Gratitude Challenge Day 6

Today's post is about gifts. Not material gifts but gifts that were given to each of us from God. Some may call them spiritual gifts. We all have them whether or not we want to acknowledge them or draw attention to them or share them. 

I would like to encourage you to take some time today to think about your gifts. Your talent. Maybe it is something you can do like sing or play an instrument. Or maybe you have the gift of listening to others and inspiring others or public speaking. Or to serve others. Or something science based. Or the gift to cook or making others feel important and special. Maybe you have a gift of teaching. Whatever your gifts are, write them down. Acknowledge them. Share them.

 are you using your gifts? Sharing them with others? Maybe using them in your church or donating your time by volunteering with your gifts? Are you fulfilling your dreams? Do you think it's too late? It's not! If you are not using your gifts or doing things that add fulfillment to your life, then make a  change. you are the only one who can do that. I think that God gives each of us special gifts and it is up to us to recognize those gifts and use them. When we do this according to His will, we can find peace and contentment in our lives. And as you do this think about the gifts that your children have (if you have kids). How can you help them to find their gifts and share them?

For me, I realized early on that I have a gift of music. Growing up I was happiest when I was playing in the band or orchestra or singing in the choir.  I was very thankful to be able to share my gift as I grew up. 

I recently began singing and playing my flute with my church choir. It felt like coming home when I attended the first rehearsal even though I didn't know anyone in the choir initially. I enjoy it and enjoy sharing my talent to make others happy. You never know what God's plan is for your gift or how He is using it to reach others.

I also use my gift in my profession as a music therapist which is really rewarding. When I first learned about music therapy and how I could use my gift to help people, I knew that was what I wanted to do.

And I teach. I love teaching young students how to play the flute and use their gifts to make music and to help them to express their musical gifts!

So today I am thankful for the many gifts that God has given me. And the opportunity to use those gifts and share them with others.

What are your special gifts? Are you sharing them?

What are you thankful for today?

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful day:)

~Rebecca~

Gratitude Challenge Day 5

It's Day 5 of our challenge already! Which means it is Nov. 5th! Time sure flies doesn't it?

Today I will continue to say thank you for my family. I am so grateful for them all but today I will focus on my parents. We should all be grateful to our parents since we wouldn't be here if it weren't for them! :)

These pictures are my parents at the New Directors Conference at the Shaklee headquarters in northern California. They earned this trip last May and had a blast:) My mom is also my business partner in Shaklee, which is a lot of fun to do together.

I am the youngest of 3 by 6 and 9 years! My parents didn't think they would have any more children and then…..SURPRISE!!! They had me. I am grateful for that!

Today I am thankful for my parents for raising me with faith, giving me guidance and love and for helping me to grow into the person I am today.

What are you thankful for today?

Have a great day!!

~Rebecca~

Gratitude Challenge Day 4

Yesterday I talked about how I am thankful for my oldest child, Andrew. And today I would like to focus on my youngest, Benjamin who is 3.

Today I am so very thankful for my sweet, loving, smart, funny, caring boy, Benjamin.

Benjamin is always surprising us. That is exactly how he came into this world in August of 2010, six weeks before his due date. My labor came on fast and hard and we almost didn't make it to the hospital on time! He was born less then 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital and was quickly rushed off to the NICU where he spent the first 19 days of his life the first 7 of which were on a ventilator to breathe. He was really sick but we had faith in God's plan and that he would be ok and he was.

So he had a very rough start in life but is now a very healthy little boy. 

He did have one more rough patch when he was 13 months old where his lungs got very sick again and he spent 11 days at Riley Childrens in Indy. 

But he bounced back from that too and since then has been very healthy, surprising his doctors who predicted he would be asthmatic and in and out of the ER when he got sick. We are so thankful that has not been the case.

Benjamin loves to play and he looks up to his big brother Andrew. Benjamin is sweet, handsome, caring, smart, and so funny. He loves sports, books and loves to socialize. We love him very much and cannot picture our lives without him in it. We are so grateful to God for entrusting us to be his parents. He is truly a gift in our lives.

Thanks for reading. What are you thankful for today? Have you been keeping up with the challenge? It's never too late to join in. 

Have a great day!!

~Rebecca~

Gratitude Challenge Day 3

I am very grateful for my children. I have two here on earth and two in heaven that we never got to meet.

But today I will focus on my oldest child, Andrew, who I am so very thankful for.

When we became parents over 5 years ago, we had an idea of what to expect with sleep, feeding, burping, changing, etc. We after all, like any first time parents, had a read copy of "What To Expect When You're Expecting"! :) But what we had no true idea about was the amount of joy and love we would have for another little being. Parenthood is an amazing gift and one that I have learned in these last several months to not take for granted.

A friend of our family wrote us a beautiful card sometime after Andrew was born. She said that when we see him smile at us, when he hugs and cuddles with us, when he looks at us….that is the face of God! We can see the Lord through our child and all children as they are so close to God. WOW!!! That was so profound to me and I think about that sometimes. Really puts things into perspective for me as we were all created in His image. And I am so thankful that God entrusted David and I to care for Andrew. and to raise him and teach him. Such an important job that I do not always think I do a good job at. But then I see my son look at me, smile at me, trust me to care for his needs, and I realize that from his perspective, I am doing a pretty good job. :)

A few things that come to mind when I think of my oldest son are that he is smart, handsome, witty, sensitive, shy, a perfectionist….and he teaches me things every day. He is also a good helper and a great big brother. He is compassionate and thinks about things in ways that I don't. I enjoy seeing the world through his perspective. I am truly blessed to be his mommy and love him so much. :)

Thanks for reading. What are you thankful for today?

Have a great day!!

~Rebecca~

Gratitude Challenge Day 2

Day 2 of our Gratitude Challenge….

Today I am Thankful for My Wonderful Husband, David.

Our spouse or significant other is someone who we or at least I, sometimes take for granted. When I realize this, I am sorry that I have done it.  I am thankful for David, a gift that God has given me and our family. 

I remember on our first date, Jan 11, 2001 at the Bread Garden in Iowa City, we had a conversation that actually turned to marriage. Not like we were thinking that we would get married that day or anything but just a conversation. And David said something to me that really stuck with me. He said that when he gets married, it will be only one time. How rare is that these days! And now that we have been for over 9 years I realize that he meant it. 

Through the good and bad times. We all have them. David is a loyal man, hard working and a wonderful provider. He is a good husband and an excellent father to our two little boys.

So today I am thankful for my husband. My partner in this journey and probably the only person I know who can truly put up with me! LOL!

Thanks for stopping in. What are you thankful for Today?

Have a great day!

~Rebecca~

Gratitude - A 30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge!

I can hardly believe it is NOVEMBER already! I find it interesting that when I was a kid I couldn't wait to grow up..for my next birthday. To become 16. Then 18. Then 21. After around 25 I think I was ready for time to slow a bit. It seems to just fly by and I definitely can have it slow down as I am only a few years, ok maybe 2 years and a few months, away from 40!!! Wow! 

Anyway, back to topic. Since it is November, people start talking about gratitude. Being thankful. Thanksgiving. You see daily posts about it on Facebook. On Twitter. The news media talks about it. Talk shows focus on it. People are reminded of all that we have and all that we should say Thank You for !!

For me this is a great lesson. As time moves on, I find it easy to take for granted all that God has given me. And when I really sit down and write it out, He has blessed me with so much!!! He really has. It is so easy to focus on negative things in our world.  You see that kind of stuff everywhere. It's also so easy to compare ourselves to other people. The grass is always greener as they say. I know I have gotten caught up in this. But when we focus on positive things, surround ourselves with positive people and start each day being thankful, our perspective changes. We are happier. We see things in a new light. 

It's easy to get caught up in the day to day stuff. Ugh, the dishes need to be loaded into the dishwasher AGAIN (but then I realize how thankful I am to HAVE a dishwasher!) Or the laundry is piling up AGAIN! 

But hey, we have a washer and dryer that works well and detergent to clean our clothes…and while we are at it, we have the money to BUY clothes that are nice. Or are thankful to people like my mother in law who have clothed my children in the past so they have nice things to wear. 

When I think about those things then my attitude changes from ugh I have to do more chores to…hey God, thanks for giving me another one of Your days so I can do my chores to help my family. And while I am at it, thanks so much for my family!!! They may drive me nutty at times but they are all in all pretty darn awesome and are blessings in my life.

So there. I went on to write a quick post about gratitude and you know what it did? It turned that sink load of dishes and baskets of laundry that are waiting for me when I stop procrastinating here, to something to look forward to. Ok, I know you don't buy that. I don't look forward to doing those things - ever! But it changes my perspective  just a bit to know it is one of the things that God has called me to do. For that I am truly grateful.

So my challenge to you is to think of one thing you are grateful for each day. Write it down. Put a Facebook or tweet up about it. Or comment here. Tell a friend. Tell your significant other. Tell God! try it. It will brighten your day and help to put things into perspective.

~

Today I am thankful for….God and the gift of my life. I am not deserving of all of the wonderful blessings He has given me but I am so incredibly grateful for another day here. 

We are all His children. And that is something to say thanks for. :)

Thanks for reading! I hope you will join me in this challenge for the next 30 days. 

Have a wonderful day!

~Rebecca~

Halloween Fun!

My family had a ton of fun on Halloween. We were concerned about the weather but it held out while we went trick or treating. It was mild temps and a little light drizzle. Not bad! My husband and I took the kids out for a little while and then my youngest and I came home to pass out treats.

 Here are some fun pictures that we took of the kids. Some of the pictures are from Benjamin's costume party and parade at his preschool. They had so much fun and were so cute:) You can also see how my husband loves to decorate for Halloween. He puts up all of these scary motion detecting decorations that the kids love and little ones are afraid of. No tears this year so that was a good thing!

Did you have a fun Halloween? What did your kids dress up as this year?

Thanks for stopping in! Have a great day!

~Rebecca~