Mabrey, an 86 year old man…a former elder at our church…a man married for over 60 years is laying in his bed with only a few days left on this earth. 

He and his wife, Madge have lived here for over 50 years and worked with the church and local Christian college for every single one of those years. They have visited and prayed with the sick, they have taken meals to people who have a need. They have made phone calls and sent cards and checked on people to let them know that they care about how they are doing.

They traveled four hours to my home town to be at my mom’s funeral four and a half years ago. They knew my parents as students here at York College…but for them to make that trip…I was so honored and touched.

Mabrey was diagnosed with cancer several months ago and took quite a turn for the worse over Christmas time. All his family are in town, Hospice care is helping, he is at his house now in a hospital bed waiting to go home…

I visited their house last week to hug Madge and to take some food for the family. While I was there to encourage her…Madge was asking me how I was. Through her weariness and sadness…she was still loving on others. I am always amazed at her care for others.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a finer example of a help meet. She is a woman who has worked tirelessly alongside her husband to further God’s kingdom. 

I’m so grateful for the lives of Mabrey and Madge and the example they have been of a couple who spent their life serving others. What a fine example to follow.
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What are you grateful for? How has God been working in your life? Write about it on your blog then come link up with us here. Here are the details. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment to let us know what you’re grateful for!

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God is good. All the time.

Whether your year was difficult and full of trials…easy-going and full of simple wonderful-ness…or a likely mixture of both…I hope you are able to look back on 2008 and see all the many ways God has been good to you. 

As I look back on 2008 for our family, here’s what I’m especially grateful for:

• We’ve reached a new season in our lives in which we are no longer in the diaper – baby – realm. We miss the baby stage quite a bit…but our four little-but-bigger boys are so, so sweet and this new season with them is such a joy.  Thank you God for our four awesome sons.
• Along with this change of seasons…God has given us a “new ministry” in which we’ve been able to mentor and develop relationships with young married families with and without little ones. We are so excited about this and thankful that God can use us this way.
• We’ve prayed and dreamed and talked for hours about Matt’s career and God’s provision for our family. We feel as though we have found His answer for us through Matt’s new construction business (and a few other businesses we’re tinkering with like shaved ice and snow removal). It feels so good to have answers.
• This website has taken off and is SO much fun. I’m so grateful for this ministry/business/hobby/positive focus that has become HeavenlyHomeMakers.com.
• The blessing of this year which is perhaps the one that has impacted me the most is how God has patiently been working in my heart and has helped me to heal from some recent hurts. I’ve been able to forgive a couple of people that I’ve been working to forgive for the past year and a half. Holding on to hurt and anger is so, so painful and discouraging. God has helped me to let go and move beyond the anger. Finally. Reaching this point and knowing that my heart is going to be okay again is a refreshing relief. I know it’s still going to be a continual process…but reaching this point is such a joy. Blogging and becoming a part of this community with you has been a tremendous part of my healing. It has been wonderful to have something positive and new to focus on this year. Thank you for doing what you didn’t know you were doing for me…helping me to heal.

Thank you for letting me share with you. 

All the time…God is good. His light is brighter than the darkest darkness. He is love and light…and I pray that in 2008 you have seen His love and light in all of your joys and sorrows.

Take some time to reflect on your year and and join us for this special edition of Gratituesday:  How God Was Great in 2008. Or if you’d rather…simply write about a recent blessing. Link up with us here so that we can all read about God’s goodness on your blog. (Or leave a comment of thanks if you wish.)

God bless you all as we look toward a new year.
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My Uncle Kenny lives right here in town…and my aunt and two of my married cousins. Seems like everyone is running in different directions much of the time…but we try to get together off and on (although not enough). It’s comforting that even though we don’t have any of our immediate family in town…we DO have family in town.

I always call Uncle Kenny to come over when I make my potato soup or fried chicken. He LOVES my potato soup and my fried chicken. And…he’s a chiropractor, so I go visit him and get occasional adjustments (for the family price of free…although I usually take him a jar of potato soup or some cookies!). 

Last week Matt and I had a soccer banquet to go to. Uncle Kenny has told us to bring the boys over anytime when we needed to go somewhere…but I’ve hated to take advantage of that too much. (Plus…we really just don’t have that many places to go!)  I called and asked if he’d keep the boys while we went to the banquet…and since it was during dinner time I offered to bring a big pot of potato soup.

Uncle Kenny chuckled and said that while he loved my potato soup…why didn’t I just take the night off from cooking and he’d cook up some burgers for the boys? Wow. Well, okay. 

We saw him at church the Sunday before the banquet and he went on and on about how excited he was about the boys coming for the night. He made it sound like we were HONORING HIM by LETTING him watch our boys for us. 

They had a blast with their Uncle Kenny that night. They downed the burgers and chips and cookies (who wouldn’t have a blast with a menu like that!?)…then they watched a movie until we got back to pick them up. I’m not kidding…we walked in the living room…and all four of them were sitting all in a row on the couch like four silent little angels. Wow…Uncle Kenny must have magic powers (either that, or they were in a sugar stupor). :)

Uncle Kenny talked about how much fun it was and about how good they were and about how we’d have to do it again sometime.

I’m so grateful to have him in town and that he is so willing to love on our boys (and us). And…I really want to take an important lesson from our experience that night:  Whenever we offer to serve someone by babysitting or otherwise…I want to make the recipients feel like it is our privilege to serve them…like Uncle Kenny made us feel. What a tremendous gift.
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What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Read the guidelines here, then come link up with us and share how God is working in your life!

NOTE:  Next week we’ll take a break from Gratituesday (although please feel free to have a grateful day next Tuesday! ;) )  We’ll pick back up with Gratituesday on Dec. 30. For our final Gratituesday of the year…I’d love for us all to share How God Was Great in 2008! Please make plans to join us for the How God Was Great in 2008 edition of Gratituesday on Dec. 30!
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Guess what we brought home with us after visiting my family in Kansas at Thanksgiving? A whole deer!! 

Our family friend, Bert, LOVES to hunt. My dad has many acres of land on which to hunt. My dad doesn’t charge Bert anything to hunt on his land. So, several years ago, Bert told him that he’d give my dad one deer each year in payment for hunting on his land.

My dad doesn’t like deer meat. So guess who gets a deer each year?! We do!! (My dad doesn’t understand why we get so excited about that.)  (Maybe you don’t either. Do you like deer meat?)

We think it’s yummy…and of course we like the free meat part of the deal. Our favorites are the tenderized steaks that I make into chicken fried steak. Yum! And with the hamburger meat, we make chili and tacos and sloppy joes and spaghetti and….you get the idea.

What’s really cool is that Bert acts like WE’RE doing him a favor by LETTING him hunt for us. (You’re welcome, Bert. Glad we could help.)  He is grateful that we appreciate it so much and can use the meat because he enjoys hunting so much. His wife isn’t a big fan of deer meat, so she appreciates us too. EVERYONE wins!!

Bert told us that if he gets another one this year, we can have that too. GO BERT!!

So, this Gratituesday I’m grateful for how God provided us with a whole shelf full of meat in our freezer. And for friends who are willing to share.
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What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Share about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. Read the Gratituesday details here. Don’t have a blog? Leave a comment letting us know what you’re thankful for!

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Well, I’m feeling a little better but oh my goodness I’m low on energy. Who knew typing (and thinking) took so much strength. Sorry in advance for typoos and mistakz.

I’m thankful for our time in Kansas, where I was able to rest and rest and sleep and rest. A couple of times I even felt like getting up to play some games. Saturday I was so very thankful to feel well enough to have an awesome visit with Marie and her family. It’s so incredible to meet cyber friends in person!

When we arrived home Saturday night, my fever came back and I haven’t been out of bed much since. I’m so thankful that Matt and the boys are taking such good care of me. I’m thankful that my fever is now gone and I’m beginning to crawl out of my place of sickness. I’m thankful for DVDs and PBS (which the boys are getting an overload of right now). I’m thankful for soup. I’m thankful for pillows and quilts. I’m thankful for Karen Kingsbury books. (And if I wasn’t sick, I suppose I would be thankful for the opportunity to actually lay around and read.)  ;)

I’m thankful to finally be feeling a little better so that I can do a few things. I’m thankful that I am not going to overdo it.  (Yes, that was a hint to myself and also a reassurance to all of you that I’m not going to overdo it and get sicker.)  (In the next few days while you read any upcoming posts that involve cookie baking or any other activitiy that requires remaining upright for longer than five minutes…just know I’m not overdoing it…I already started working on those posts and taking pictures last week.)  (Which is probably when I overdid it but we won’t go there.)

I’m also thankful that my boys are going to clean up the mess they made in the living room while I spent so much time in bed.  (Yes, that was a hint to my boys to come in here and clean up the boxes and markers that are ALL over the place. And why is my gallon bucket of coconut oil on the steps?)  :)
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Please share what you’re grateful for this Gratituesday! It continues to be so encouraging to read about how God is working in your lives.
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**UPDATE**  Looks like Mr. Linky may be under the weather too. I heard something was going around, I just never knew it would reach him too. SO…leave your Gratituesday link in the comments if he’s not cooperating. Thanks!

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With Thanksgiving right around the corner…being grateful is in the forefront of our minds.

Hopefully.

Sort of.

I mean, it should be. 

But there are so many things to do to get ready for Thanksgiving. 

I’m focused right now on getting food ready for the big day. And making sure laundry is done so that we can pack to go to my Dad’s for a few days. And getting gifts ready to take to Kansas since we won’t be there at Christmas time.

How grateful I am that today is Gratituesday so that I can take a few moments to be still and focus on being thankful. In honor of Thanksgiving…here is my top 10 list of things I’m thankful for:

10. You. My blog would be very lonely and not at all fun without you. You enrich my life. Thank you.

9. Provisions. We always have everything we need. And then some.

8. My home. It’s not just my house, it’s my home.

7. Challenges. Yes…because they make me rely on God more fully.

6. My Christian family. We need each other.

5. My friends who sharpen me, hold me accountable, teach me, laugh with me…and just make me better because of who they are.

4. My extended family. How great it is to have so many people in my life who love me and take care of me.

3. My four sweet boys. They are my joy.

2. My husband. Who would I be without Matt? I don’t want to know.

1. Jesus…the reason I can be thankful. The reason for life.

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I hope you’ll take some time to just be still…and focus on the things you are thankful for. What a wonderful week Thanksgiving time is!! Please share on your blog what you are thankful for, then come link up with us here so that we can all read about what God is doing in your life. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment telling us what you’re grateful for this Gratituesday!

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Sunday, Matt and I were priviledged to go see the movie Fireproof. 

Hearing that this movie was coming to town, our church lovingly bought out an entire matinee so that anyone from our congregation could go for free. AND, they arranged the teens to babysit for free at the church fellowship hall.

What a blessing.

I’m usually not a big fan of movies and often feel disappointed after watching one. Not this time. I thought this movie was excellent and recommend that everyone go see it if you can. 

Have you seen this movie? Are you planning to? Be sure to take kleenexes!

I’m so grateful for the producers of this film…and grateful that Matt and I were able to see it together….and I’m grateful for my marriage. 
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What are you grateful for this Gratituesday?  Read the details here, blog about your blessings, then come and link up with us so that we can all read about how God is working in your life!

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I mentioned here that Matt’s job future was a bit uncertain. Matt’s boss has a definite moving date now, so his final day of work with him was last Monday. 

We have known for over a year that this would happen, so we’ve been planning for it. We feel very strongly that God wants us to stay in this town to continue building on the relationships we have here. 

Matt has decided that as long as it works, he’ll just continue to do construction/home repair work on his own (plus soccer coaching in season). He’s already lined up several jobs and every day another possibility comes up for more work. 

He also purchased a nice snow blower at an auction and has been talking with various downtown business owners (and homeowners) about snow removal. Already, he has some contracts worked out to remove snow for people. (Sorry fellow Nebraskans…never thought we’d say this…but our theme song around here is “Let it Snow!”.)

Beyond these two things, we also plan to continue to cater auctions and are looking into other possible catering ideas. (Since we know a thing or two about food and enjoy it so much.)  :)

We’re excited about the possibilities. By doing a little of this and a little of that…it should add up to enough.  God always gives us enough.

Sometimes I look too far into the future and get a little nervous. Sure, he has jobs lined up for now. What if the jobs stop coming in? What if it doesn’t snow much this winter? What if, what if?

I finally decided…Focus on one day at a time. That’s all any of us can really do anyway, right? Each day has enough worry of it’s own. One day at a time…God will provide.

I love being able to rest in his promises.
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How is God working in your life? Write about it on your blog, read the Gratituesday details here, and come link up with us! We all want to read and share together about God’s greatness and care for us! God is so good!

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