04 December 2014

Grateful in December


Eek, December??!! How on earth did that happen?
I'm kind of a little bit in shock.

As the end of the year hurtles towards me and the season-which-shall-remain-nameless MUST be named (Christmas - there I said it) I have decided to begin the last month of the year with a bit of Grateful Therapy.
I mean, I know November is the traditional month for thanksgiving and all, but I'm a little slow. So bear with me, as I give thanks for the blessings in my life.



Firstly, I am thankful for the Chicken Pox. What?? Yes, you heard me. I am THANKFUL FOR CHICKEN POX. Scrag came out in spots last Friday, he's the last member of our family to ever have the pox, so he and I have been in quarantine this week. No work for me, no school for him. Aside from the itchy suffering of my poor wee lad (which has now abated thank goodness) this has been an amazing time to just catch my breath. therefore I am grateful for the pox.

Grateful I've gotten to spend a week at home with the sweetest little lad you could ever wish for. Grateful I've had time and space to do some serious DIY in preparation for the imminent arrival of Grandma et al. Grateful I've been able to go at my own pace, and just be home at this time of the year.
It may be slightly weird but I am indeed grateful for Chicken Pox.


Next on my list, I am grateful for prayers answered. Living breathing miracles do happen, people. When you are a parent and you are worried about one of your offspring, it is a wonderful thing to know you can call out to the One who knows that child best and ask for help. Believing - deep down in my gut believing - that the One who made the hugeness of the Universe holds my child in His hands is beyond comforting.

Especially when those cries for help are ANSWERED. When you pray for someone to come alongside your child, a mentor, a listening ear. Someone who your anxious child can talk to when they don't want to talk to you. And then, the coolest young man, who you have known since he was a kid, OF HIS OWN VOLITION comes alongside your child. Takes time out to come over and hang out, listens, talks, gives advice, and says: "I was just like you when I was your age; I know what that's like, I get it..." And your child, who worries about the future looks at this awesome young man and says, "He was like me, and look at him now." And that child begins to Hope.

Well, I call that a miracle and an answered prayer. And I am so so very beyond grateful.
Grateful to this wonderful young man and grateful to God who sent him to us.


More to be grateful for: I was born in New Zealand. What are the odds?
I was driving along though our city the other night and it hit me, the chances of being born in this beautiful country are teeny tiny. There are, after all, only FOUR MILLION of us Kiwis here in Godzone. That's a drop in the ocean of the human population. China and India have villages with bigger populations than that!

But somehow I got to be born in this beautiful land, a free country, where I can believe what I want to believe, wear what I want to wear, get an education and pursue my dreams. When I or my family get sick we don't have to worry about losing everything because the Government (who we are free to disagree with without fear of arrest) has got it covered. My child who is always at the emergency clinic with injury after injury? Covered. Medical treatment = FREE. Education = FREE.
We have beaches, mountains, green spaces wherever we turn. We live in Paradise. And I am so so grateful.

And then it's Christmas. I am summoning my grateful and in spite of the fact that I am the least Christmassy I have EVER been, I am deciding to focus on the REASON for the season.

Just this morning I received an email from a church in Alabama who, tonight, are performing my Christmas story for their community. It's amazing. My little story is being performed around the world! I'm so grateful.

There's so much more I could say but I really need to get out of my PJs and get my girlie to the (free) fracture clinic to check her broken toe. Yep, it's all go round here. But I'm taking my Grateful with me.

How bout you? Watcha grateful for lately??


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