What Are We Thankful For...

In light of today's Thanksgiving holiday, we decided to take five minutes and come up with a list of as many things that we are thankful for that we could. Here is our list in no particular order...

god, our marriage, elias, family, friends, church family, grace, forgiveness, iphones, mac, a home, food to eat, clothes to wear, cars to drive, hope, life, the bible, laughter, joy, happiness, health, our dogs, fireplace, did we mention grace, love, our country, financial provision, guidance from God, opportunities to be a part of what God is doing, journeying with people in life, baby smell, the lake cottage, sunsets, the ocean, warm weather, dupont hospital, nurse anna, our friend leor, good jobs, people who support us, jesus, god's spirit living in us, prevacid, relaxing showers, the boppy chair, the office, favorite tv shows, good music, vacations, compassion, dvr, digital cameras, walgreens, logans, good food, chocolate, turkey hill all natural ice cream, time, coney island, target, red box movie rentals, naps, hugs and kisses, foster park, freedom, beauty, colors, desitin, a swing for elias, snow, nature, god's hands that hold us, starbucks, football, traditions, facebook, encouragement, the example of others, wisdom, the internet, good books, gift cards, dates, family time, and the list could go on and on.

We are so thankful for all these things and so much more!

A Thanksgiving Reminder...

While writing the story about burnt chicken wings below, I was searching for a picture of burnt chicken wings. My google search yielded me this picture. It was a good reminder not to overeat on Thursday (I think he swallowed the turkey whole...or at least a pumkin or something). HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Burnt Chicken Wings!!

So last night I let Louie (one of our dogs) outside before giving him his food. When he came back in I could tell he had something in his mouth. I braced myself for what it might be - thinking that it was going to be a mouse or a baby bunny. I almost started puking in my mouth before I even saw it. Then he dropped it on the dining room floor, and to our surprise we saw what looked like a burnt chicken wing. After carefully looking at it from every possible angle (without touching it of course), we confirmed that it was indeed a burnt chicken wing and quickly got rid of it.

Then the fun began as we started thinking about all of the possible ways this wing got into our backyard. We came up with a few laughers and moved on. This morning when we let Louie out again, he picked up another chicken wing though. So I went out into the yard to see if there were any more. There were two more - taking the total to four burnt chicken wings. 

I picked up another clue regarding how they got there (or so I thought). The two that Louie had not picked up were sitting by our fence next to our neighbor's yard. So that's when we thought that maybe that neighbor was the one who, being displeased with his burnt chicken wings (and possible with us???) threw them into our yard. Was he so upset that he chucked them, not caring where they ended up? Was he upset with us and wanted to get us back for something by getting rid of his wings in our yard? Was he trying to be nice to our dogs by giving them a little treat? None of these made sense. 

So we came up with another option...maybe the neighbor who lived next to our neighbor was mad at him. Maybe he cooked the wings, tried to chuck them into our neighbor's yard, but instead launched them all the way into ours (which could be likely). 

All of this brainstorming got us thinking about some of the things we could do in response. We had a lot of fun and laughs with this.

OPTION 1: Throw some chicken wings in the yards of all three of our neighbors since we don't really know who did it.

OPTION 2: Stand in the backyard for an hour with chicken wings in our hands screaming, "WHY! WHY!" And then take a bite out of one of the wings.

OPTION 3: Burn frozen pizzas and put them in the yards of all three of our neighbors to take it up a notch.

OPTION 4: Think stinky baby diapers full of poopy!!

OPTION 5: A sign on our neighbor's fence that reads - "We hope your smoke detectors work! Do not sleep easy! SMOKED WINGIE = SMOKED HOUSIE"

This also got us wondering...what would you do? Feel free to share some thoughts with us. 

The Difference Integrity Makes...

So IU has played two games so far this season. Although they have won both games, anyone who is following the team at all knows that the wins may be hard to come by this year. The whole situation is a great example of the difference integrity makes. IU's previous coach violated trust and chose not to do things the right way. It cost him, the basketball program, and the school so much. Again, it's a great reminder for me of the importance of being a person of integrity - someone who can be trusted and does things the right way. I'm hopeful for Coach Crean, and regardless of how many wins IU has this year, give me a guy with integrity every time. Remember to be that person of integrity as well - because even the smallest choices count.

Barack Obama...an answer to prayer.

I have been thinking about writing this post, and since Barack Obama will be declared tonight to be the next president of the United States, I thought this would be a good time to write this.

As my post title suggests, what I want to comment on here is the possibility that Barack Obama might be an answer to prayer. If you are like me, over the past several weeks you have received various emails from well intentioned people regarding the need for us as Christians to pray for our country - to pray for God's best and for his will to be done in our nation. As I have considered what we are praying for in this, I have realized that for many Christians the answer they hope to receive from God in response to these prayers is the election of the right people for political office - in other words, the ones that they believe best reflect their own Christian values and beliefs. 

My point in this post though, is that although I believe the motives and intentions are good with this, I am not sure that if this happened, that this would provide our country with the greatest potential for God's Kingdom to be advanced. As a result, this may not be the best way for these prayers to be answered. 

On the other hand, if Barack Obama is going to lead and usher in a devastating time of desperation, as so many Christians that I have talked to lately have claimed, could it be that this would actually be more beneficial to God's Kingdom as it relates to advancing it in our country? Could it be that God would actually prefer an Obama lead downfall (again I am not saying that is inevitable, I am only basing that on the comments shared with me by so many Christians that I have talked to), because in the desperation people would be more receptive to turning to the Lord than they would have been in prosperity? I don't think God desires for us to suffer or go through times like some people anticipate us going through with an Obama presidency. However, I do believe that God is much more interested in our walking with Him than anything else - including our prosperity and ease of life. Also, he is more interested in our lives counting in his Kingdom than he is in our comfort.

So could Obama actually be a more promising answer to the prayers for God's will that were offered over the past few weeks? I suppose we will find out.