Thankful Thursday March 28

Sometimes I like to be thankful for things that aren't considered a blessing.  Things that make life hard.  In my opinion the hard times make the good times even better, and for that I am thankful for hard times.  Don't get me wrong, I cry and yell, and feel lost alone and depressed while I am knee deep in the poo of life but when I am out of Sh** Creek I look at the blessings and lessons that I learned and thank God that I got out of there alive, stronger and smarter.

This week I am thankful for the rough time my husband and I had this past Fall.  From August until December it felt like we were being attacked by family and friends, work, finances, and life on a daily basis.  It got to the point that my text message tone was enough to make my stomach churn. I dreaded checking my Facebook, looking at text messages, or answering my phone.  People starting to come up with the most ridiculous reasons to start fights with us. And while I will, and do take full responsibility for my actions that have caused some of the disagreements, there were a few things that really did come out of left field.
We prayed and prayed and came up with a solution...move away!  If we aren't here we don't have to deal with the house, crazy family and friends, crappy job politics and terrible hotel work hours.  I still want to move but now I want to make sure we are moving on good terms.  That we sit down and reconcile with difficult family members, that we spend lots of quality time making memories and planning trips with friends, and most importantly that we responsibly handle out financial obligations before we take on the expense of moving.

Now that hearing my notification tone doesn't send me ducking for cover, and I am mending things in my life, I am looking back to last fall, looking for the lessons that I need to learn and enjoying the blessings that our tough time did give me:

1. I had to lean on God more, so now I am closer to him
2. My husband and I are closer
3. I have built relationships with distant family
4. We have a plan to get fiscally fit
5. Many of my friendships have ended up stronger
6. And I know who to trust and who not to trust

In your face hard times!

Happy Thanking

Ps. I am going to start adding pictures of stuff we have done from the past week...at the end of the year I will send them to be printed and bound into a family yearbook :-D

It's Easter week, this is the cross display at church

Paint monster

Sink baths are fun

We are on Spring Break having fun with our friends all week!!

Cinderella came to play for Zoe's 3rd birthday

I'm not sure why is face looks like this but I got him to dress up like a pirate for the party :)