Ups, downs, and the grace of God in the midst of tragedy

The past two weeks have given me one really big up, and one really big down.

The big up was that God moved in a big way on the campus of Bethel College, where I work. Many people are talking about revival - I don't know if we can officially classify it as that, but the Holy Spirit was definitely poured out in an extraordinary way and the students definitely responded. You can read more about this in a blog post I wrote for Bethel.

The big down was hearing that the seven-year-old daughter of a high school friend was shot and killed in a tragic accident. I went to the viewing last night, and the funeral was today.

I remember my friend Jay as being constantly upbeat. We didn't go to the same school but we spent many hours together with our church youth group and hanging out at friend's houses. I wouldn't say that he was a "class clown" type of guy - that's almost an accurate description but not quite right. I remember him as someone who loved to have fun, and was a big teddy bear underneath it all. I haven't seen Jay in more than ten years.

On Friday night I heard of the tragic death of a little girl, and on Saturday I learned that it was Jay's daughter, Karlee. You can read the details of the accident in this news article.

I know there are many people who question what happened. Why did Jay have a handgun in his pocket? Why didn't he secure it before playing with his daughters? How could this have happened?

Some people ask these questions honestly, wondering at the horrific series of events that would lead to this. And others ask these questions with anger and judgment - how could a parent let this happen?

I've been rolling all of this around in my head for several days, and I can't help but think of all the "what if" moments in my life and in the lives of other parents. You know, the one time you drive down the street without your seat belt on because you're only going a quarter-mile.

The one time you are preparing dinner and leave a sharp knife within reach of little hands while you run out to the garage to grab something out of the chest freezer.

The one time the kids are in the backyard and you run inside for just a second to grab the ringing telephone, not realizing that the gate to the pool is unlocked.

The one time you decide to send a quick one-word text while driving down the road.

The one time you forget to fasten the baby gate at the top of the stairs after you bring up the laundry from the basement.

I would venture to say that most responsible people act responsibly 99% of the time. But we all have our moments in the 1% when we aren't responsible. And in those 1% moments, most of the time there is grace.

We arrive safely to our destination and never need the aid of the seatbelt.

We walk back into the kitchen and catch our breath at the sight of the knife on the edge of the counter, saying a prayer of thanks that little hands didn't find it.

We look out the window just in time to see a toddler opening the unlocked pool gate and are able to rush to him before he makes his way to the water.

We look up from the quick text to see that we've veered into the other lane, and breathe a sigh of relief that there was no oncoming traffic.

We have a moment of panic when we hear the crash of something (or someone?) falling down the stairs, but laugh when we realize it's because the dog bumped into the baby gate and made it fall.

Most of the time, the worst case scenario doesn't manifest.

And sometimes, the worst case scenario lines up in such a way that it becomes a horrible tragedy.

My heart goes out to Jay and his wife, Kelly, and their oldest daughter, Brooklyn. I went to Karlee's visitation last night, and the thing that sticks in my mind is how tightly Jay hugged me. I'm so glad I went and was able to give him that hug. I know it won't fix anything, but I hope that it helped somehow.

I wasn't able to go to the funeral today but I did read an article about it in our local paper. I really appreciated this quote from Steve Chupp, pastor of the church where I grew up and where Jay and his family still attend: "You have to be careful, Jay, that this tragedy does not define you ... you're God's son, you're God's boy, and you're a loving father."


I pray that Jay will take these words to heart. I pray that he can move beyond the guilt of that 1% moment because, truth be told, we have all had at least one of those moments. 

Why don't all of our 1% moments end in tragedy? I don't know. There are so many "whys" and "what ifs" that have rolled around in my head in the past week, and I know that I won't ever have an answer. 

Part of me wonders if I want an answer so I can insulate myself from fear - if it's true that the 1% moments happen to all of us, and if it's true that sometimes they can result in tragedy, then I have to face the fact that I don't have 100% control, 100% of the time. Not that I will walk around in fear of what tragedy might be around every corner; I just have to learn again to trust in the sovereignty of God.


I'm still processing all of this so I'm not sure how much sense I'm making right now. I mostly want to express the need for us to show grace in this situation. If Jay was right here in front of me, I would want him to know that the grace and love of God are big enough for this circumstance. They are big enough to carry him and his family through the days ahead.


Please keep this family in your prayers. 


In other news... I have my next vlog ready to go, but it's on my computer at work. I've actually had it ready for quite a while but I keep forgetting to upload it to Vimeo so I can post it here. The topic is appropriate because it is about ups and downs. I'll post it when I finally remember. :)


Also, here is another news story about Karlee's funeral. She was more of a light for Jesus in her seven years than many people who live a long life. I wish I had been able to know her here on earth, but look forward to the day when I'll get to meet her in heaven.

Addiction and the Gospel

I've mentioned my friend Teresa in some of my previous posts, and now it's time to give her husband, Tal, a mention. They are part of a ministry called Route1520, which helps families and individuals who struggle with, or have been affected by, sexual addiction.

I love what they are doing. And I love that the things they talk about affect all of us - at the heart of sex addiction is the same thing that's at the heart of ANY addiction or brokenness that we experience.

Below is a video of Tal talking about the hurt that led to his addiction, and his encounter with the Gospel that began his journey out of addiction. I find it interesting that much of what he says in the second half relates to what I said about my own journey in this video. The specific sin and brokenness in our lives might look a lot different, but when you distill it down to the root, it all has the same cause and the same solution.

I'm probably not done mentioning Tal and Teresa. In fact, Teresa just published another blog post that hit home for me in several areas of my life. I see reflections of myself in much of what they say and anticipate sharing more of their videos and writing with you in the future.

Stay tuned later this week for my next vlog! This one will be about "riding the wave."

Here is Tal's video:

Giving Myself a Boost of Faith

For about the past five years, I've tried various versions of starting my own business or doing some type of freelance work. Like, seven or more.

And each of them have either failed or fizzled out. Well, one of them was okay, but I came to realize it definitely wasn't for me.

These failures have haunted me. Haunted is a strong word, I suppose, so maybe that's not what I really mean to say. But they certainly bothered me. Why didn't they work out? Why did I fail? WHAT is wrong with me?

Over the past six months God has been bringing various pieces of the puzzle together for me, and then one day, Clinton from "What Not To Wear" suddenly brought the overall puzzle picture into clear view for me. (Yes, really.) He was giving advice to a woman who was constantly frustrated by not being able to find pants that fit her. She was quite depressed about it, and it was one reason why she had given up on any form of fashion for herself.

And Clinton told her, "YOU are not the problem. The CLOTHES are the problem."

For years she had only seen her body as imperfect and herself as a failure. The clothes were the standard, and she constantly didn't measure up.

But Clinton told her that she had a unique body, and designers make their clothes to fit the broadest spectrum of women possible. Which means that they don't make anything ready-to-wear for someone with her body type.

Then he and Stacy showed her how to make the clothes behave. They showed her the one or two places she had to make sure that pants fit, and then they showed her how a tailor could alter everything else. And suddenly, she had clothes that fit.

You could see the mental and emotional transformation taking place. By the end, she was having FUN shopping! She felt empowered because she now had knowledge of how to make the clothes fit her, not the other way around.

I've realized that in all of my business ventures, I've ignored something really important. I've ignored the things I'm NOT good at. Well, actually, I haven't ignored them - I've been apologizing for them; attempting to make up for them.

"I know I'm not good at X, but that's what my potential customers will want, so I need to make up for my deficiency in that area. I'll just try really, really hard. I'll be really disciplined, and it will all work out."

Only, it didn't.

I was trying to make myself fit the clothes.

As a result of various bits of revelation, I finally have a new perspective. I have a new confidence in myself, that the things I'm good at doing are GOOD ENOUGH. And that I can simply say no to the things I'm not good at. Why should I set myself up for failure? Why give anyone an expectation that will be a struggle for me to fulfill?

Now, I'm not saying that life will be perfect and I'll never have to do any work that I find difficult or tedious. But I have given myself permission to let go of unrealistic expectations for myself and focus mainly on my unique gifts and talents.

And you know what I've done? I started another venture. It's quite spontaneous and I'm just taking each day as it comes. But I'm excited about it.

What do I hope to do with it? First and foremost I want to help people build their passion through social media specifically, and through encouragement and ideas and creativity and innovation and strategy in general. I want to come alongside of them and give them a boost, help to give them a fresh perspective, and serve as someone who can help them do the things they can't do for themselves.

I would like for this to be a business, but most of all, I've come to the conclusion that I want this to be my ministry. Whether I get paid or not, I need to help people. This is my passion, and I'm finally giving myself a boost of faith to put it all out there.

I started to do a vlog about this but it just did not flow well. I was going to try the vlog again but then felt that I needed to type this out. I like having both options available to me!

In closing, here is my Facebook page. I'll be sharing general tips and advice on a building a social media presence, whether you are building a business, a non-profit, or a brand for yourself. Come "like" my page, and definitely email me at Erin.Kinzel@gmail.com if there is any way I can help you!

Boundaries, Part 2

Thanks to those of you who commented on the blog and in person about my last post. Putting a video out there is definitely a whole new level of vulnerability, so the positive feedback is encouraging.

Here is the second part of "what I learned from the book 'Boundaries.'" (Here is part one.) Again, there is glare on my glasses but hopefully it's not too much of a distraction.


Vlog 3 - Boundaries, part 2 from Erin Kinzel on Vimeo.

Here is a link to a blog post from my friend Teresa that helped spark part of this discussion. It's called "My Mouth Said Yes, My Heart Said No."

Blogging, Take 2

After almost a year without posting, I'm ready to jump back into blogging. I've learned a few things about myself and feel like I have a refreshed perspective on a lot of stuff. I'll probably still post about random things and Kaitlyn stories, but the focus will be on the things God has taught me over the past few years. (And what he continues to teach me.)

I'm also going to try doing a video format. I recorded my first three vlogs (short for "video blogs") and will post the first two here. I promised myself that I wasn't going to be a perfectionist about the videos - there are things I don't like about them, such as the sound quality and the glare on my glasses in the second one.

However... I'm trying to move past perfectionism. At some point I'll do a vlog about perfectionism as the enemy of progress. So many times I hesitate to take action because I see the imperfections, but the thing about that is... you never go anywhere. And I want to go somewhere.

I'm not sure how all of this will go, but another thing I'm trying to move past is the need to have all my ducks in a row and know exactly how something will turn out before I get started. You know how that's worked in the past? I get all my ducks in a row and the thing still doesn't turn out like I thought. At this point all my ducks are running around and it's all very unruly, and I'm not going to let it stop me.

So... without further ado, here are my first two videos:

Vlog Intro:

Vlog Intro from Erin Kinzel on Vimeo.

Boundaries, Part 1 (sorry for the glare on my glasses!):

Vlog 2 - Boundaries, part 1 from Erin Kinzel on Vimeo.

Here are the links I mentioned:

Boundaries Book

Article about boundaries by Teresa Prince

Graham Cooke video

Organizing Challenge

I am so excited for today's post!  For a month I've been working on a room in our basement so I could enter it in the OrgJunkie organizing challenge for the month of February.  

This was perfect timing for me because after the activity of the holidays I started thinking that I finally wanted to tackle our basement office/craft space.  Just as I was gearing up to take action, Laura posted the challenge.  It has provided great motivation for me to keep plugging away at it and I'm so happy to say that the room is FINISHED.

(Ok, it's not 100% finished since I want to get some artwork on the walls, but for functional purposes, it is finished.) 

Before I show the photos, I have to say that my wonderful husband was such a help throughout the process and put as much (or more) work into the room as I did.  Thanks Honey!

Here is a quick look at the before photos - I have bigger photos below where they are put right up against the after photos.  The room essentially has three corners (the fourth "corner" is just the door):

Two different angles of my craft corner:

   

Mike's corner and the window corner:

   

Oy.  What a mess!  When we moved in this was one of those catch-all rooms. It was a place to pile things that we didn't know what to do with, or didn't want to deal with at the moment.  I'd think "we'll deal with that later," but "later" never came. 

It's the classic organizing struggle - the longer I put off organizing everything, the more I dreaded the task and found reasons to avoid it.  However, ignoring it doesn't make it go away.  Things kept accumulating whether I liked it or not - more accumulation, more mess, more putting it off, more dreading it.  What a vicious cycle!

My mantra for 2009 was to take termite bites - instead of getting overwhelmed by a large task, I focused on tackling it one tiny bite at a time.  My mantra for 2010 is to keep moving forward.  Just do it, so to speak. Both of these mantras came into play as we tackled this room.

Our goal here was to create three distinct spaces.  One for me, with space to 1) do crafting, 2) work on my computer, and 3) pay bills.  Mike needed desk space where he could work on his laptop, and we wanted a third space for Kaitlyn to sit and do her own thing while we work on our projects.  I think we accomplished these goals quite nicely!

Here are the side by side before and after photos with my commentary, and then at the bottom are my required answers to the five questions for the challenge.

Mike's corner:

Even though this is a corner desk, one thing that kept Mike from sitting at the desk was having his back to everything else going on in the room.  We turned it 45 degrees so it's out of the corner, and even though it takes up more space it's worth it because Mike is much happier with the arrangement and more likely use the desk.

Another view of Mike's desk:

The blue basket on top holds printer ink, tape, scissors and other various office supplies.  The silver stacked organizer on top used to be crammed full of papers, but those have now gone to the recycling bin or the filing cabinet and this is now clear for "to-do" items. There is a smaller blue basket on the main desk for pens and pencils.

The window corner before and after:

We now have space for this purple table that we bought at a garage sale for $2.  (It has a second chair, which is currently in Kaitlyn's bedroom.)   This is a perfect spot for Kaitlyn to sit with some toys or craft supplies - she feels like she is a part of what we are doing but she is busy enough on her own that Mike and I can get our own things accomplished.

Here is a close up of our newly arranged filing cabinet and cubes:

These were already in the room (they are hiding behind Mike's chair in the before photo) but we moved them to a different wall and stacked the cubes so they take up less floor space.  They used to have a variety of books stacked on them which made everything look cluttered.  We cleared some things off a bookshelf upstairs and moved most of the books up there, with the rest of them going into the cubes with doors on the front. The metal basket on top of the filing cabinet is for papers that need to be filed.

The open cube is now designated for Kaitlyn:

There is scrap paper for her to draw on or to use with my punches (which she loves - you'll see those in a minute.)  The white basket is empty, but leaves room for her to add new treasures.  On the bottom shelf are her coloring books and crayons (yes, they are in a container that previously held parsley flakes); in the blue container are miscellaneous note pads and stickers, and in the yellow card file she has her Curious George stamps and stamp pad.

For the grand finale, here are my corner's before and after photos:

 

I love it!  We spent about $100 in the course of our makeover - $50 on a chair for me, and $50 on the shelving, magnetic board, command hooks, and various doodads.  Not too bad for having such a big transformation!

I used to sell Stampin' Up products, so I have an obscene amount of stamping and paper-crafting supplies.

Here you can see my paper and stamps:

The cart that now holds my stamps used to be incredibly underutilized - in the before photo you can see it sitting to the right of my colored drawers, holding a few stacks of books. It really wasn't a convenient place to put anything and the size/construction of it is a little odd, so I thought I'd have to get rid of it. But then I discovered that it was a perfect place for my stamp sets, which had previously been spread out over several different shelves.  Now they are all in one place, and the cart is being put to good use!

Above my paper and stamps are some of the shelves we put up.  I love the look of this and it was fairly easy (and inexpensive) to do:

On the top shelf you can see one of my obsessions - photo boxes.  Every once in a while Michael's will have these on sale 3 for $5, and twice now I have stocked up on them. (I probably have 25 or 30 scattered throughout the house.) I love them because I can have them out in the open and they look neat and organized, and they are great containers for a wide variety of things.  

One of these boxes is for Kaitlyn and her various keepsakes; one is for Mike, with a bunch of miscellaneous things that I have no idea what to do with, but he doesn't want to get rid of; one is for the child we sponsor through Compassion and contains all of her information and the letters she's sent us; and the other three have other photos, keepsakes, computer software, blank CDs and DVDs, etc. in the them.

On the bottom shelf is a cute (and cheap!) trifle dish I found and put decorative stones in. (At some point I'll add a candle.)  The purple container has small pads of patterned paper.

Here is the second set of shelves we put up, above my desk:

On the top shelf there is one box with cards I've created, and the other three boxes are empty (for now.)  The bottom shelf has a blue basket for envelopes, stacking trays with paper and stamping supplies, and three glass containers I got at the dollar store to hold my ribbon scraps.

One of my favorite things in the room is the space under the bottom shelf.  A long time ago I bought some small white shelves and we hadn't used them for anything.  They work perfectly here to hold some of my stamping supplies.  There are two tiny metal buckets on one of the shelves - I bought three of these for a dollar at the dollar store and am using them for small supplies such as paper clips, binder clips and rubber bands.

I think Laura will also appreciate my command hooks on the wall, used to hold my scissors.  On the right you can see my desk lamp and the caddy that holds all of my ink pads and re-inkers.  This is the side of the desk where I normally stamp, and now I have more of my supplies right at my fingertips.

Here you can see another of my favorite things in the room - my new magnet board:

I found this idea here, but made my own adjustments.  I bought a piece of metal at Lowe's, used Mod Podge and patterned paper to decorate it, punched two holes on top and threaded ribbon through, then hung it on a command hook.  I bought some heavy duty magnets in the craft section at Wal-Mart, and had the intention of using them with these round metal containers I got at the dollar store. 

However, sometimes there is a good reason why things are sold at the dollar store... I will soon be throwing the metal containers away because they aren't very durable!  I bought some magnet clips to use on the board and will also buy some containers to replace my dollar store tins.

On the desk you can see a white basket that holds my hole punches and a few other tools, and on the turn-table are additional ink pads, pens and pencils, paint brushes, and other miscellaneous supplies.

Next up are all of my paper punches and my computer space:

The punches are on a CD holder.  I came up with this genius idea when we first moved in and it is such a great way to organize my punches!  They are easily accessible, and most importantly, it's so easy to put them back where they belong when I'm done using them.

Right below my computer is a small space where I now keep my bill file:

This desk has seen better days and this spot is where part of the keyboard tray used to be, but now it is the perfect spot for my little file holder where I file this year's bills and keep track of the bills that need to be paid.  It is a convenient spot since I do all of our banking online - I have my computer right there and can easily pull out the bills, do my business, and then file everything away.

Lastly, here are more shelves and drawers:

I didn't change a whole lot with these, since they were pretty organized to begin with. Each drawer holds one specific type of supply - ribbon, adhesive, markers, file folders, scrap paper, embossing supplies, magazine pages with ideas I want to use, etc. The open shelves hold my stamping wheels and supplies, catalogs and magazine, and the green box has supplies related to my new Etsy store.

(Yes - you read that right... I just opened an Etsy store!  It's still under construction, but feel free to stop by and take a look.)

To make my entry in the contest final, here are my answers to the required questions:

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

The hardest part was making my way through all the clutter.  There was so much paper clutter, which doesn't take up a lot of space (compared to other types of clutter) but it can be so difficult to sort through it all and make decisions about what needs to be filed and what should be tossed.

I was able to overcome the challenge by taking it in small pieces - I focused on one attainable pile at a time, following my "termite bite" mantra that I mentioned above. When I first started the project I would go into the room and just stare at everything for several minutes, overwhelmed by not knowing where to start. I decided that I had to block out most of the room and focus only on one five-minute task.  I picked one thing that seemed attainable and told myself that I could quit when I finished that one thing.

This attitude helped a lot!  Since I was trying to fit this in at night after working a full day, cooking dinner, etc., it was really important for me to take it in small bites and for me to celebrate the accomplishment of finishing each small bite.

Mike was such a help in tackling some of the big piles I was dreading the most. Just when I would lose motivation, he would get a burst of energy and work on some areas, and then when he was losing motivation I would get re-energized by his progress and jump in again.  We made a great team!

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

The major change is that there is now a place for everything, making it easier to put everything in it's place. This weekend I had been working at my desk and when I quit I was in a rush to get upstairs.  I wasn't going to clean up but then I decided I could put just a few things away.  I got on a roll and ended up putting EVERYTHING away, and it only took me a minute.  It was easy because everything has a designated place!

Another thing that will help in maintaining this is that we accomplished our goal little bits at a time.  In the past we've tended to have big bursts of motivation that lead to us jumping into a project, but we have very little staying power and some projects go unfinished or are not maintained.  Since we tackled this 15 or 30 minutes at a time in the evenings, this has helped us to establish a habit of doing a little bit here and there, which is all we'll need to keep up with general maintenance.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

We did a combination of giving things away, throwing things away, and putting things away. We had two or three bags of trash/recycling and two large boxes of papers that need to be shredded.  There are some items (keepsakes, storage containers, decorations, etc.) that were moved to our storage area in our laundry room.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?

This was my favorite part of the process!  Adding the shelves has created so much storage for us, and the photo boxes are a great way to establish limits and boundaries. If a box gets too full, it's not overwhelming to thinking about purging and reorganizing that one box.

Other storage solutions include the magnet board, re-purposing the metal cart to hold my stamps, creating a space for Kaitlyn's craft supplies, and my new space for bills that need to be paid.  Two of the storage solutions that I love the most (but are really small) are the hooks for my scissors and the glass containers for my ribbon scraps. I love them because in the past I wouldn't have considered them storage solutions, but now I see how I can create storage in a way that is fun and beautiful and maybe even a bit quirky. 

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?

When we started this project the room was a constant reminder to me that I was unorganized.  I hated going into the basement and seeing it because it made me feel like a failure; it made me feel like I was maintaining a mess and would never be able to conquer the mess. I avoided the basement because of this and as a result, I also avoided other activities that I can do there, such as exercising or hanging out in the family room with Mike and Kaitlyn.  I felt like a prisoner upstairs; I felt like I didn't have any options for my evening hours except to sit on the couch like a bum.

Now when I go into the basement, I am productive.  I don't sit on the couch as much because I have a revitalized space where I enjoy spending my evenings and weekends.  For a year and half my paper-crafting and stamping supplies sat idle because I didn't want to spend time in the room.  Now I am finally stamping again (putting hundreds of dollars-worth of supplies to good use again!) and I've even followed through with my goal of starting an Etsy store, all because I have a space I want to use and a space that is organized enough for me to be productive.

In addition to this, I feel better about my upstairs space because I finally have a designated space for all of my paper clutter, which used to accumulate in various hot spots in the dining room and living room. I now have a basket where I put any papers that need to go to the office, and when I go downstairs I grab the basket and file the papers accordingly.  It's amazing how such a (seemingly) small thing can make a huge difference, physically and mentally.

I think I should win the challenge because not only have I dramatically reorganized a room, I have seen how clutter has held me back from fulfilling my goals and the negative effect it had in many areas of my life. Now that I've conquered this space it has motivated me to tackle the two remaining problem areas in my house, and it's inspired me to find creative storage solutions throughout my house.

Laura, thanks so much for hosting the challenge!  Having this "carrot" dangling out in front of me has certainly helped my motivation for finishing the project.  I'm so happy with the space and can't wait to spend more time in it!!

Reflecting

I once heard someone say that with parenting, the days are long but the years are short. How true is that?  I wish I could remember where I heard it because it's a saying that often comes to mind when I'm having a long day. It encourages me to embrace the day, tired as I might be, because the years are going to fly by all too quickly.

I was reminded of this saying as I read this post from MckMama, a mother of four (soon-to-be five) kids ages five and under.  She takes its message and expands on it in such a beautiful way, and it's a great reminder for me and for anyone who has small kids. I encourage you to take a few moments to read it, even if you don't have small kids.

On a related note (I promise it's related - I'll explain in a second), the college I work for is hosting the funeral for a police officer and his K-9 partner tomorrow.  The viewing is today, and because of these two events our campus has been greatly disrupted.  All week I've heard the constant roar, hum, and beeping of trucks and bulldozers from the city as they've come on campus to clear massive amounts of snow from the parking lots. Because they've closed off various parking lots at various times, it's been extremely confusing and inconvenient to find a parking space.

Today everyone has to park in a shopping center across the street, and a college bus is shuttling people over to campus.  I've heard the bus drive by my window all day, along with numerous police and fire vehicles coming on campus for the viewing. 

Tomorrow, we'll be somewhat locked onto campus as it will be difficult to enter or exit from about 10am until 1:30pm because of the funeral and procession.

Logistically, it's quite a pain.

However, I found myself being very contemplative this week.  Every beep of a bulldozer, every blocked off parking lot, every police car that I see on campus, is a reminder of how short life is and how blessed I am.  It's a somber reminder of those who serve our community and our country, knowing that they put their lives on the line every day. 

I have much to be thankful for.

Now there is also news of the tragedy in Haiti to remind me of the blessings in my life.  A warm bed, a hot shower, clean water, food.  These are things that I do not want to take for granted.

Between MckMama's post, the funeral, and the earthquake in Haiti, God has been reminding me this week that I need to embrace every moment.  Instead of annoyance because Kaitlyn wants to read Cinderella AGAIN (seriously, how many times in a row can a book be read??) I need to embrace my role as a mom and be thankful that she wants to spend time with me. 

Instead of getting mad at the driver in front of me or the person who is holding up the line at the store, I need to pause and be thankful that I have a car, I have a job, and I have the ability to go to a store and purchase what I need, along with a few wants, too.  How many people in the world can say that?

What do you have to be thankful for this week?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.