thirty thankful days-day 13-crazy night

Every day in November I am posting something I'm thankful for, and I would love to have you join me!  Link to your thankful post below, or write about it in the comments.  Let's be thankful together!


Well, as I've mentioned before, we had a mess in the bathroom a few months back.  This past week our friend Brent finished the work and we have a functional bathroom again!  Last night I decided to shop my basement for some things to put on the new bare walls--see what I could make work from the random things I have stored down there.  I looked for a while in our storage room, and then remembered something that might be in the closet in the guest room.  I headed in there, and then...SQUISH.  My sock feet were wet from a soaking wet carpet!  OHNO!  This room is directly below our newly fixed bathroom.  I looked up and found a giant bubble in the ceiling where the paint was catching a leak.

Yikes!  I yelled for hubby to come quickly, and the craziness of the night began.  Turned water off.  Called my dad for help.  He came.  Called our friend Brent.  He came.  Pickle needed a shower--called my sister to see if we could come shower at her house.  She said yes.  And then the dog had a scary seizure in the midst of it all.  Crazy night..

Long story short:  the leak wasn't as bad as we all thought it was.  Brent was able to find it and fix it.  The casualties only seem to be about half a room of carpet pad and some drywall.  And by ten-thirty, the water was on, showers could happen, and we were back to normal.  Even my doggie seemed back to his normal self.  Whew.

Here's some lovely pics of how it looks today.

this is the closet area where the leak was.

the other side of the room with the contents of the closet and the folded back carpet.

The closet doors and the contents of our furnace room (also affected) in our playroom.

So why be thankful for this crazy night?  Not sure I am, but there are lots of things to be thankful for in the midst.

1)  I'm thankful I went down there!  Seriously, I can go weeks without going into that room.  That could have been a mess with a capital M, huh?
2)  I'm thankful for my husband who sprung into action to take care of things.
3)  I'm thankful for my dad and Brent who came, when they were probably headed to bed, to help us out.
4)  I'm thankful Brent was able to find the problem.
5)  I'm thankful this is not a-whole-nother insurance claim.
6)  I'm thankful when we were in full-on panic mode, Bubba and I were able to sit down and pray together about it.
7)  I'm thankful my sweet dog is OK now.
8)  And I'm thankful that we could shower and brush our teeth and all those things one should do before heading to church.  :0)

So, in spite of it all...and in spite of the mess down there at the moment...I am very thankful.

What are you thankful for?  Link up or comment!  Let's fill up blogland with thankfulness!

A few simple instructions for the link up:

-please link to your specific thankful post--not just your blog

-please link back to theGoodlife in your post so others can join the fun!
-feel free to grab the 30 thankful days graphic--I haven't figured out how to make it a button yet.  I'm such a techy, huh?

thirty thankful days-day 12-a day away

Every day in November I am posting something I'm thankful for, and I would love to have you join me!  Link to your thankful post below, or write about it in the comments.  Let's be thankful together!


Today I'm thankful for the day away I had yesterday.  I took a little personal retreat--a day away from the normal distractions of life, to a different setting.  It was a day to think, pray, journal, read and listen.  I knew there were some things I needed to spend some extended time with God on, and it worked out for me to spend my day off doing just that.

First of all, check out the awesome sunrise that greeted me at home that morning.  Breathtaking.

Not far from my home there is a catholic retreat center--where I was able to have a little room for the day.  It was a blessing to be there.  When I arrived in my room, I quickly went to the window and looked out to see what my view was.  The first thing I saw was him.

taken from my window                                       

This buck stayed outside my window almost the whole day, and I spent a lot of time watching him and the other deer who ate, played and rested on the lawn outside my room.  In fact, I pulled the chair in my room over to the window and camped out there.  There are often deer on the grounds there, but I thought it was a special gift from God for so many to be in my view as I sat and read and wrote and prayed.

Even though it was cold, I went for a walk on the grounds in the afternoon.  The deer were all over, and it seemed like at times they were just posing for me to snap their pictures.  I only had my cell phone with me...but I snapped away.

It was a good day.  I'm thankful.

What are you thankful for?  Link up or comment!  Let's fill up blogland with thankfulness!

A few simple instructions for the link up:

-please link to your specific thankful post--not just your blog

-please link back to theGoodlife in your post so others can join the fun!
-feel free to grab the 30 thankful days graphic--I haven't figured out how to make it a button yet.  I'm such a techy, huh?

thirty thankful days-day 11-a little free time

Every day in November I am posting something I'm thankful for, and I would love to have you join me!  Link to your thankful post below, or write about it in the comments.  Let's be thankful together!


Last night was tutoring night.  Pickle has been seeing a tutor weekly to help her with study and organizational skills, as well as a few little brain glitches.  She's been a big help...but she lives pretty far from our home, and not near anything else.  So tutoring nights mean we leave our house by 5:30 and get home at 8:30.  Much of that time is driving, since I usually leave the tutor's home to run an errand--20 minutes to anything--and drive back to her house.  So, it's not my utmost favorite evening.  Even though it's worth it for the help Pickle is receiving.

At the last minute tonight, Pickle's tutor and I decided to cancel our session for a number of reasons.  And guess what?  5:30 - 8:30 was suddenly free!  Wahoo!  I didn't do anything super productive with the time...talked with my husband, watched a few youtube videos with my daughter, proofread my son's report, did a little facebooking, caught up on X Factor.  You know, important stuff.  :0)

What a gift it was.  Space in the day.  Unexpected space in the day.  That's what I'm thankful for.

Oh, and I'm also really thankful for this--my favorite video we watched last night--of my friend Nicole on the news welcoming home her hubby from Iraq yesterday.  Click and enjoy, it will make you happy.  Thank you and Happy Veteran's Day to all who serve our country!

Nicole and Andrew's Homecoming!

What are you thankful for?  Link up or comment!  Let's fill up blogland with thankfulness!

A few simple instructions for the link up:

-please link to your specific thankful post--not just your blog

-please link back to theGoodlife in your post so others can join the fun!
-feel free to grab the 30 thankful days graphic--I haven't figured out how to make it a button yet.  I'm such a techy, huh?

thirty thankful days-day 10--my bosstor

Every day in November I am posting something I'm thankful for, and I would love to have you join me!  Link to your thankful post below, or write about it in the comments.  Let's be thankful together!


As I've mentioned before, I have the privilege of working as the Children's Ministry Director at our church.   It's a job I love very much.  Just about two years ago we got a new senior pastor--who is also my boss.  (Get it? boss/pastor=bosstor?  Kay, that's lame--I made that word up too-late last night when I started this post...and am leaving it cause I like to laugh at myself.)

How do I begin to describe Don?  Passionate.  A visionary.  Straightforward.  A Teacher.  Developmental.  A Leader.  Missional.  A strong communicator.  He is unlike anyone I've ever known before.  Our church has been blessed by his leadership in many ways.

But I'm not thankful on behalf of my church today, I'm thankful for Don's impact on my life in particular.  I have never had a boss speak into my life the way he does, and I've had some really developmental bosses.  He has great insight into people and is able to mentor people like I've never been mentored before.  He does not tread lightly, and is willing to call out things others might not.

Don and I up front at church after our VBX  (hence the green T-shirt)

Last night we spent a few hours talking about me...about what he sees I'm good at. And about what I'm not good at.  He asked me to get over not being good at certain things (working on it...), and to stop trying to do them.  He doesn't want me spending my energy in those ways.  He is able to tell me what type of leader I am, and how that positively impacts our team and our church.  I can't say I completely get everything he said to me last night...It always takes me a while to wrap my mind around it, but I have a feeling he's pretty dead-on.  When I came home, my hubby and I processed, and he seems to agree with the things Don and I talked about.

I am growing and changing under Don's guidance, not only from his teaching, but particularly under his mentorship.    He names my gifts and strengths very specifically, which is extremely affirming.  And he also names the things holding me back, which are sometimes hard to hear--but which I believe is an even bigger investment in me.  God is using Don to help me look at myself in ways I probably wouldn't have. And for these reasons, I'm thankful for Don, my boss and my pastor (my bosster? heh heh) today.

Who would have thought I could still have so much to learn about myself at age halfway-to-ninety??  I'm thankful I'm not done yet...

What are you thankful for?  Link up or comment!  Let's fill up blogland with thankfulness!

A few simple instructions for the link up:

-please link to your specific thankful post--not just your blog

-please link back to theGoodlife in your post so others can join the fun!
-feel free to grab the 30 thankful days graphic--I haven't figured out how to make it a button yet.  I'm such a techy, huh?