends, that I know love me and pray for me, is a blessing I have taken for granted. Ecclesiastes 4:12- "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." Thank you, to my friends, for the advice, fun times shared, and love you give me! I love you all VERY much!!!

Thank you, to my readers, if you have made it this far! I am very grateful this morning, and wanted to share it with the world!!!

Psalm 100
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
AMEN!!!

10-20-30 Meme

Okay, so I have accepted Jana's challenge! A look back on life as Heather:

30 Years Ago:
Well, I don't think Mom was even pregnant with me yet. But about to be. I was not thought of yet, though. Dearest mommy and daddy only wanted 2 kids, which they already had. I was affectionately called a "surprise" by my momma, and (just as affectionately) an "accident" by my dad. :) They had moved to Texas just 2 years prior from Tennessee, and about to get more than they bargained for! :) Of course their family had to get bigger...everything is bigger in Texas, right?! I was actually born 29 years, 2½ months ago.

20 Years Ago:
I was 9 years old and in the 3rd grade at Anderson Mill Elementary in Austin, Texas. I think this is the year I had Mrs. Rowan. She was pretty cool. I can't say I remember much. I do remember my best friend was Holly down the street, and we walked to and from school together, usually through the ditch picking up "treasures" for our treasure box (an old cigar box, I believe) along the way. I also remember the 3rd grade playground was surrounded by cedar trees...to which I am very allergic! I was the only kid that dreaded recess! I think this is around the time I was also VERY into Care Bears. We painted my room lavendar, and added a Care Bear wallpaper border. I bet that was fun to redecorate for the people who bought our house!

10 Years Ago:
Okay, so now this, I can remember. It was 1 year out of high school, and I was living in an apartment of my own, with a horrible roommate that drove me crazy. I loved the new freedom that came with living on my own, but went back home when she got too bad. (I'll spare you the gory details!) I was working at a preschool with 3 year olds, and loved it. This is when I decided to go to college and become a teacher. I had previously wanted to do child psychology, but "teaching" and doing lesson plans for this preschool convinced me that this is what God wanted me to do with my life. I had tried community college the year before, but dropped the classes a month into it. I decided to try again later. So, in the Fall of 1997 I went back to Austin Community College and began what would become a 5 and a half year college career! I transferred to Southwest Texas State University in 1999 and finished my certification process in December of 2002. And my life was pretty different than it is now because I was not at this point saved. I did not have a real relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ. That miraculous transformation, only possible through the grace of the LORD, happened 4 years later.

So, that brings us to today, I guess. I feel like I have been a long way in my short 29 years, but so grateful to be alive and learning each and every day. Now, my goals in life are similar to my friend Jana's...to be a joyful help-meet to my AWESOME husband, and a good mommy to my precious little girl! And to be a worthy servant to the Most-High God!

I'd love to hear this from my other blogging friends...won't you try it? :)

It is finished!!!

Here it is, my first quilt!

And a close up of the binding, and such...

I am pretty proud of it, even if it is only a 30 inch square! :) I was able to finish it in a 6 week class, using mostly the 3 hours a week at class to do most of the work. I learned a lot in the class, and had a lot of fun! I think I would like to try clothes, next! :)

Time change isn't for babies!!

Well, someone forgot to tell Emmalyn that we set our clocks back!!! For the last 3 mornings, she has been waking up WAY TOO EARLY!!! ..and getting sleepy early! I guess she'll get used to it if we stick to her normal routine soon enough...but in the meantime, AGH! So, when she woke up this morning, I couldn't simply nurse her back to sleep because of the procedure I had on my back yesterday afternoon. I won't be able to give her MY milk until after 7PM tonight because of the IV medications I was on. So, we tried to give her a bottle of formula. NOT HAPPENING! She screams and cries, looking at you like you have 2 heads for trying to make her drink this stuff! But, the baby has to eat, right? So off we go, (me very groggy, and her just as awake as possible) to the high chair for cereal. This is how she acts when we are finished with the meal:

BTW...sorry for the "rude" noises she makes at the end...she does that a LOT, and I don't know how to edit the video. It's pretty funny, anyways. :)



She doesn't make it sound like it is 6:30 AM, does she?!?!!!! I also just wanted to show you her recent babbling. It is really cute, and she usually quits when we turn the camera on. :)

Our little flower child

We don't really celebrate Halloween, but we do get dressed up in innocent little costumes for the Fall Festival at church...isn't this adorable? She got to go and hang out at the festival, but Mommy was REALLY sick and didn't get to go. :( I had been excited about her first costume for months, but I got a stomach bug or a migraine, and couldn't quit "losing my lunch" long enough to go! I don't know what was worse...how I felt physically or emotionally! But, we took these pictures to show friends and family how much fun she had being a little flower! :) There are more at http://picasaweb.google.com/MammaSpell