Thankful Just in Time for Thanksgiving

I was blessed enough with 4 days off this past weekend. I had Friday-Monday off from work at both stores. How terribly exciting is that? .oO(Probably not as exciting to you as it was to me, but I wasn't going to complain when I wasn't getting any days off...especially after being jobless and praying for something to do!) I was able to rest all day Friday and make a trip to Wal-Mart to buy my ingredients for a delicious pumpkin roll on Thanksgiving as well as stuff to make a carrot cake for Dave's birthday. Saturday we slept in, went to the Galleria which was terribly busy and made me not want to shop-which was good b/c I didn't spend a lot of money either, and then I came home and made a carrot cake. Sunday we got up and tried to go to a new church...Dave had a classmate who is a pastor in Ragland and we were trying to go to his church, but ended up not finding it and fearing for our lives since we almost trespassed on someone's property. We did end up meeting his parents for a birthday lunch at "The Guad" (a delicious mexican restaurant for all you non-Alabamians...is that a word?) and then came home to eat cake. Yummy! Later that afternoon we went to a Thanksgiving Feast at the church where I've been attending Bible study (until work got in the way) and it is a B family tradition. I was so excited that we were here to participate in the tradition. It was great to gather together to feast and socialize with people I don't see very often. I've been extremely thankful this year that Dave is home. His old unit recently deployed and I'm still in contact with a lot of the moms and wives and I know the deployment is difficult for them, especially at times when family is "supposed" to be together. The men and their families have been on my mind a lot. Thanksgiving week last year was terribly hard for me because it was not only Thanksgiving, but it was also Dave's birthday. .oO(I also think it was the tail end of a 3 week span of no calls from Dave either...whew that is no fun at all.) So I was weepy and sentimental then and I was stuck in Jacksonville, NC instead of going home to the grand O-H...I-O. So, Dave adds to my emotional-ness at lunch by praying for the safety of the men deployed from his unit. Then we get to the feast and we pray in groups after all the feasting is over. We go around the table taking turns praying and who has been on my mind? the families of those deployed and the men deployed. So I start by thanking God that we were able to gather together this year and participate in the festivities (this is the first year btw that we have been able to be with the in-laws at Thanksgiving, let alone in AL). I start sobbing and can barely speak. I spit out one more sentence about watching over the families of those with men who are deployed this year and that is all I could manage. I squeezed Dave's hand and he continued in the prayer circle. Oh goodness did I cry...and then my nose started running so that by the time prayer was over my eyes were all red and I had to run and blow my nose. The life a Marine's wife is always interesting and emotional. .oO(I thought the emotionalness was gone...guess I'm just blessed with empathy and emotion.) Overall it was a great time. Monday I once again didn't really do much. We ran some more errands and watched a movie. It was great to spend some quality time with my husband since he didn't have classes those days either.

So I'm thankful for the following:

1. Being able to spend time with my husband w/out the interference of the USMC. I'll take it however long it lasts and won't complain if it interferes again.

2. He's Home!

3. Learning the traditions of my husband's family while still keeping "our" traditions too.

4. A job-well, two jobs to keep me busy and help pay my bills.

5. Fun people to work with at ATL that are genuinely interested in me, fellow employees, and most of all making sure our clients are taken care of as well.

6. The time to get to know the people in Alabama who are important to my husband and their family.

7. Friends who stay friends no matter how many hours and miles separate us.

8. A family who understands that even though I want to be with them, I just can't right now.

9. Even though I don't know the plan, God does.

10. Furbabies who love me even when I'm grumpy.