Gratitude Gala and Spotlight Saturday

Good Morning Everyone!! It's 5:30 in the morning and I'm wide awake. Stinkin' time change!


Angie at ScrapnMomsMoments is hosting a Gratitude Gala (it started yesterday) and goes through today. I can't think of a better privilege than showing your gratitude for the blessings in your life. As you know each day I enter a Blessing for the Day. But today I'm going to take it one step further.

I need to share my gratitude for my parents. I hear the horror stories of childhood for some people all of the time. It truly makes me sick to hear of what they had to go through. My childhood could not have been any more fantastic than it was. I was surrounded by loving parents, great siblings and the most wonderful extended family known to man. When my father lay in the hospital with a ruptured bowel, we were almost certain he was going to be taken away from us. That was in January of 1992 and praise God, he's still with us. My sister wrote an article for the local paper about him. And she referred to the lessons in life that he taught his 3 children: Respect for God, Respect for Others and Respect for Oneself. My parents have been married for 46 years this past April and were (are) the greatest role models a child could have. May God continue to bless them with Good Health and Prosperity. I love you Mommy and Daddy!

Gratitude must also go to my blogging friends who have renewed a spiritual awakening in me. I used to joke that if it weren't for bad, I would have no luck at all. My mother hated that! But as I mature, I realize that my success in life has nothing to do with luck. The blessings in my life come from God alone. And when something doesn't work out the way I wanted, I now realize that God must have another plan for me. Everything happens in His time and I have to trust that His plan is far more perfect than mine. And I've come to appreciate the little things more: a warm house, a cool breeze, the smell of the ocean, the roar of a campfire, good-night kisses from my boys, the generosity of strangers and the familiarity of old friends. Praise God for all that you have for it all comes from Him. May His blessings continue to surround and uplift you!

Which brings me to Spotlight Saturday. I received such a warm response to my suggestion of spotlighting a blog that inspires me. And I would love it if you did the same. Share a blog that is special to you. Maybe it's the stories he or she shares. Maybe she has the best ideas for turning trash into treasure. Maybe it's simply the feeling you get when you visit. Please share with me the honor of Spotlight Saturday and allow others to experience what you have. I'm looking for a button to use, so if anyone knows of a good HTML coder...hint hint.

Today's spotlight is on All You Have to Give. The owner of the blog is Lori and I just adore her. She inspires me everyday. She is so earnest in her walk with God. You can't help but feel rejuvenated after reading the words she so eloquently puts down in writing. Not everyone can express themselves through writing. I know that I stumble and ramble and a lot times there is no cohesiveness to my posts. Lori never seems to have that problem. A good wife and mother and a true Christian at heart, I am blessed to have found this little piece of her. Please take a minute and read her story. I know that you will be blessed as well for having done so.

And one last thing (geez louise this is a long one today, huh) remember that today is the last day to enter my giveaway. We will draw a name tomorrow morning using the random number generator. I can't believe that I received 132 responses and there's no way I'm cutting up that many slips of paper. Be sure to check back tomorrow to see who the winner is and Good Luck everyone!

Blessing for the day: I'm blessed to have a friendship with my boys' biological mom. Our ability to put the past behind us and get along is a blessing to them. And that's all that matters.