An Attitude of Gratitude & Current Ramblings...

I don't do separation well. At all. I was doing better Monday-Wednesday, but tonight I'm a wreck. It's only 2 more nights without my spouse but geeze! The cats are too. They hiss at Dad whenever he comes into our house. They meow constantly at me asking where James is. I love my husband so much & can't wait until he gets off that church bus Saturday evening! He can't get here soon enough & the kitties agree. I cannot WAIT to hear all about the trip & everything God has taught him.

Extremely grateful for my mom's cooking/food preparation for us this week. Haven't eaten fast food AT ALL for the entire week & it feels great. I feel so much healthier & even though I haven't even thought about being hungry in the past 5 days, I still just feel better & less "preserved". I need to discuss with James meal planning & really focusing on eating more at home (& learning to love left overs) because it is WAY more cost effective and healthy. I need some really good tried-and-true recipes for a meat, cheese, and potatoes kind of husband. Any ideas?

Our power bill was only $192. PTL! For people who keep their thermostat on 68 degrees always, that is very good for July.

Today was a quite lovely day to myself. Woke up, had some quiet time, went to water aerobics, & then spent the afternoon treating myself to a manicure, pedicure, and brow wax. Yes please. And the best part was, because my frequent customer card was filled up, I got everything half price!! That means I paid the same amount for all three services that I'd normally pay for just my pedi. Things like that really make me happy, although I did feel guilty for the "splurge" since my husband is in a third world country sweating his brains out.

Tonight, we grilled ribs & I went by BBQ Shack and got slaw (love) and their stew. It was delish. Dad worked on our deck steps for the third sweltering night in a row and they are going to be much more stable & safe now. He also discovered a hornet nest under our step & seriously killed like 10 of them. So thankful that no one was stung & that he found them. We had no clue they were there.

I've decided I don't want our TV to hang above the mantle, because its fine & out of the way where it is. Plus, we really need a family portrait canvas up there instead of the knick-knacks currently adorning it. We can spend the money on a nice portrait instead of a wall mount.

I was going to use our blower to suck up all of the leaves getting on my last nerve around our porch. I went to get the blower from the storage building and opened the door to a lovely black snake. I screamed for Dad to bring the shovel but it slithered behind a piece of wood & Dad talked me into letting it live. Better a black snake than something poisonous. I figured that was a sign I shouldn't suck up the leaves & let James do it when he returns :) As long as it gets no where near my house, I'm fine with our decision to let it live.

Wanting to do something to really tone my arms. They are developing into "Smith" arms as my mama says & I'm being driven crazy over it. I think I've built muscle at the Y over the past few months & didn't "lose" the fat on top of it so its left me with "beefy" arms. Yuck. Gag.

Looking forward to spending Friday night at Summer's house (saw FB chat of possible catchphrase & apples to apples=LOVE) & then spending a day with the ladies at the mall on Saturday before James & mama come home. Yay for girl time & (window) shopping!

Have I mentioned my father is the bomb dot com? Because he is. I've felt like a queen this week just spending time with him & not really doing anything other than some simple jobs around the house. He's come in every day sweating and exhausted from working in the heat for eight hours, yet after a "power nap", he's ready to go help do something for me, something for us, something for our home. What a blessing this man is! I've determined his "love language" for me as his child is "acts of service". I love him so much & am thankful for the way he lives his life, works so very hard to provide for his family, and has a servant's heart. (Read any of "The Five Love Languages" books by Gary Chapman if you haven't for more info about "Love Language")

This morning while reading my Bible, I came across this passage:

But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NLT)

Sometimes I really feel like, for whatever reason, that I am "too blessed". I've had/have/experience this special favor from God. All of us as His children have this favor. Geeze, what a great "problem" to have, right? God has given me SO much & I don't deserve any of it. I just don't fathom WHY He loves me enough to bless me with everything He has--Salvation, Amazing Husband, Best Family in the World, Great friends, great job that I love(I cannot believe year 3 is upon us!!!), good health, nice home, nice "things", food to eat, clean water to drink, the list could continue infinitely. I guess if I could "get" why He does these things for us, He wouldn't be God, right? While I'm certainly not wishing He'd take away any of those or not continue to bless my life, I need to do a better job of making sure that there are more "results" of those blessings He's given me. My life needs to exemplify praise for His abundant grace & mercy and His protection over my life. Those results should be using my life even more to glorify and honor Him. And also to praise Him even MORE for what He has done, is doing, & will do in my life.

Speaking of praise, this girl's got it going on! When I get to Heaven, can I *please* sing just like her?

Christy Nockels 

(Waiting Here For You)

Absence makes the heart grow fonder....seriously!

Warning: more of a personal journaling rather than public entertainment!

So this sounds completely PDA, mushy, and a little silly but I am missing James SO MUCH...and he has only been gone 13 hours! Yeah, really, I'm THAT bad. I hadn't thought much about him going to Mexico without me-I just knew he needed to go and that I would enjoy some quality time staying with my dad while he was gone. That was it. Despite having an absolute blast going on a daddy-daughter date to see "The Zookeeper" (fabulous, BTW) and having a much-needed day of rest, I am managing to become a slightly overly emotionally attached wife in need of hearing from her husband. I'm afraid I will cry tears of joy when I finally hear from him. Gag, I know! Temporary Separation is good, I am fully aware. I thought time away would be good for our relationship (and I know it IS!) but I never thought I would suffer from separation anxiety! I'm not that kind. I know I will feel better once I hear they landed safely (should have been in Cancun @ 4, through customs with luggage by 5, and on their way with Mauricio (missions leader) by 6. So here it is, 6:31 and I'm a little restless. I know international travel & its nerve racking tendencies...but I've allowed an extra 30 minutes for that. What would I do if James had to travel for a living? I don't think I could handle it.

Mental note: I can't blame all of this on being emotional...we actually haven't spent one single night apart since getting Married last June. Not one. So these feelings are normal...right?

Summary of today:
1. 5:00am--see my mom, husband, & other close friends off for the airport.
2. 6:30am--awake, wishing I was going through TSA pat downs with them.
3. 11:00am--oops! finally fell asleep I guess, Dad thought I needed to rest today, so we missed church.
4. 12:30pm-My mom loves us SO much she had a roast with all the fixins' prepared for us for lunch. De-lish. I thoroughly enjoyed! BTW, my dad has a new fascination with oranges in his sweet tea & it is DIVINE. Why haven't we thought of this sooner?
5. 1:30pm-Trying to work on grad school paper due tonight....not happening! I miss my husband!
6. 2:00pm-Get ready to greet the day & head out on our daddy-daughter date. Love him.
7. 3:30pm- Laughing hysterically @ Kevin James & talking animals. I will own that movie!
8. 5:30pm- Slightly homesick as I stop by, finish some laundry @ my house, check on our kitties (obviously already missing us), and discuss some home improvement with dad. (Insert really missing James now)
9. 6:30pm- writing this blog post, anticipating a phone call any second.

God is SO good at teaching & stretching us....and we're only 13 hours in. I'm so glad James decided to go despite having second thoughts! God is going to use him & grow him this week!

"Wherever you go, I will go; & wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, & your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, & there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, & more also, if anything but death parts you & me" (Ruth 1:16-17)