Thankful Thursday a few hours late

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

I had a great night's sleep last night. I know my sister in law was concerned about my cumulative fatigue and I'm sure she was praying... I know I was asleep before 9 because I didn't see the end of Ugly Betty nor the beginning of Grey's Anatomy. I was asleep until one minute before six... that's when I reached for my phone and realized that I had somehow slept until seconds before my alarm. That's good sleep... Angie probably talked to her imaginary friend about me *wink*.

I meant to do a Thankful Thursday post because my friend Dawn reminded me that it's easy to be thankful on Friday... it's a greater step of faith to be grateful on Thursday. Of course, I am grateful EVERYDAY and this is a big part of prayer time for me, just thanking God for all the amazing and wonderful things that are happening for me...

A.T. called last night (see photo on sidebar). She is my long time friend who came down to help with the move we affectionally refer to as "Out of Egypt" when I left Jacksonville. She has not been reading my blog so she knew nothing of the loss of Misty or what we had gone through in the past week. Seems like I remember someone asking me if I was taking A.T. with me to Albany and I didn't feel the need to have a crutch... I felt like I could handle it... and I had Cody... who is great emotional support. A.T. was disappointed at not being able to go... she said the idea of Michael having both baby mamas and his wife in the same geographical location would be funny in an ironic sort of way.

Stephen's mom said it best while on the phone with someone while we were driving, "I'm in the rental car with Michael's wife driving me because I had a drink at lunch to prepare for seeing Michael's mother. Yes. Michael's wife." She and Michael's mom have issues that go back 20 years. Michael's mother and I have a congenial relationship but we're not exactly vacationing together. She was a bit unstrung at the idea of seeing mom... and it was fine. Everyone was on their best behavior.

Anyways... A.T., Mary, Sheri and a couple of other friends of ours from high school had set tomorrow as a target date for a Hen Party and it's just not going to pan out. Hopefully we'll reconnect soon. I am so blessed to have reconnected with many people from my past, mostly thru Facebook, and I am realizing what a rich life I have had... in the words of George Bailey, "No man is poor who has friends". Some of the girls had kid obligations... I have chosen to work in the morning because I need the extra hours and because we have clients who want to be seen on Saturday and I'm in the position to accomodate them.

My plans for the weekend are rest, rest, rest. I'll work Saturday morning and then nest until Sunday morning. Sunday is a day of rest but it's a different kind of rest, it's a spiritual rest. We are on the go all day on Sunday but it's as necessary to my spiritual rest as nesting on Saturday is to my physical rest.

Austin has plans to spend the night with a friend tonight... if his chores are done... he's still being horribly sketchy about his chores.... I have to ask him, remind him, scold him, get mad at him... and then things still aren't *quite* done right. Getting his chores done is more of a chore for me than it is for him.

I do want to do a little leaf watching / picture taking this weekend. The true PEAK seemed to happen on Sunday and Monday this week. The leaves were beautiful as we headed out of town on Wednesday and yesterday seemed to be a little more on the dead side. We have rain coming through today so chances are that we won't have near the beauty as we did last weekend... but I still want to try to capture some of the amazing sights around here to share with you... and to remember my first fall in the mountains.

It's a jeans day at work and you know how I love that! My plans for today are to have lunch with Sarabeth at school. Angie volunteers at Sarabeth's school on Fridays so I can have lunch with both of them! I have had plans to spend one lunch hour a week volunteering at the elementary school as a way to connect with Sarabeth and also to connect in the community. It's important to me from both a personal and profession perspective to be visable in the community.

So that's my Thankful Thursday, one day late... I'm thankful for a good night's sleep, the opportunity to take some great autumn pictures, for awesome life-long friends, for a sister-in-law who is my prayer warrior, for the opportunity to be a part of my community... for my job... for weekends... and in the grand tradition of Dawn's Thankful Thursday posts - I am thankful for my keurig k-cup of coffee!

Have a beautiful day! Find joy and gratitude along your way!