Miracles

“Love works in miracles every day: such as weakening the strong, and strengthening the weak; making fools of the wise, and wise men of fools; favoring the passions, destroying reason, and in a word, turning everything topsy-turvy.” Marguerite De Valois

Some of the every-days around here may not look like miracles to the untrained eye. But these kiddos I'm a mom to, the husband I'm a wife to, the God that I'm a follower of...miraculous. Today may look like just another ordinary day at first glance, but if I look a little closer? Um, wow.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. / 1 Chronicles 16:34

I love lamp presents.

When you think of Christmas, no matter how hard you try, I know you think of presents. Some people try to pretend they don't think of presents...but I think they are lying. It's hard NOT to since we are bombarded from Thanksgiving until December 25th.

I don't have anything against presents. Presents are my love language. Along with chocolate, massages, and getting to sleep late. Now that I've made myself sound completely materialistic...which I really am not, (I am a total tightwad, and cannot remember the last time I payed full price for anything. I have to be coerced by my husband to even buy myself a drink) I'd like to try to redeem myself by saying that these two objects under my tree are truly two of the best presents I've ever been given.

I know the reason for the season, and it's not wrapped up in paper or bought on Amazon. (I could potentially be caught trying to sell these two particular gifts on Amazon on a bad day however...but I'm pretty sure they'd be returned to me after a day of their, ahem, antics) It's about a lot more than that, but gift giving is still fun. My kids are already catching on about presents.

I do hope to teach these gifts of mine what Christmas is all about, and that they grow up to realize that the best kinds of presents can't be bought. Although I'll surely not turn one down if you want to send it my way. ;)

Check out more shots at The Paper Mama

(The first shot is my pick for this week)

Kindred

I get kissed by the sun each morning, put my feet on a hardwood floor
I get to hear my children laughing down the hall through the bedroom door

I have been blessed, with so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones that love me, to love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

I think to myself, I think to myself
This love is a beautiful gift

When I’m singing my kids to sleep
When I feel you holding me
I know / Blessed - Martina McBride

I'm not usually much on cheesy, emotional songs...but sometimes God uses cheesy to remind me of the gifts that I'm surrounded with. Sometimes He uses a stressful ride to a park where we freeze our buns off to remind me, too. (As was the case before I took these shots) But that waking up and seeing? It's good. I have been blessed.

Inherited

Yesterday I posted about thankfulness, and I wanted to post one more shot of something I am thankful for today, on the last day of “Thankfulness Month”. My (very large, very loud, very opinionated) family. Sometimes, it’s hard to remember to be thankful for the people that know exactly what buttons to push to make you scream, especially during the stress and chaos of holidays. My family can make me angry like no other…I’m sure anyone who has family, has ever met family, smelled family, can understand.

But at the same time…no one really gets me quite like they do. No one knows my history, my failures, my successes, my dreams for the future, me…like they do, and they love me for it and anyway. They are such a blessing. And I’m blessed to have so many of them. I hope that I can love them in a way that they deserve, and show them just what a gift they are.

What are some things you are thankful for today?

Check out more shots at Trendy Treehouse and Sweet Shot Tuesday

Magnolia Whispers

I’ve been doing a thankfulness project this month, mostly by posting pictures of what I’m thankful for, over on Flickr. As it comes to a close, I want to make sure I keep up an attitude of thankfulness. And so the next couple of days I want to post some of the shots here on my blog.

This may seem silly, but my shot for yesterday was of a magnolia tree. I’ve always loved Magnolias…they have such great southern charm, and I’ve always thought they were such pretty trees. So when we ran into an entire row of tall, well-kept magnolias, I was thrilled. It made me thankful that God knows specific ways to speak to my heart, to let me know…”Hey, I see you. I love you. Look at this. I hope that it makes you happy, and reminds you of my love.”

So today, I’m thankful for the little whispers in my heart that I know are Him…reminding me that I’m loved.

Check out more shots at Lisa's Chaos