A heartfelt apology.....a gratitude reminder for me today.

So this morning I'm driving the dog to the vet and the whole way praying that she comes home with me and hopefully feeling better.  Somewhere in that short 20 minute drive I realize that in the past two weeks I've had a lot of "stinkin' thinkin' " while I've been at the condo painting especially Sunday and Monday. I was pouty and lonely and wanted to come home.  Most of all I was dang tired!!  The dog being sick pretty much the whole time left me getting only about 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night and I was painting like a mad woman, falling off the bar stool regularly (it was the only thing I had to stand on to paint) and feeling like I still wasn't doing enough.   Then the car ride home yesterday was horrific...a sick dog, a 13 hour drive alone and several near misses with semi trucks, flying metal objects and a torrential downpour.  Needless to say I was not pleasant when I finally got home last night.  All I wanted was a glass of wine and a hot bath.  It was not to be as for some reason the hot water wasn't working in our tub and the back rub hubby promised turned out to feel more like a "beating" than a nice back rub.   Oh wait, I was apologizing for my "stinkin' thinkin' ".

Anyway I realized that I really had grumbled and moaned and whined about being all alone down in the condo spending my days and nights painting and trying to buy furniture and such for the place and dealing with a sick dog at the same time. What I had forgotten to do was take a few minutes to thank God for the blessing I was complaining about.  HELLLOOOOO!!!  I mean seriously...I was painting OUR FREAKIN" CONDO!!!!!   Our condo...our condo...our condo!  Did I ever dream those words would come out of my mouth??  Seriously I had the biggest I'm so sorry God moment in the car.  I can't begin to tell you all how grateful I really am that we have a condo at the beach.  A place to share with our children and hopefully one day our grandchildren (kids please note...this needs to be WAY down the road). A place to share with our friends and family.  We're not looking to make a ton of money by renting out the condo, we only want to cover our expenses and reinvest to keep it a nice place for us and everyone else.  We want to share this blessing with our friends and families and hope that you too will come to love those beautiful beaches as much as we do.  We want to make new memories with our kids and our friends and family.  We want to give everyone else the opportunity to take a little break from their hectic lives, slow down and look at the absolutely amazing beauty of the beach. Appreciate your families more and recharge yourself with a new outlook and remember what is really important to you.   You can't go to this beach and not look out and think "Wow God...that's some kind of gorgeous!"

so seriously, I'm apologizing to everyone for my lack of gratitude the past few weeks.  We may have been away from home for Thanksgiving and I was tired and we were missing 1 of our kiddos but you know what?  We have so very much to be thankful for in our lives and I want to make sure that God and all of you know that I am grateful. Grateful for every minute of every day and all the challenges and all the fun because I'm a child of God and everything that I have is nothing short of a generous gift from Him.    Be blessed my dear friends and be grateful for everything.

If you are interested, our sweet dog face is a sick girl.  She has been "unofficially" diagnosed with EPI.  Basically her pancreas is shutting down.  She got some medicine today that will hopefully make her feel better but we all know our days with that big lug are numbered.  The vet came in the room today while we were waiting on the blood work and he found us snuggling and I think I saw him get a little teary eyed.  She was standing on the exam table and her head resting on my shoulders and I was telling her all kinds of stuff.  She understands me, I know she does you see because we really need each other.  I haven't worked in almost a year now and at home she's my shadow, she drives me crazy and then makes me laugh.  Two weeks alone with her and 25 hours total in the car together...we've bonded even more so.  I hope and pray she feels better soon and stays around for a long time to annoy me and wake me up in the middle of the night and track mud all on my wood floors.  :0)
Kiss you big lug....I love you girl!!

Today I'm ending my post with a pic from the beach and a verse instead.  I wish for you peace and love!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17 ESV