Looking for the Thankful

What a week.  So much sad news.  So many scary things going on in our world.  A good week to practice thankfulness.  Sometimes you have to look hard for the good.  I usually find it's right there - underneath my bad attitude and pity party.

So today?  A list of thankful.  Besides, I needed to take a break from Netflix.

1.  No fever so far, today.  For my girlie or for me.

2.  Sunshine.  Fall sunshine is different.  I love it.

3.  A very neat and orderly house (thanks, Son #3!).  I woke up to a clean kitchen, laundry started, house neat.  Impressive.

4.  Kids who can get out the door for school without momma.  Glad it doesn't happen very often!  I missed kissing them all goodbye.  Of course, I wouldn't have kissed them, anyway, since I'm sick.  Boo.

5.  Coffee still left in the coffee pot.

6.  Feeling good enough to get some muffins in the oven and some chicken soup in the crockpot.

7.  Clean sheets.

8.  Thieves oil blend.  In the diffuser and on chests and feet.

9.  That even though I missed watching three games Monday night (because I was home with my feverish girlie), there weren't games to miss Tuesday, Wednesday, OR tonight.  So nice to rest.

10.  Beautiful picture from Little Man while I was sick in bed, yesterday.  He's quite the artist.

Most of all?  The reminder that sometimes the little things need to be let go.  But sometimes the little things are exactly what we need to pay attention to.

Last night, feverish and discouraged, missing time with my family and my aunt who is in town this week, wishing so much I could just WILL myself to be well, I left the bedroom, while the Coach was getting to bed, to get some IgG and Florajen.  Ended up talking with the big kids a little bit.  By the time I came back to bed, the Coach was sound asleep. But when I looked on the floor I almost cried.

Because you see, Little Man has been coming into our room every night since our July Colorado vacation.  Every.  Night.  I figured after a couple of months of this (I'm a slow learner), that the easiest way to deal with it was to make him a bed on the floor before I went to sleep.  If I don't, he wakes me up.  So if there is a nice comfy (ha!) spot on the floor for him, he'll just crawl right in and go back to sleep and we all feel better the next day.  With #8, it's easier to realize that they DO grow out of these things - and they aren't worth stressing about.

Well, most of the time, I forget until I'm already comfy in bed.  Then I get back up and put it out for him.  So when I came to bed last night and saw this, I felt so loved.

Because my Coach had made a spot for Little Man.  Before I had a chance to do it.  And on HIS side of the bed.  Sweet man.

So yes, let the little things go.  But also remember to NOTICE them and be thankful.

And while we are at it?  What is WITH this book stack?  Ha!  Love my reading man.

It's time for me to put some of these back in our already bulging book shelves, I guess.  

Thankful today for the little things.  For the little ways my family and my Coach have loved me this week.  So thankful.

Happy Thursday!

One of those days. . .

Yep.  It's Monday at the troops.

Laundry everywhere.  I do mean everywhere.  Clean and unfolded.  Dirty and unsorted.  Dishes from last night still lingering.  Shoes.  And more shoes.  Spread throughout the whole house.  Unmade beds.  Towels that didn't get hung up.  Cereal boxes still on the dining room table.

I woke up feeling overwhelmed.  Tired.  Trying to think through this day and how to get it all done.  Turns out, unless cloning has become an option over night. . . not going to happen.

Jr. High Volleyball.  Jr. High Football.  Senior night for Varsity Volleyball.  I can't be everywhere at the same time.  The Coach?  He's not sure how to make it work, either.

To top it all off, I have a girlie home not feeling well, today.

Pretty sure the kids will want dinner, tonight.

And the gray roots?  They are shining in the morning sunlight.

Yes, the list is long.  The calendar full.

But so is my heart.

Because this girlie?  She cried about MISSING school.  You guys.  I just can't even.

And this house?  The dishes are strewn about because the kids fixed their own dinner while I was out with Daughter (#1) taking senior pictures last night.  SENIOR PICTURES.

And the laundry?  It didn't get folded because the Coach, Son (#3), Grandmother and I ran the Voices in the Dark 5K yesterday afternoon to raise awareness and help combat human trafficking.  We also all placed first in our age divisions.  Ba Bam!

And the mess?  Well.  There are 9 of us (just not the same as 10, is it?).  There was also a Pumpkin Patch on Saturday and yard work and errands and a date night with my handsome Coach.  Who was also on the front of the sports page on Sunday morning.

Reminds me of our basketball theme last year.  No mess, no mission.  Where there are no oxen the crib is clean.

If the troops weren't happy and healthy and BUSY, the house probably wouldn't be such a colossal mess.  And I wouldn't be as tired.  And my girlie probably wouldn't be sick (late Friday night football games and Oklahoma allergies are NOT our friends).

But instead.  We have the mess.  And a long list of things to be grateful for.

My second cup of coffee (which I've been enjoying while I type).
An early morning Sam's run.
Chicken and Salsa in the crockpot to eat in tortillas for dinner after the games.
"Moms Night Out" to watch while my sickie rests and I fold that gargantuan pile of laundry.
A box of hair color for those gray roots.
The amazing Fall sunshine filtering through the kitchen window by my desk.
A plane ticket purchased for Son (#1) to come home for Christmas.

And already today?  A call from my Coach with an "I love you."

Better go.  I'm missing the beginning of the movie!

Happy Monday!