Daily Thanks – 10/27/2009

Today I’m thankful that….

• Collin read me a story today on the way to school called ‘Space Pup.’ One of life’s most fulfilling rewards is to watch your child’s mind expand and potential open up before them.
• Some of us got to load a semi with bags of corn this morning that will go to feed hungry people in Honduras. The semi will take 42,000 pounds of locally grown corn to people who the mission team from our church met this summer. This is all through the Bryantsville Hunger Relief Project. You can go read about it here. Allen Burris, our minister, and a lot of other people on their board do a lot of hard work to run this ministry.
• I got to help Rose Warren pick up food for our church family’s food. She and Ralph do a lot of hard work with our food pantry to feed people here in Mitchell.
• I picked Collin up at school to take him out for lunch at El Compadre. It’s funny to have a dad/son lunch with just the two of us. He wanted me to teach him how to add ‘big numbers’ together while we ate.
• While I was at school I got to see Jenny Day and Nurse Deb, who are always fun to chat with.
• While we were at El Compadre, we ran into Jess Cassidy and Scotlyn, who were enjoying a mother/daughter lunch carry-out together! We even got to talk for a second about the geocache that’s hidden at her office. Collin and I are planning to go visit her and find it soon! 
• Matina Hobson and her daughter, Tara, worked hard to fix a great lunch for some of the youth group girls. Thanks Matina! Lindsay Slone also helped with lunch, as usual, and Melissa Passmore helped too!
• My old friend, Randy Hamm, stopped by for a chat today.
• Cousin Christie, who works at Verizon, got a new phone setup for Michelle today and we picked it up this afternoon. Elsa was very excited for Michelle to get a new phone because she got Michelle’s old one for a toy. She even took it to bed with her tonight to sleep with.
• Matthew and Kortni had us over for a great dinner of homemade pizza. Grammy and Pappy got to come too!
• Alayna Super and I had a great chat today!
• We had Upper Classmen discussion group tonight and had a good discussion on God’s principles with Curt Parsley, Jake Parsley, Alayna, Rebecca Burris, Alyssa Jenkins, and Lauren Young.
• God gives us principles that guide us no matter the situation we’re in.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 10/?-26/2009

Well, I’m getting back to my thanks! The last two weeks were crazy with work, travel and school break.

Today I’m thankful that….

• Today on the way to school, Collin and I listened to his favorite new song: “Gitchee Gitchee Goo” from Phineas and Ferb. Now, let me say that I’ve never been much of a cartoon lover but Phineas and Ferb is witty and funny!
• There’s a line in that song that says, “Bow chicka chicka bow wow, that’s what my baby says.” Michelle is having fun randomly saying “Bow chicka bow wow” as the kids pass through the room just to hear them finish the line. They never fail. We’ve listened to the song so much that they finish it without even knowing they’re doing it. It’s hilarious.
• Emily Murphy and I had a great chat about life today.
• Matina Hobson stopped by the office to chat today.
• We had youth group pizza lunch today, which is always fun and humorous.
• After school at FM, we went geocaching. Jake Parsley and I had been a couple of times. Rebecca Burris and Becky Warren came along for the first time. We found 3 caches and also found a huge gravestone in an old, country cemetery of a man who was buried standing up. Interesting!
• We also delivered popsicles and orange juice to Ashley Earls, who was home sick. It was Rebecca’s idea!
• Michelle fixed split pea soup for dinner. I don’t really like soup all that much or split peas. But the soup wasn’t bad. What I love mostly is that Michelle loves us enough to make homemade things for us to eat that are good for us.
• We had a relaxing night at home just hanging out.
• I got a text from Lauren King last night, which was cool since I hadn’t talked to her in a couple of weeks.
• Martha & Marc Fields fixed lunch last week for the girls group.
• Christy Knowles sent me an encouraging wall post of Facebook.
• Jennifer Coombes wrote from OK to check in on Spear World. I think she probably thought something happened to me since I hadn’t blogged in so long!
• Last weekend I got to watch Meghan Hill marry David Newsom. Collin and Elsa were in the wedding. Elsa wore a dress that Meghan wore when she was a little girl. Collin had trouble keeping his shirt tucked in and his pants straight before the wedding. He kept saying, “Daddy, will you help me uncrooked my pants?”
• Luke Burris, Collin and I got to go geocaching while we were in Alabama for the wedding.
• I got to meet Caroline Cook’s parents and also worship with them at their church family on Sunday morning.
• I had lunch last week with Larry Hollan, Bryan Edwards and Andrew Muth. That’s quite a crew.
• Over Thursday of fall break, our family went geocaching and had a blast. We ended up at the Bryantsville church graveyard. As we were leaving, Collin said he had to pee. I told him just to pee outside since we were out in the country. He then asked if he could climb up on one of the church’s picnic tables, stand on top of it and pee off to see how far it would go.  He’s special. And yes, I told him no.
• On Friday, I went to lunch at Asuka with Lauren Young, Jocelyn Schlegel, Rebecca Burris, Darci Roberts, Aaron Taflinger, Ashley Earls, Ben Burris and Emmalee Shover. Ashley was trying to show Lauren her phone and tried to slide it across the habachi grill, which was on. It stopped half way across and it would have melted after another few seconds if they hadn’t rescued it.
• Collin, Elsa and I drove out to Williams on Saturday to see the covered bridge. The covered bridge has been there since 1884 and is covered with graffiti on the inside, which saddens me but fascinates Collin. He’s in first grade and just learning to spell so any large collection of words catches his attention. He said, “It must have been high schoolers who did the graffiti because no one else could spell all these big words.”
• Caroline Cook and I are having an ongoing conversation about God and life. I like that.
• Some of the teens and parents forked my yard to show me how much they love me. You can see pics in my facebook album.
• Grammy performed in the local Dancing with the Stars! She’s cool!!!
• God shines his light on me, not to merely show my faults or to show his displeasure, but to warn me of dangers and point to peace.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 10/7-9/2009

Today I’m thankful that….

• I got to start off Wednesday morning with Breakfast at Arby’s with Mike Church. He’s neat guy to chat with.
• Then I got to have lunch with Grace Armstrong, Chelsea Neely and Katie Thomas. We had Chinese, which is Grace’s place of employment!!
• Heather Willison and Lisa Buschman both sent me encouraging messages on Facebook.
• Kayla Butler quoted me on her Facebook status. I knew I liked that girl! Ha!
• Curt Parsley wrote an interesting blog from Washington D.C. this week. You should go read it.
• Wednesday night, we had a great youth group class on our American Teen series. We talked about how rational fears that go unresolved can often create new, irrational fears. We went on to talk about how love drives out fears and that God is love. This is the heart of the message.
• Thursday morning I had breakfast with some of the Orleans teens at Maple St. restaurant: Becky Warren, Peggy Asbury and Josh Spradlin. Those three are fun and crazy!
• We made our weekly trip on Thursday to Hoosier Hills Food Bank to pick up bulk food to bring back and feed needy people in Mitchell. Lindsay Slone and James Warren made the trip to help. Lauren Young and Emmalee Shover met us for lunch at Asuka!
• Lauren pulled another ‘Lauren moment’ again. Before lunch, she was in class over at Ivy Tech. She couldn’t remember if we were all meeting for sure to eat but her cell phone was dead since she forgot her charger in Lafayette. So she couldn’t check directly with anyone by cell phone. She got on an Ivy Tech computer and logged into Facebook. She looked to see who was online and saw Marci Carmichael also on Facebook over at ISU in Terre Haute. So Lauren instant messaged Marci on Facebook chat and had Marci send me a text asking about lunch plans. I text Marci back with the details and she sent an instant message back to Lauren who then had all the details she needed to meet us for lunch. I’m sure there’s a good analogy about life in this situation or at least some social commentary that needs made, but Lauren makes me laugh too hard to ponder anything very serious.
• Today was our weekly youth group breakfast at Arby’s!! Rebecca Burris, Melissa Wilson, Evan Day and Riley Day all beat me and Collin to Arby’s. That doesn’t happen often!! Also at breakfast were Joey Armstrong, Grace Armstrong, Stephan Brazzell, Cody Burton, Chelsea Neely, Dylan Terrell, Alayna Super, Jake Parsley, Wes Burcham and Mickayla Crane. Did I miss anyone?!
• I had a great, relaxing day at home with Michelle, Elsa and Jude. It was great.
• We all went for the second installment of our flu vaccination this afternoon. Now supposedly we don’t have to worry about the flu of the swine invading our bodies.
• Collin and I took a bike ride in the rain in the late afternoon. It’s glorious to hear him laughing as we ride through huge puddles with water flying everywhere. His face was covered in mud specks of mud when we got home and we were both soaked. It’s like getting to re-live my childhood over again!!
• Elsa has taken to fixing her own hair, which usually involves a head band, two bows and about 7 pretty barrettes all used at once. It’s very unique and pretty as you might imagine.
• Matthew and the Impact club at BNL hosted a tailgate party tonight before the football game in Bedford. Several churches worked together to donate things. I’m very proud of Matthew for being the sponsor now of this Christian club at BNL. He was the student president of it his senior year of high school, if I remember correctly. And it’s neat to see him grown now into a successful teacher and leader.
• Jude is a strong little dude who in already trying to roll from his stomach to his back.
• My TomTom GPS was delivered this week. Thanks goes to Luke Burris for technical advice on the purchase. Thanks also goes to Jake Parsley for entertaining heckling during the purchasing process.
• Collin is loving the GPS. He’s learning all about maps, streets, signs and directions. The plan is to start geocaching soon!
• God is speaking to us in many ways, through many means.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 10/5-6/2009

Today I’m thankful that….

• The last two morning have been pleasantly chilly. I love Fall. I’ve also added a bike ride to my morning the past two days.
• Emily Murphy and I had a great chat about life. She’s a very bright young lady.
• Monday was our weekly youth group pizza lunch, which is always fun. It’s a great relaxed way to meet new people and invite friends.
• Jonathan Arnold brought his new bulldog puppy by the office so we could see it. It’s cool!
• I had vegetable soup for lunch on Monday. It was from Arby’s. This is a strange thing for me to be thankful for because soup isn’t a meal; it’s a side dish. But hot soup reminds me that it’s Fall. And I love Fall. I think I’ve mentioned that before.
• Monday evening we had our family picture taken for the new edition of our church family directory. Jean Sowders is doing a great job as usual capturing people’s lives in photos and she’s also doing a great service for our church family.
• Monday night Collin and I took a nice long bike ride over to the north side of town. We got to chat with Wes Burcham in the school parking lot and we could see Addy Hardman down by the bleachers cheering with her squad as the MHS JV team played Perry Central. We also stopped by Tom & Paula Sowders house because we saw Matt and Emma and Anna playing in the backyard.
• Before bed Monday night, Collin asked if it would be a good night to put his tooth under his pillow to see if he could get $5 for it since he had so much trouble getting it out. If you know Michelle and I, you know that we often don’t have cash on us or in the house. (we’re debit card people) So Michelle said, “Collin the tooth fairy may not have $5 on such short notice.” Collin said, “Maybe you could check to see if the mommy tooth fairy has one dollar and the daddy tooth fairy has the other four dollars.” Do you think he’s onto this whole tooth fairy charade?
• Monday Night Football. I love Fall.
• Tuesday morning was cloudy with rain on the way. I love rainy days.
• I saw Mr. Hanner out walking with his grocery cart. George Hanner is an older gentleman here in town who is of lowly means and has very little in the way of life’s comforts. He walks everywhere and I try to pick him up as often as I see him. Today was a good day for this because of the rain. I don’t tell you that I often give an old man ride so I can pat myself on the back or so you can think I’m good. Only God is good. I tell you to remind you that helping people is good for your soul. You should find a way to help someone every day. It’s easy if you just look around with helping in mind.
• Ryan Fields and I had lunch yesterday. Ryan is always a good guy to hang out with.
• Yesterday was also girls group lunch. Lots of fun with that crazy group: Rebecca Burris, Melissa Wilson, Alayna Super, Jocelyn Shlegel, Addy Hardman, Ashley Earls, Chelsea Neely, Katie Thomas, Alli Trevithick, Clara Cave and a couple of their friends.
• Anthony Edwards stopped in to chat and just see how life was going. It’s great to work for a group of leaders who actually lead and who love Jesus.
• Clara Cave and I had a great chat about life. It’s good to feel good about life!
• Nikki Arnold, Emily Cessna and Emily Williams all sent notes on facebook that made me laugh or smile.
• John Hudson and I had a good text conversation about books and life. There’s a lot of potential in that guy.
• Jude smiles…a lot.
• Elsa sings…a lot. She also runs several businesses from behind my recliner including a library and a Wal-Mart.
• God begins preparing us to bless others during their troubles long before the troubles even begin.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 10/2-4/2009

My last two weeks have been the kind of busy that makes you want to turn your mind off every time you sit down. Of course, these same kind of weeks by necessity don’t allow the luxury of turning your mind off. But they were good weeks. Just no time to blog. But I’m back at it this week!

Today I’m thankful that….

• Last Wednesday, several of us made a trip to Lipscomb for a college visit: Lindsay Slone, Lauren Young, Alayna Super, Rebecca Burris, Melissa Wilson, Wes Burcham, Calvin Cooper, Joey Armstrong, Darci Roberts, Aaron Taflinger, Ashley Earls. And Josh Link and Jessica Duty, from Lipscomb’s admissions department, worked really hard to set up our day and make sure it ran smoothly. Also a big thanks to Mackenzie Johnson who took a couple of the teens to class with her.
• While I was at Lipscomb, I also got to see Taryn Hill and Earl Lavender briefly. And we all got to hang out with Nikki Arnold, Callie Ann Starkey, Luke Burris,  Caroline Cook, Meghan Hill, Davis, Kirk Averitt.
• Alayna was an excellent co-pilot / DJ on the late night drive home from Nashville!
• Friday morning was youth group breakfast, which is always a great way to start the day and weekend. Collin brought along a book he borrowed from the school library that teaches you how to draw Bakugans.
• I was able to volunteer some time at school in Collin’s class on Friday morning. I taught a lesson on the science of popcorn popping! I took in the popcorn machine from the youth room and it was really funny to watch them ‘ooo’ and ‘ahhh’ while the popcorn popped. Collin was my proud assistant, which is a job he took very seriously.
• Friday through Sunday was the annual SMBC Fall Retreat. It was great to hang out with the teens all weekend. Curt Parsley and Jimmy Pierce did a gret job planning and running the weekend. Steve Corp and Matthew Canada also worked hard to help lead/speak for worship times.
• Beth Parsley’s grandpa, Emerson, is doing better and is out of ICU. He had a couple of stokes last week so please keep him in your prayers.
• Nikki, Luke and Caroline came home for the weekend and brought some friends with them from Lipscomb. All the friends were great to meet and spend a little time with: Mackenzie, Sarah Dougan, Camille Santos, and Angela Harriger.
• Sunday morning youth group class was a good discussion even though most of the teens were still out at the retreat. John Hudson joined us for class and it’s always good to have him around.
• Sunday was a quiet afternoon at home with Michelle and the kids. And I got to watch most of the Colts game.
• Collin and I played a game of Bakugans, which he won as usual, but I’m thinking he cheats.
• Upper Room Sunday night was a good discussion also about we need to be well intentioned toward others. Curt joined us, which is always a treat!
• Michelle made some great shredded chicken with vegetables and mexican seasoning that we had on corn wraps.
• Collin and I went for a bike ride in the dark, which was our first time to go in the dark. I think he felt like manly out on he dark streets.
• Elsa is singing ‘For the Lord Is a Righteous God’ now as one of her favorite songs. She and Collin are also both still singing that ridiculous ‘Daz-Daz-Dazzling Day’ song hey heard at Holiday World this summer with Grammy and Pappy. It’s hilarious when they sing, dance and then take their bows for applause.
• Michelle and I got to play Scrabble last night during Sunday Night Football; three of my favorite things.
• I got almost 7 hours of sleep, which hasn’t happened very often here lately.
• God is reflecting Himself in the people around me.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 9/28/2009

Today I’m thankful that….

• Monday morning was nice and chilly. October is coming. I love October.
• It was peaceful morning at my desk to catch up on a few things after being gone this weekend.
• I drove up to Papa John’s to pick up pizzas and got to chat with Willy and Courtney, who run the place. They’re always cool to visit with.
• We had our usual Monday Pizza Lunch, which I enjoy because the teens are amusing at lunch!
• Jonathan Arnold stopped by for a visit in the afternoon. Jonathan is a good boy with a lot of potential!
• After school, some of us went to see Lindsay Slone at work and drink some smoothies: Collin, Elsa, James Warren, Joey Armstrong, Calvin Cooper, Nicki Coleman, Jake Parsley. Curt also met us there.
• I also got to see Emily Murphy while we were there.
• Michelle is a good mom and always letting the kids do creative things. She sees an ‘experience’ where I just see a mess. So when I got home from the office, Collin and Elsa went to the backyard. Elsa played with playdough while Collin took a huge, bright orange ball of yarn (provided by Michelle) and made something that looked like a ropes course all over the backyard. And we have a big backyard. He had it strung over his fort, around the swing, around the clothes line, through the door handles on the shed, across the garden and over several tree limbs that he had to actually throw the ball of yarn over. He’s special.
• Dinner was really good of fresh squash, onions, bell peppers, banana peppers, garlic and tomatoes sauteed with buffalo meat seasoned with cumin and chili powder. We had it in corn wraps with fresh bean & corn salsa. Good stuff.
• Collin and I got to take our first bike ride in a week!!
• Sometimes I get a good chuckle out of the kids getting in trouble. That may sound bad but let me explain. At bed time, Michelle walked into her bathroom to find many surfaces soaking wet and a spray bottle sitting in a small puddle of water. She asked Elsa if she’d done it but Elsa said no. The problem is that no one else had been in there but her. So we sat her in time out for lying and told her she was going to need to tell us the truth or there would be more punishment. Elsa at first said maybe Anna or Emma did it but, of course, they were across town at their house. Then she finally said, “Well, maybe I think so it might have been me maybe so.” You would have laughed too.
• Monday Night football makes the Fall feel familiar and relaxing.
• Luke Burris helped me make a GPS purchase: TomTom 130S. I got a refurb model off  Geocaching may be in our future. I’m thinking Collin will enjoy it!
• God sometimes seems to pack a lot into some days.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 9/25-27/2009

Today I’m thankful that….

• Friday was a hectic but good day. We got flu shots and Collin didn’t freak out like last year when he tried to escape by running out of the examination room and then out of the building into the parking lot. And he was happy that he at least got out of school for a while. We stopped to pick up mexican for lunch as a treat for the kids behaving well.
• Michelle graciously let me be out-of-town this weekend to speak at a retreat in Terre Haute. She’ll tell you she has no choice but to let me go but I’m thankful she’s supportive and kind about my absence.
• I drove up Friday afternoon to camp Wabashi, which I’d never been to before. It was great to be with Peter Reed, Jerimi Meyers and Wes Bedwell for the weekend. They have a great group of kids. I also got to meet the West family, which is lead by father Dennis, who were the cooks for the weekend. You can tell they really have servant hearts and Dennis made killer meatloaf. Then Julie West, one of the daughters, brought me sushi. It was excellent and very kind of her.
• Saturday morning, I got to fish a while on the lake at Wabashi and Peter practiced his turkey calls, much to the annoyance of the local turkey population.
• I met many neat teens this weekend at the retreat. I spent some good time getting to know a few of them: Bailey Chaney, Nick Stott, Brandy West and a few others. I also go to meet Molly Harris, whose mom used to go to my dad’s week of Bible camp when I was a little kid.
• The Sowders family and Nanny helped to take care of my family while I was gone. I appreciate all of them.
• Sunday morning we had a good discussion in youth group about God’s primary goal is for us to love each other and love Him and how everything has to fit into those two things.
• It was also Visitor Sunday here at MCOC so there were several new faces in worship. Allen Burris shared his thoughts on each of us being a masterpiece of God. I think it was a very encouraging, uplifting message. We also watched a cool video by the Skit Guys called ‘God’s Chisel.’ You can look it up on YouTube. It’s worth watching. Some of us saw them do it live at Impact this summer and it was neat to see it again.
• A bunch of the college kids were home and I to see some of them: Nikki Arnold, Callie Ann Starkey, Caroline Cook, Luke Burris, Lester Burris, Liz Young!
• I got to baptize Noah Greene on Sunday. I’ve known Julie all my life and it’s neat to be a part of the life of her family.
• Ryan and Sarah Ralston had us over for lunch of some great lasagna! We hadn’t been to their house yet and it was nice to see it. Ryan is quite the handy man and has built a very cool deck on the back. Larry Hollan and Amy Stout also joined us. We had quartet practice after lunch since we’re getting ready to sing for an arts festival next month.
• Upper Room was a great time last night to hang out with some of the teens. We had a smaller crowd than usual, which meant some more time to chat with a few of them.
• Michelle and the kids were playing in the back yard when I got home. She’s a good mom.
• Collin and I sat in the recliner and watched the Colts beat Arizona.
• I’m going to win my games in my fantasy football leagues this week.
• God blessed and guided me this weekend to new experiences, new friendships and new thoughts.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 9/23-24/2009

Today I’m thankful that….

• Wednesday morning was See You At The Pole, where students all across the country gathered to pray for our country and their communities. Rebecca Burris, Alli Trevithick and Jake Parsley got up to meet me at 7:30 a.m. to represent our youth group. Kris Slaten, an old friend of mine who’s the youth minister at Tulip Street Christian Church, was in charge of the Mitchell gathering and he did a great job.
• Cousin Christie took Elsa for her first manicure. They had a blast and you can see some picture of it on facebook. Elsa picked a pinkish color. Christie also took her out to lunch. She’s a good cousin!
• Grammy, Pappy, Matthew, Kortni, and Owen are at Disney World this week having a great time!
• I got a haircut. There are few simple pleasure in life that make me happier than a haircut. Kim Peck does a good job!
• I got to see Lisa Buschmann on Wednesday! She came all the way from Germany to be at the Persimmon Festival since she was last year’s Queen. She passed her crown on to Katie Burton. Congrats to Katie! Jenny Day also worked hard to run the contest this year so a big thanks to her from everyone also!
• Thursday morning I got to have breakfast with Mom and Dad on accident. I drove down to Orleans for Breakfast at Maple ST. with the Orleans teens but they all overslept and didn’t come. But Mom and Dad were in having breakfast so I had the pleasant surprise of hanging out with them.
• Lindsay Slone and Rick Milligan helped me make a trip to get food at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington. We brought home several hundred pounds of food to feed hungry people here in Mitchell from our church’s food pantry.
• While we were in Bloomington, Lauren Young met us for lunch at Bajio. I hadn’t been there forever and it was really good.
• Clara Cave and I had a great chat. She’s a great person to talk to and to know!
• I had a good chat with John Pyle about ministry the other day. He’s a good guy.
• Michelle had dinner on the table when I got home. She made zucchini stuffed with buffalo meatloaf. It was really good.
• We took a family treat trip to Paoli to have treats at Shakeburger. Collin had a raspberry sundae, Elsa had vanilla ice cream and Michelle and I had vanilla cokes. You should go for a treat at Shakeburger in Paoli when you get a chance!
• Before bed we were talking about marriage. Collin asked how people figure out who to marry. Michelle said that you’ll meet many special people and you’ll want to spend time with the one you have a lot in common with. She said that the interests that you share are what make people interested in each other. So Collin said, “So I’ll marry someone who likes the same things as me? Like if we both like Tigers or if we both like to wear hats.” I laughed but then I thought that Tigers and hats seem better than the reasons that some people get married!
• We read some Bible stories about Joseph before bed.
• God is constantly talking to me through the words of my children.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 9/22/2009

Today I’m thankful that….

• It was a rainy day and I love rainy days.
• It was the first day of Fall and I love Fall.
• Lindsay Slone and I met early to do some grocery shopping for lunch.
• At the JayC Store, Judy, the front end manager was very kind to an old man. The old man was in the check-out line in front of us. He handed Judy a coupon but she told him he needed to spend at least $30 to use the coupon, which he hadn’t done. She asked him if he wanted to get something else to put him over $30 or just use the coupon next time. He said, “I’ll take a pie,” and then just stood there as a few silent seconds passed. So Judy said, “What kind of pie?” to which the old man said he’d liked cherry the best. Judy smiled and asked him if he wanted it to be sugar-free. He said no and she went to fetch his pie for him. We all stood in line behind him, waiting for Judy to get back. I didn’t mind waiting at all. The old man smiled as he waited. Judy smiled as she returned with the pie. It was refreshing to watch a little picture of humanity.
• Lindsay and I went back to her house so I could teach her how to make white chili. She’s a good student and a quick study. She worked hard today to host some of the youth group girls for lunch at her house. And I also am thankful to Bob and Diane for graciously letting us use their house.
• I picked Collin up from school for lunch. We met Michelle, Elsa and Jude at the Methodist Church since they were serving lunch for the festival. At lunch we had good food and good company around. We got to see Deb Cory, Lucinda Fletcher, Priscilla Cessna and Velma.
• Priscilla and I talked about what a talented young lady that Emily is!
• We saw Kortni out walking with Owen and Brecken. She was pulling them in their red wagon. She’s tough!
• We had a great time at Lindsay’s while the girls ate lunch: Grace Armstrong, Chelsea Neely, Alli Trevithick, Rebecca Burris, Melissa Wilson, Ashley Earls, Clara Cave, Katie Thomas, Jocelyn Schlegel, Alayna Super, Addy Hardman and some of their other friends.
• Jenny Day gave me some forms I needed so I can volunteer time in Collin’s class room with Mrs. Shipman.
• As usual, we had a nice family dinner together and time to talk about how the day went for each of us.
• The Festival’s activities were moved indoors this evening to the high school auditorium. It was enjoyable to see so many people from the community in one place.
• One of Collin’s friends from school, Noel Slone, won Mini Miss Queen.
• Michelle had the kids in bed when I got home.
• I watched two episodes of The Office followed by two episodes of Seinfeld. That’s a great two hours of laughter.
• God seems to guide many interactions so He can encourage His children in many ways.

Join me in Daily Thanks by leaving your thanks in the comment box below or start a Daily Thanks list of your own!

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Daily Thanks – 9/21/2009

Apologies to my daily readers! I didn’t write the past couple of days because my weekend was crazy and tiring!

Today I’m thankful that….

• Even though we woke up late, Michelle is a master at getting Collin ready and out the door in time for school!
• On the way to school, Collin talked about how excited he is about the Persimmon Festival this week.
• Elsa and I got to sit with baby Jude a while this morning.
• I got all my SMBC Camp Board work finished up from our meeting over the weekend.
• We had our Monday Youth Group Pizza Lunch as usual so I got to hang out with several of the teens at lunch.
• Lindsay Slone went to pick up Chinese food for us for lunch.
• Logan Howard and I got to have pretty cool chat about life.
• Michelle dropped off Collin and Elsa at the office so the could hang out with me and the teens for FM. They had leftover pizza for a snack and possibly a cookie or two, although it’s hard to keep track of what they snack on when they’re around several teens who are all glad to feed them.
• We’re changing the focus of FM to roadtrips for this semester. Some of the short trips will be for service, some of visiting and some for fun. Yesterday, several of the teens went with me to help shop for supplies for the youth room: Lindsay, Rebecca Burris, Alayna Super, Melissa Wilson, Jake Parsley, Joey Armstrong.
• Rebecca taught Elsa how to do the ‘deer’ with her hand so that Elsa could join the silly deer herd that the girls make when we’re in the church van.
• Michelle had dinner underway when I got home. Delicious, homemade pizza!
• Collin, Elsa and I went to Rebecca’s volleyball game last night. She did great and we even got to see her score a couple of points serving! Rebecca also threw her little volleyball up to Collin and he played with it all night.
• We read Scooby Doo books for bedtime stories.
• The Colts won last night, although they’re gonna have to look better to win many. They had the ball less than 15 minutes last night.
• God is guiding us through a busy, busy week!

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