thankful

It has been a doosy of a day. I won't bore you with all the minute details, but this day has been very full, and full of ups, and downs.

On the upside, We were able to do #ouradventcheer today, and you can see it on twitter and instagram. But if you don't go there, we blessed a dear friend who happens to clean my house with a Christmas tree. Ivy is a single mom, and cleans houses for a living. She has very little time for herself, and we thought it would be fun to get her a tree today so she wouldn't have to waste time doing that, so she could just go home and set it up and decorate it. She was so excited, and I was going to post video, but....

On the down side, as I was working on editing the video, somehow my computer crashed. It must have gotten a virus or something, and although I can still use facebook, it is running very s-l-o-w-l-y and will not load video. And, I am writing this from my hubby's computer because I cannot even access this website from my Macbook. So I guess I will be going to Experimac tomorrow morning to see if they can salvage it. Yuck.

And that wasn't the worst of it.

It is still so surprising to me that I can be so encouraged one day, and write inspiring words about Being still and Knowing God, and so sad the next. 

There was a TV show when I was a kid called, "What's My Line".

On it, the contestant tried to stump the panel of celebrities as they asked him or her about their line of work. Basically, the panel asked questions about what the contestant did as a job, and they only had a few questions each, and if the person could stump the panel, the contestant won.  It was a funny show, with even funnier jobs. 

I used to wonder what I was supposed to be when I grew up. Still do, sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever grow up. Thank God he is patient with me! 

But no matter what profession we choose, or what we do, we have a calling.

A High Calling. 

Most people know that I am the mother of 5 wonderful children. And that their ages range from 28 to 10. And that there are 3 girls and 2 boys, and the boys are in the middle, flanked by 2 older sisters and 1 younger, thank God. Cause if they were at the beginning, there would be no girls. And that the reason the girl at the end is a girl is because God loves me and knew that we needed more estrogen, not testosterone in this household. And that I don't think I could have lived through another boy. Especially since the pregnancy was a total shock. I tell everybody that 'she was the best surprise I ever got.' My 50th birthday party was a close 2nd, but that is another story. Today's post is about birthdays. And children. And the wonder of it all.

Alicia, my first born turned 28 today. She is a joy, and such a wonderful young woman, and is leaving me in September to pursue a degree in art at SCAD. I am both excited and depressed, so filled with mixed emotions for her. I don't know what I am going to do without her, yet I so can't wait to see her blossom. It has been a long road for her, but she is ready and I am so excited for her to shine and use the talents God has given her.

This is our 4th family birthday this year: Sarah is April, Josiah in May, Sam in June and now Alicia in July. My hubby is August, and then the summer of birthdays is over! Whew! Anyway, since Alicia is going to school at SCAD, she has been pining away for an iMac. So the boys and Faith and I went together and got her a gift card for the Apple store. She was so excited, and wanted to go right to the store and get it. I tried to talk her out of it, since we will be leaving for vacation soon, so she could wait till we get back, but she really wanted to go. So we all got in the car and went.

When we got to the store, the guy who sold me the gift card happened to be working, so he was helping us. My hubby asked me which one I had been looking at, and told the guy to get that one out too!!! I had been pining for the MacBook pro, but really didn't plan to buy it for several reasons.

1. because of the expense. I could get a PC for way less money, and it would do everything I need, and more.
2. because my hubby is a PC man. And I feel like I am abandoning him, since he and Faith are now the only one without Macs. And Faith wants one so bad she can hardly stand it.
3. I just hate to spend that much money on myself, on something I really don't need. Even though every time I turned my computer on, after 10 minutes it would just shut off. I mean, off. No warning, No beep, just off. In the middle of something. ARGGGG!

So I needed to do something, even though I wasn't sure what. So the kids were pulling for a Mac, trying to convince me that it was so much easier, and that I could do it, but I was scared. Could I learn to use something new? What would I do if I messed something up? So I was just going to wait and see what God brought. And look what happened.

 God showed up and honestly, I think I am going to do fine. I am on it now, and I do think I am going to fall in love with it. In fact, I think I already am.

As for Alicia, she was excited to get her new 21" iMac. But I think she was more excited for me than she was for herself!!

Thats just the kind of girl she is. I can't take any credit. Its just the way she is. And I am so thankful for her and who she is becoming. She is amazing. And I love her so much.

Thank you, Alicia for the incredible woman you have become. I am so proud of you. And thank you God, for all you have done and are doing in her. You are showing me so much of who you are as I learn to love and care for your blessings I call my children. I am so blessed. Today was an amazing reminder of that. And I am so thankful.