Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Well this is my final 30 days of thanks blogs, but 30 things does not even come close to summing up everything that I’m thankful for in my life. My family and friends are amazing and more importantly, God continually never ceases to bless our lives every day in a multitude of ways. At the end of the day, everything we are thankful for can all be rooted back to God. All that is good is from Him!

Now on to my last item. Wouldn’t you know on my last day of thankfulness, I’m driving to work and listening to the radio (95.5 The Fish) announce that Third Day tickets are going on sale today for their March Miracle tour. With the big announcement they were going to have a contest to see who could sing a Christmas carol the most like the lead singer of Third Day. The prize: tickets to TWO concerts! Josh Wilson’s Noel Tour and Third Day’s Miracle Tour in March. Bryan and I LOVE music and we really enjoy going to Christian concerts, so I was thinking “what the heck, I’ll try.” So I called the radio station and to my surprise I got through. My heart was pounding; I had an immediate urge to hang up, but I didn’t. This was going to be NO easy task! Have you ever heard Third Day?! Here’s a sample of what he sounds like to give you an idea of what I had to attempt to do.

First I had to sing a line from “Twelve days of Christmas” in my best impression of Third Day. Then 2 other contestants did the same. Brooke Taylor and Len Howser, the morning show hosts, decided it was a tie between me and another gentleman. The tie breaker song was “Feliz Navidad”. I’m thinking “psshh..I have this in the bag!” After we both did our best impression they decided that even though my impression was really good, my Spanish was TOO good (the other guy fumbled through it) and they thought that the lead singer of Third Day wouldn’t know Spanish. Whaaaaat?! I was definitely the better impersonator! In that moment, the radio hosts decided to award us both with tickets to both shows!!! What a blessing! I NEVER win ANYTHING!!! I laughed at myself hysterically, because I could feel how dorky I must have sounded, lol. Either way, it was well worth a little embarrassment!  

 The Josh Wilson concert was tonight and Bryan had to work, so I went with one of my best friends, Ashley. We had a great time!! Josh Wilson put on an amazing show and played 24 instruments throughout his show! It’s amazing to go to Christian concerts, because it is essentially a concert of worship. A huge group of people from all over, coming together to worship Christ together. It’s moving; it’s beautiful; it’s a blessing. Here’s some pics from the concert!

Wes Pickering opened the show and assisted Josh Wilson during his set

Josh Wilson's Noel Tour

Ashley and I enjoying the show!

Thankful Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I must say that with the help from a few wonderful people in our family assisting us, we successfully hosted our first Thanksgiving! My husband cooked the most amazing Turkey I’ve ever had!  We bought a frozen turkey, thawed it, brined it, stuffed it, and roasted it in the bag. It was delicious. This brings me to my #18 item of thankfulness: my husband’s cooking skills! For those of you who don’t know this, Bryan is an amazing cook! I’m so blessed! When he was choosing what he wanted to do as a career, he was actually torn between nursing and culinary school. He chose nursing, which he is also very good at. His compassion for people makes him one of those nurses that you always hope you get when you go to the hospital. Nevertheless, his love for cooking and creating delicious concoctions still remains. In addition to the perfect turkey, he also made Pistachio Marzipans. Holy moly were they delicious!! Being the perfectionist he is, he said, “I think I can make those better next time…” I thought they were fantastic, but I heard “next time…” and so I figure it’s a win-win for me!

#19: Thanksgiving goodies. Does Thanksgiving not have the best foods or what? Thanksgiving is the one holiday feast that I don’t mind eating days after for leftover. Oh and I have eaten leftovers for days; this is no exaggeration.

#20: My personal favorite: sweet potatoes/ Yams. Any way shape or form, I just love this nutrient-packed super food! This year, we had two side dishes including these wonderful vegetables: sweet potato casserole and Yams with marshmallows and pineapple. Perhaps I love them so much because they are a side dish that taste like dessert!

#21: As you can probably tell our kitchen was busy and our oven full with preparation and cooking of dishes. I sure am thankful for the Market Day fundraiser that I purchased some pies from, because I was able to bake those in advanced! To my pleasant surprise, they were SO GOOD! I purchased an apple and a pumpkin pie. The apple pie, in particular, was the best I’ve ever had—no joke!

#22: After eating as much as I did, I am thankful for my Xbox Kinect because we had some fun burning some calories while playing Just Dance 3. Don’t knock it until you rock it, because it is harder than it looks! You don’t think it will be that difficult, but then a couple songs in you definitely start to break a sweat! Just Dance 4 just came out, anyone get it yet?

#23: After all the hype in prepping for the holiday and then the excitement /exhaustion of the day, some nice R&R was definitely deserved and needed. I am thankful for those much needed days of resting and relaxing with Bryan & Tiger watching episodes of Parenthood.

#24: In addition to the holiday weekend, we also attended my 10 year high school reunion. I must admit…I was nervous. I was nervous all day in fact. I didn’t know what it would be like. Would people be off in their cliques and ignore everyone else there? Would it feel like high school all over again, and not in a good way? I knew most of the people that I was really close to weren’t going to be there, so that high school fear of “not knowing anyone” came rushing back. The only difference is that I had my best friend by my side, my hubby. So despite my reservations, I put on my big girl pants and went. I am happy to say that I actually had a really great time! I got to see people I haven’t seen in forever, laugh with old friends about random silliness, and even talk to people that I was just acquaintances with. Either way I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to go. I’m thankful for the people you are able to pick up where you left off when you do see them. Lastly, I'm thankful that mostly everyone, whether we were great friends or merely acquaintances, was really nice and as excited as I was to see everyone!

#25: I’m thankful for the advent tree at church. Bryan and I have always wanted to give to kids for Christmas that wouldn’t otherwise have one. My church, like most churches, has an advent tree with hundreds of opportunities to give gifts to those in need. We are so grateful to be in the position to do this and for the opportunity!

#26: We are so thankful for our home! For all of the obvious reasons, we are blessed to have a home that is safe and warm. We are also so blessed to have a home where we can host family and friends! I thought of this as I was finding layers of clothes to wear to work because the heat never seems to work in my classroom. I have to layer up my sweaters and sometimes wear gloves, boots, and my coat while I teach, or sit with a blanket while at my desk. It is THAT cold. This makes me soooo thankful to have a warm roof over my head!

Days 5 and 6: Voting and Prayers

While I'm definitely thinking about what I'm thankful for day-to-day, it does appear to be challenging to write about it every single day especially during busy weeks like this one! So today will be for yesterday and today. Going ahead, I may not post every day, but I will surely cover all 30 days when I do!

Gosh, as if everyone everywhere wasn't talking about voting anyways...I have to go ahead and add it to this too. This is the dialogue that is going on in my mind right now, but the truth is that this blog is a record of my life, something my family and I can look back to and say...oh yeah! I remember that! So yes, I am talking about voting.

Don't worry, I'm not going to make this yet another political rant. Instead, I just want to say that I'm thankful for the opportunity to cast my vote. I'm thankful that we live in a time and in a country where I can voice my opinion and have my voice somewhat heard via casting my ballot. I think we, as a society, lose site of this. We most likely forget about this sentiment because during this campaign time, so much hostility surfaces. It's actually saddening to see so many unproductive arguments take place due to differing opinions. Don't get me wrong--I feel strongly about my voting choices and the political candidates and issues I vote for; however, I also feel strongly about the ability to carry on conversations with people who have differing opinions without being offensive, abrasive, or breaking relationship ties. Having the ability to listen and carry on dialogue doesn't mean that you are allowing people to change your mind. To me it means that I'm acknowledging the fact that we are different, but that I still have a larger obligation to love and care for people regardless.

I am thankful for living in a nation that I can vote. It's liberating! I actually get excited to go to the polls, greet the same lovely ladies who check my name off and hand me my ballot every year. It's kind of cool to stand at your little booth and work your way through the complex language of the ballot issues. I love that when I am finished with my ballot, it's always the same cute, old man who instructs me to tear off the bottom tabs and insert my ballot into the scanner one at a time. Oh and then we get the sticker! Can't forget about the very cool, fashionista sticker that I get to sport for the rest of the day! Then I get to oogle over the baked goods for the PTA bake sale and make my donation in exchange for some delicious home baked goods! Yumm!

So after all of these descriptions, I bet you're wanting to know our personal choices for voting day....Well, Bryan got chocolate covered pretzels. I got peanut butter cookies with the peanut butter cups in the middle. :) Haha

Moving on...

I am also thankful for prayers. We are so blessed to have so many prayer warriors amongst our family and friends. Whenever we are in need it is so nice to know that we have been blessed with people who are willing to appeal to God on our behalf right alongside us. When we are feeling down and out, we have people who are constantly keeping us lifted up in prayer. Like I've said in past posts, I just love Matthew 18: 19, 20. There is something so special about a community of believers praying together! Joining in purpose to pray! You all know about our number one prayer request right now (babies) and I'm just so thankful to know that so many of my family and friends have reached out to me to let me know that they're praying. I believe the Bible to be the living truth and so I know that God hears our prayers based on His promise in Matthew 18:19, 20. So to all of my praying warriors: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thankful for an opportunity to serve

Day 4:

Today I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve at my church. I teach 2-4 year old children's Sunday school at church and they are so much fun! Have you ever been in a room with 12 kids between the ages of 2 and 4 that are full of energy? Many of you may be thinking that this is frightening, but to me it's awesome. I love the way they speak broken sentences in their tiny little voices. I love that they get so excited to cook pretend food in the pretend kitchen and watch me get so excited to pretend eat it. I love the noises they make as they push their fire trucks, choo choo trains, and tug boats around. I love that the second you put a song on the dvd player, they jump, dance, sing, and laugh with joy. I love that they are so thrilled to be good helpers. I love that they spontaneously will just come up to you wanting a hug or to sit in your lap. I love that they have the most innocent little faces and hearts. Even though I have so much fun in that hour or so I get to spend with them I love the way they get so excited to see their mom or dad pick them up after Sunday school, because I can't wait to have children and have my kids light up the second they see me. When God's ready to bless us, we're ready. Until then, I truly am thankful for the time I get to spend with these joyful, wonderful little kids!

Day 3: Down time

Today I'm thankful for the weekend! As I'm sure the rest of you can agree, today I am so happy to just be relaxing! I wish I could say that I'm occupying my time doing some super cool activity, but I suppose I'm a little more "duddy". As fun as super busy, fun activity weekends are sometimes I so desire a weekend of minimal responsibilities or obligations.

This is one of those relaxing, minimal responsibilities weekends. A weekend free to do whatever it is I'd like to do. So here it is: I got to catch up with a few people on the phone. We had dinner with our awesome, fun and chill friends- the Myers and then Bryan and I got to just chill and watch our latest show "Parenthood". By the way, if you're looking for a new show to watch, this one is a hilarious drama about families. I don't know about you all, but it can be challenging to find a show that both the husband AND the wife equally enjoy. We really like this one!

To some this sounds totally boring. To me, it sounds absolutely perfect! Let's get real, these kind of weekends are few and far between and I am surely thankful for the much needed down time!