Saturday, November 2, 2013

The Thankful Project: Day 1 & 2

This time of year, I get on Facebook and start seeing these posts about thankfulness, and then I remember, oh DUH! It's November!  And then I'm a week late in starting something that I've wanted to do for the past two Novembers but I don't catch it in time.  But day two I feel is an easy catch so...

The Thankful Project: 2013 Edition

The Thankful Project is just my fancy way of putting a name to what other do in posting something/one they are thankful for every day of the month of November.

This actually fits perfectly, because Day 1 & Day 2 are married and are not one without the other.

So Day #1: I am thankful for... my father, Mark.

  • He's the strong silent type.  
  • When i was in middle school, for two years, he traveled for his job to New Jersey/New York every week.  He would leave Sunday night and come back Friday night. It was a hard season for the family, but he did it successfully.
  • He sat me down my senior year of high school when i was dating my first real boyfriend and told me to break up with him b/c he wasn't a Christian and Dad knew it was not going to last.  I didn't question him and picked up my phone.
  • On move-in day in college, he and I took trips up 13 flights of steps until it was my turn for the elevator.  AWFUL
  • I remember the day when we found out he got laid off his job of over 20 years.  I have never seen a more perfect true example of fear yet faith in God.  That was the day i saw my dad as a man and not as my dad.  Seared in my brain.    
  • He took me to Nashville for the first time to help me find a place to live during my internship.  
  • He introduced me to the best of BREAD, Chicago, and the Eagles.  
  • He tells the corniest jokes.
  • He knows Jesus.
  • He speaks everything in truth, love, and wisdom.  
  • Papa Mark loves his grandkids to PIECES!
  • Most of all, he loves me as his daughter.  He seeks to help me when i need it and encourage me when he can.  He has been my provider, and rescuer, and my true earthly father.  
I know that i am truly lucky to have him, and often times i took/still take him for granted.  Whenever i talk to friends from single mom homes or to others with a broken skew of a father figure in their lives, it doesn't take long for me to pick up the phone and call home to remind myself of the true blessing of a father my HEAVENLY Father gave me.

Day #2: I am thankful for... my mother, Shelley.


  • She is the ideal strong woman and she made sure to instill in my sister and I that we need to be able to take care of ourselves.
  • She worked our entire lives and i can, without a shadow of a doubt, tell you that her work never interfered with her first and foremost being my mom.  (although, we interfered with her work THOUSANDS of times...if i have to raise my voice in my cubical  you will NOT be happy when i get home!)
  • When my dad was traveling with work, she was our ROCK!  There is no other way to put it.
  • She put logic to my lofty dreams that ultimately was God's way of directing my path.  
  • She was a leader among the women at church.  Totally necessary for me to see the example she set of still letting the men lead the church with her supporting them through women's ministry.
  • She let me embarrass her.  We would always kid about how the parent was supposed to embarrass the the kid, but in our situation i was reversed.  
  • She cleaned me ears.  TRUE love!
  • She tucked me in the best...sorry Dad.  Even when i had the loft bed, she would pull out the chair to stand on it so she could hug and kiss me goodnight.  
  • Summer of 2005, I will forever remember the walk we took that decided me future.  I could almost tell you the exact date.  Although she was a woman of much logic, she told me to follow my heart b/c that was where Jesus was.  
  • My mom was the ultimate nurturer.  You saw her priorities very clearly and we were always close to the top.  
  • The day I went into the hospital, when I found out Ruthie was coming earlier than expected, she didn't have anything to say to me, but she sat there and cried with me.  We were both scared, and that was ok.  I just needed someone to be scared with me.  That's all it took for me to figure out that we were going to be ok.  
  • I got my hot bod from my mom.  :)  Thanks! 
  • I definitely hear things in what i say from my mom as I raise my daughter.  I seek her advise OFTEN now that I have my own diva daughter.  
Mom and I have always been THAT... a mom and her daughter.  But I can without a shadow of a doubt say she is a friend that i seek advise from, in love, in Christ, in how to get stains out of things, in EVERYTHING.  We are not the mother and daughter that are exactly alike (have you met my sister?!?!) but that is what makes me sooo grateful to be her daughter.  She is/was a HUGE influence on how I became the girl I am and have yet still to become.  I LOVE YOU, MOM!


I really love them tonight, b/c they took Ruthie for a sleep over :) But for real, these two beautiful, Godly people gave me an example of how to be a better Christian, wife, mother, person, employee, sister, etc.

THANK YOU, DAD!  THANK YOU, MOM!
**I cried through 3/4 of this post.  I hope this doesn't happen every day of this project**

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Precious! Thanks so much for taking the time to share. I know this means the world to your Mom and Dad. They must have done something right because you've turned into one great Mom yourself :)
Jan Reynolds