Fragmented Joy

I am really stinking so far at getting my counted blessings posted for the Joy Dare, so today I'm getting them up right away instead of waiting until evening.  Today's prompt was 3 sounds I hear....

91.  A favorite song blasting on the car radio while I'm zipping down the road and singing along.

92.  The exuberant bark/howl of a hound so excited to see me that he nearly wiggles out of his skin.

93.  Rain drumming on the roof in the dead of the night.

This looking for the blessings is a good exercise.  It keeps me focused on what's important and that, I am happy to report, seems to be keeping those winter blues I usually fall victim to at bay.  Hooray!  It also seems to be having the effect of bringing some gentleness to my spirit, which if you'll recall, is my word for the year.  Double hooray!

I hope to start working on some posts on becoming a Titus 2 woman (my main goal of the year) over the weekend so with a bit of luck you'll start seeing something come Sunday or Monday.

Moving on to Friday Fragments by Mrs. 4444's at Half-past Kissin' Time.  I don't know if I have much to de-frag this week, but I'll give it a shot.

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Work is really progressing on the old church our congregation bought.  We are doing much of the renovation work ourselves and Tim and the other men who work in construction have more free-time than usual right now due to the weather and the slow economy.  (There's a blessing...even in the bad of less income.)  My daughter's boyfriend is even getting involved.  He is going to refinish one of the pews and if we like what he does, he will be doing them all!  Everyone is getting excited and we are hoping to be able to move in this summer rather than the fall.

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Megan hasn't heard about the nurse's aide position.  I am praying that just means they haven't done anything.  I wish I knew how to light a fire under that girl.  I love her to death, but she seems content to put a couple of neighborhood kids on the bus in the mornings for a few dollars a week, sleep all day, and hang out with her boyfriend and friends all night.  Frustration is a key word around here, but I just keep praying.  And praying.  And praying.  And...

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Winter has reared it's ugly head in a big way today.  Just the other day it was nearly 50 degrees and the sun was shining.  Today it's about 20 with a windchill near zero.  It's snowing and it's windy so it's blowing .  The school district I drive for didn't have so much as a 2-hour delay.  They should have canceled.  It's terrible over there.  This morning I had to drive to work on roads the PennDot crews hadn't touched yet, deal with a whiteout in a little valley I drive back into with the bus, and coming home one of the township plows pulled out right in front of me...never even looked my way...and I hit the brakes but couldn't stop.  He looked up in time to slam on his brakes and that left enough room for me to swerve around the plow.  Had anything been coming the other way....it would not have been good.  If he hadn't looked up and stopped....it would not have been good.  I really dislike winter.

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That's all I can think of for now and I have to go grab some lunch and get myself psyched up to go back out there for the afternoon runs.  Yippee.

Stay warm and have yourselves a great weekend!

Looking for My Heartsong

Give thanks to the Lord,

for he is good;

his love endures forever.

~ Psalm 107:1

That seems simple and straight forward enough, doesn't it?  God is good.  All the time.  His love is, was, and always will be there for me.  I should thank him for it as often as he loves me.  In other words....all of the time, in all things, without ceasing.

So, why is it so hard sometimes to be thankful?  Why, even when I am purposely looking can I sometimes not see his faithful goodness?  

This purposeful looking and expecting definitely helps but sometimes the eyes of my heart are just not seeing.  Or is it that I don't know where to look?  It is possible that even as far as I've come in my journey that I have missed or maybe forget all the ways that God is faithful and good?

Today is one of those days where life is not bad, nothing is wrong, but I can't seem to see a single blessing that isn't the same old ones that seem trite and a bit of a cop out.  So, today  I searched in scripture for reminders.  And in the Word, I found reasons for thanksgiving:

• God's goodness and love echoed and repeated over and over in Psalm 107:1, 1 Ch. 16:34, and 2 Ch. 20:21.  
• I am reminded 4 times in Psalm 107 to thank God for the wonderful deeds he's done for men.
• Psalm 56:3-4 reminds that he protects. When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.  What can mortal man do to me?
• God has provided my salvation as Romans 7:24-25 reminds, What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!
• God takes care of our daily needs, Matthew 14:19 -20.
• He gives faith, hope, and love.  We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. 1 Th.1:3-5
• Grace
• Healing
• Victory over sin and death

Faced with such faithfulness how can I not see things to be thankful for?

And what should my thankfulness look like?

Sing and make music 

in your heart to the Lord,

always giving thanks

to God the Father

for

EVERYTHING...

~ Ephesians 5:19-20

Heavenly Father, may my thanksgiving be a heart-song that is always pleasing to your ears.

For the Joy Dare...

88.  A gift in my hand:  A stone spearhead given to me by my grandmother.  She found it in her yard after a rain.  We spent a summer learning about it, reading books on local tribes and visiting museums and even "pestering" archaeologists at a local dig.

89.  A gift I walked by:  The corner cupboard that was a Christmas gift from the husband that reminds me he loves me enough to make the long trip to get it and to struggle to get it into the house...just because I admired it.

90.  A gift I sat with:  A little boy on the bus born with just a bulb of flesh where his ear should be.  A device protruding from his skull allows him to hear, but socially he is "different."  The other kids are not nice when he comes near.  And near he goes.  He wants to be friends.  His brilliant smile never dims no matter what comes his way.  Each moment is joy for him.

Weekend Joy

It's been a good weekend...hopefully it's going to be topped off with a Steeler victory over the Broncos.

Friday night Tim and I had dinner at a small diner in Ligonier.  Ruthie's doesn't serve trendy, gourmet dishes.  They serve homestyle comfort food at it's best.  We both had hot turkey sandwiches.  Mine came with fries, Tim's with mashed potatoes.  Both arrived on platter-sized plates.  Holy-moly that was a lot of turkey!  On the bright side of that, we were so stuffed that we bypassed the popcorn and candy at the movies.  We finally saw Tower Heist.  It was really funny.  Alan Alda made a pretty good bad guy.

Yesterday Tim spent most of the morning and afternoon working at the old church building our church bought.  He is in charge of the renovations....and it needs a lot.  I puttered around here and made a big casserole for the fellowship dinner after church.  We took his great-aunt as usual.  (To the people with whom she for some reason sat down with instead of with us...I'm sorry.  She is a "bit" high-maintenance.)  It was the first time in about a month we were able to stay for the dinner and we had a really good time reconnecting with everyone.

Today we went on the hunt for a new pair of workboots for Tim.  Ugh...he had better not ever say anything about how long it takes me to decide on anything when I'm shopping ever again!  He must have walked around the store looking at the boots 30 times and then bought the first pair he tried on and loved anyway.  Sheesh.  We hit the grocery store after that so Tim could pick out some things for his lunches this week.  I've spent the afternoon playing on Facebook.  I did make "funeral" potatoes at Megan's request (diced potatoes mixed with cream of chicken soup, sour cream, onion, and cheese, topped with a butter and cornflake crust and baked).  We had those with the leftover casserole (chicken, stuffing and a gravy like sauce) from yesterday.  Yummy on a football day.

The Steelers are on the board first with 3 points, by the way.  :)

From The Joy Dare...

82.  After midnight headlights beaming in the window letting me know a daughter is home safe.
83.  A husband suddenly appearing behind me in the mirror when I'm drying my hair.  He scared me and we laughed.
84.  Shadows of houseplants falling on the wall like a tropical jungle.


And on my own...


85.  A day without bickering.
86.  A happy daughter.
87.  One feather came out of my hair.

3 Graces

Continuing The Joy Dare, graces from the ones I love should not be hard....

79.  Laughter and conversation during an unexpected interlude with the teenage daughter who plopped down to watch a chick flick with me.

80.  Relaxing times with a husband who works far too hard and too much.

81.  Warm welcomes and embraces from friends.

The Joy Dare

Ann Voskamp is at it again.  She is beginning all over and listing another 1000 gifts in 2012.  This is my first list of 1000 gifts, but I have signed on to do it.  Ann's broken it down into just 3 gifts per day and to help you, she's got a lovely list you can print out with prompts for each day of the month.  Find it, and sign up to win a fabulous gift package from Ann here.

So, according to the prompts, here are my three gifts today.

76.  From my bag:  A pocket calendar decorated with my 3 yr. old granddaughter's art.  I see it and think of her little hands gripping the brush and swirling the paints.


77.  From my refrigerator:  From the door of the frig, actually....a picture of my dad, snapped at my son's 7th birthday.  It was just two weeks before he died from lung cancer and getting into our house, which was above a garage, took everything he had.  He refused to miss his grandson's birthday.


78.  From my heart:  Instead of the normal January gloom, my heart sings.  I am in love with life and all that God is showing me.

What about you?  Will you join the Joy Dare?