It's a Great Day to Be Alive!

Man, it's a hot one already this morning, but I'm not going to let it wilt my thankfulness.  No, not one little bit.  It's a GREAT day to be alive!

It's also a great day to join in with my bloggy friend, Rebecca Jo @ Knit by God's Hand to share the things we are thankful for this week...life's blessings, big and small.  So, here we go!

This week I am thankful...

* that after a little more than a month, my husband's truck is back on the road and I have my car back.  I am not "grounded" any longer!

* for air conditioning.  I've said it before, but when it's this hot and humid it bears repeating.

* I was introduced to the Deva Curl system of dealing with curly hair.  In the old days this hot, humid weather would have left me with a head full of fly-away frizz.

Now it's more like this when I take the time to do it right.

* for the Lord's generosity.  Things have been pretty tight financially for us this summer.  It always pinches a bit since I don't work during the summer and unemployment is less than half of what my pay is, but circumstances have made it really tough this summer.  I have been fretting about how to get this monkey off our backs since the government (federal, state AND local) keep taking more and more out in taxes.  

It's not the total solution but yesterday I learned there was a vo-tech run up for bid at work.  It can be done around my regular run so I put in for it.  The call came just a couple of hours later that it was mine.  Yes!  That's about $200 a week extra.  It certainly gives us breathing room.  Just goes to show how God knows what we need and provides it at the right time because I never dreamed anyone would give up their tech run.

* for the Lord's faithfulness in my life.  Sometimes we have to pray about something for a very long time.  Sometimes it begins to feel like God isn't listening, or He's forgotten about us, or the answer is "No."  But Lamentations 3:25 tells us, 

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

 God's ways are not our ways and His timing is not our timing, so often, when we think we've been forgotten an answer will present itself.  That's what happened this week.

My daughter is, as I've shared, expecting her first child.  She is not married to the father.  They are engaged and they live together.  They are also having a very hard time.  Part of it is just being young and starting out and being "poor." Part of it is the tension and stress caused by her fiance's mother.  There is no nice way to say it, the woman is an alcoholic, passive-aggressive bully.  There are probably some other mental issues at play, as well, since she keeps referring to the baby as "my son" and doesn't take my daughter into consideration in the scheme of things at all...except to criticize.  She has gone so far as to say she has more rights and gets more time with the baby than me because it's her first grandchild and only my third, so it's not nearly as important to me.  Yeah.

Anyway, I'm not exactly thankful that my daughter is going through this miserable treatment from this woman, but at the same time, maybe I am.  At least a little, because my daughter put up a Facebook post this week saying she couldn't handle it any more and that she was tired of being miserable.  She said she knows she needs God in her life, that she can't do this without His help. She is going to church with a friend this Sunday.

That is HUGE!!!!

* that I am able to go to a class on essential oils today.  I am really interested in learning more.

* for my bullet journal and washi tape and all my art supplies.  With back-to-school/work just weeks away, I decided it was time to get organized again...especially since my days are going to be much busier.  I started a new one and have been making it extra pretty so I'll want to keep up with it.  Check it out:

The journal itself is a simple moleskin journal, small
enough to tuck in my purse, with graph pages.  The
pretty monogram on the cover is just a sticker I added.

The first page is a very simple index.  I've tried doing
a more elaborate one, but didn't really use it.

Next are pages with all the birthdays listed.  I wrote the months out, but
also used cute little icons for each one.  I left space at the bottom for notes
about gifts, births that need to be added, etc.

Anniversaries are next and again, I left space for notes.
The page beside it is a simple savings plan.

These pages track weight loss.  Each square is one pound.  I will color them in
as they are lost.  Every fifth square is red to mark a 5 lb. loss and it's a mini
celebration.  The halfway point to my goal is also marked.

These pages are to track the books I read.

The left page is the legend, the guide to the symbols I use.
The right page is a cleaning calendar.  I saw it on Pinterest and
totally stole the idea.  It's a pretty simple way to keep up with cleaning.

These are the monthly overview pages.  The left page is marked for each day
of the month.  This is where I can note for quick reference birthdays, anniversaries,
appointments, or anything of note that I may need to know the date of later.
The right page are my monthly goals.

The pages after the overview won't be decorated.  They are the daily bullet tasks.  The next time washi tape and prettiness will show up are the September overview pages.

* for my simple, clean, soothing green blog.  I love it...at least until I can decide on a theme over on etsey.  Did you know they sell them over there?  Hundreds of them!

* of course, for each one of you!

Have a blessed and thankful Thursday!