Thanksgiving: Not just for the day

I hope y'all (er, you all) had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day (and to my friends outside the US, a good old fashioned fantabulous weekend). I wore myself out on Wednesday and Thursday in a flurry of activity and I guess I'm a little slow to bounce back. I had a marvelous day though ;o) You know, between the cancer and all of my other medical misadventures, I have found myself becoming increasingly more thankful for the many blessings in my life every day; not just once a year. I'm thankful for many things that I never even used to consider, or even acknowledge. You know; the small stuff. I will admit to being disappointed in myself (well, okay maybe more like disgusted, ashamed, annoyed, etc. *rolls eyes*) that it took all those doggone medical misadventures to make me see things clearly: with a grateful spirit first and a jaded heart last. I can count it a blessing as well, that the Lord allowed a slow learner like myself such a large learning curve (otherwise known as the refining process). I readily admit that I needed a LOT of refining, and I'm pretty sure I'm nowhere near soup yet either. *grin*

It is for those many misadventures that I find myself in the odd position of being thankful beyond measure to God for allowing me to suffer them. Yeah, I said it: Thank you Lord for my cancer and other medical maladies (and - in case you're wondering - I'm completely sober ;o) Am I nuts? Nope, just finally figured out that "my world" is much improved for having had them. So many things I would not have taken the time for before; now I do. A phone call, a visit, a note, or even a small hand-made gift for friend or family. I would have thought about it of course, maybe even mean to, but I would have missed the opportunity because of a busy schedule and excused myself because there just wasn't enough time. So many little things that I never thought of before; now I do. I did not truly appreciate being blessed with excellent health - why would I? I'd never been seriously ill. I'm sorry it took the loss of that health for me to even notice. Never once did I give thanks that I could walk - why would I? After all, my legs have always taken me wherever I wished to go (at a very rapid pace). Too bad I had to lose the use of them for awhile to realize I should be thankful for them (and you'd better believe I am now - even in their reduced capacity ;o) Hard lessons, yes, but I will remain thankful for them anyway and continue to work at [and pray away on] my Christian self. I'll work harder on making the time and taking the time too, which probably means I'll be late for more stuff (but don't worry; it'll be for a good cause ;o)
I'm sure most of you have read the poem by Red Foley called, "Lord Forgive Me When I Whine" (here). I'm embarrassed to admit that when it came through my inbox waaay back when, I read it and thought, "Wow, we should all have that perspective" before forwarding it to several friends and then forgetting all about it. If you haven't heard of it, it is quite moving and reflects that "attitude of gratitude" we should all aspire to. Several years ago I began starting my days with a thankful prayer for another day/another chance and the request that I might be a blessing to someone that day. It took a little while, but these days that is usually the first waking thought of my mornings, followed by my daily ritual: a cup of green tea with a big blop of honey (Lipton's Blueberry Pomegranate today - yum!), and a chapter in my daily devotional (this year's on my Kindle). The pumpkin candle is, of course, optional. *laugh* That is my Thanksgiving prayer for each of you; that you approach every day you're given with a smile on your face and thanksgiving in your heart - even when you are less than sure that's how you feel inside (it's the effort that counts, after all, and eventually you'll find yourself much happier for it ;o)
Shadow had a terrible bout of colic last night, which left me more than a bit scrambled this morning. Over the course of two hours I gave him two doses of mineral oil, which generated four rounds of poo (not to mention we walked about 650 miles around - and around and around - the pasture). Although each "pit stop" seemed to make him feel better initially, he reverted to miserable a short time later. I did get this shot of the moon during one of our rest stops/intermissions. Thought it was neat, although a full one would have been nice considering the amount of tripping yours truly did bumbling around out there in the pitch dark pasture (and yes I had a flashlight, but that doesn't always help when you have G2 incorporated into your DNA - aka the Graceless Gene ;o) After almost three hours, we ended up giving him a shot of Banamine which we rarely do anymore (it's always my last choice as it is not really good for him). We finally left him when he was resting comfortably, and DD made several trips back out to the pasture before bed to check on him. He was, I am very happy thankful *grin* to report, right back to his sassy self this morning. And what a glorious morning it is...

Isn't that cloud formation awesome? Looks just like frosting, which reminds me of something I find a total piece of cake to be thankful for... Dessert. Oh my, that was bad ;o)

The cake on the left is pumpkin spice (Mom's favorite) and the one on the right is carrot which is DH's favorite (from scratch, of course). Dad's favorite is chocolate, which he'll have at Christmas. The clay basket holds a mixture of candy corn and peanuts, which is unbelievably yummy for those of you who like the taste of Payday candy bars. Yikes! I'd better run...before I'm late for church (again ;o) No worries though; it's for a good cause, right?
I didn't get to the rest of the photos from the fair - stay tuned for them though! As always, thank you for reading this far and have a blessed week everyone!