Rest Your Elbows on this and Dig In

Wrote on February 4, 2012.

Okay, I am back again. This will probably be short and sweet. But I had to tell y’all about our new kitchen table. We sold ours almost 2 weeks ago. I hated to give that thing up, but we toured the apartments that we will be living in and there was no way that it would fit.  So I have had my eye on a table on craigslist for quite some time. Even offered the people a price for it and they refused. It was beautiful and espresso in color. I REALLY wanted that thing. Well I realized after it went off craigslist that I hadn’t even asked Jeremy what he wanted in a table. I had just been obsessed with this particular table. We have talked on and off about getting a “pub style” table(one that is counter height if you aren’t familiar with them). We have wanted one for a long time but I never thought it would look good in our kitchen. I don’t know why I had that in my head. But anyways, the one I was obsessed with was not counter height, but I was having trouble finding a “pub style” in our price range, so I was going to settle. Poor Jeremy didn’t give up. He has had his eye on this table and chair from Wal-Mart in Columbia for quite some time. To me that was a big no-no, because how sturdy could it actually be?? Well I came off my high horse and let Jeremy get it yesterday. It was below our budget and less than what we sold our old one for. It’s actually solid wood too. Well Jeremy worked his tail off for hours last night putting it together. And to be honest, I was still a little sour about it. They had posted my other table again at a cheaper price on craigslist. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I REALLY REALLY wanted that other table. But as I am typing this, I am sitting at our Cherry(that’s not really a cherry color) “pub style” dinette set and I LOVE it. It’s awesome and VERY sturdy. Even if I am still a little bummed about the other dinette set, I am really happy with our new one.  Thanks to Jeremy for all the hard, aggravating work he has in the new one!!! 

Preacher in Training

 I have got to start posting the dates on the entries of my blog because I can’t post right away because I don’t have internet access. Sometimes it takes awhile for me to post my blogs. So today is January 29, 2012. Probably a typical Sunday to most people, but not to the Thornton household. Jeremy has paced and sighed and paced and sighed all weekend and particularly today. See today, he preached his very first sermon. To some, this may not be a big deal, but to us it was huge. I am very sentimental anyways. I can’t say enough how amazed I am at the job he did. For it to be his first sermon, he looked like he had been in the pulpit several times over. His message was about love. I am not sure I could have been more proud of that man than I was tonight. I watched my best friend and husband preach a sermon on something that we all need to work on. I can’t explain the feeling to anyone that hasn’t experienced it.  He is so humble in everything he does. Not that I had my doubts before, but after seeing him in action, I have no doubt about what God intended on him doing. And this is not meant to be conceited in any way or meant to be take any way other than just what’s on my heart. There were several people that come after church to offer their kind words and their encouragement. The outpour was such a blessing. I felt like sunshine rays were radiating from my whole body. A teacher brags on your child and it makes you happy. I heard people brag on my husband and made me “swoon with pride.”  Again, that’s not something meant to be conceited. But I know how hard he has worked on this sermon and how much sighing and worrying and stressing over it and then to know he got up there and did a job like that. It made me even more excited for the journey we have ahead of us. We were very blessed to have Jeremy’s family come to church with us that night and listen to his sermon. We were also blessed to have one of my sister’s and her husband and son and his wife and my parents. Some of Jeremy’s co-workers and one his best friends were there. My wonderful sister planned a little party at our house for after the church service. Our families all came and ate. It was very nice! She made some awesome food! She is always so thoughtful! Thank you Vickie!!!

If any of you would like to hear his sermon, you can go to fairviewcoc.org and click on the “Worship” tab and look for the “sermons” and click there and look for his name. He has been blessed by being ask to speak at the Culleoka Church of Christ on February 26^th. We are excited about this! Thanks to everyone for the prayers and support you have given Jeremy and I. God Bless you all!

You is Kind...

You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

If you don’t know where that quote came from, I will tell you. It’s from the movie, “The Help.” It’s an extremely good story line, but the language isn’t so great. But in the movie the nanny tells a little girl, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” I wish every child had the opportunity to know this. Jeremy and I have talked about writing a book about parenting. I know, I know- we don’t have any kids so how could we possibly know what it’s like to be a parent. We don’t. But it’s interesting to watch how other people parent their children. I have said before that God hasn’t blessed us with children yet because He is letting us watch and gather information from everybody else that is a parent so we will know what to do and what not to do. I know that parents get frustrated and lose their tempers and don’t handle things right from time to time. They have had a long day at work, they lost their job, somebody they love is sick or their best friend won’t speak to them…there are a million ways that any person can be frustrated and stressed out enough that they take it out on the ones they love the most. I’m not talking about a once in awhile kind of thing. Your kids will grow up to be adults one day…what kind of adult do you want them to be? Or you going to fuss at them for how they raise your grandchildren when they are only doing what they themselves were raised to do. Suicide is becoming a thing of society. Kids are unhappy and their last resort is to kill themselves. I can’t imagine what is so bad in life that could make a child do that. This may not be the case every time, but parents do play a big role in this. How often do you show love to your children? I don’t mean how often do you tell them you love them, but how often do you LOVE them. How often do you take the time to listen to them tell you all about their day and what they did in school? Most importantly, how often do you tell them about God and the kind of love He shows us? That’s the greatest gift anybody could ever give their child- a Christian home. One where mommmy and daddy doesn’t fight. Daddy doesn’t come home drunk and mommy isn’t looking at every other daddy. God took me from all that and that was by far the best blessing. I say that because if God hadn’t given me that gift, I wouldn’t have any of the other wonderful blessings that I have now. Things aren’t always perfect in any household. But you can strive everyday to make sure that you put forth an effort. You may get more out of your spouse or kids than you every thought imaginable. Make sure your kids know that they are important and that they matter. It will change their life and may even change yours. You may see results in your children that you have been looking for. Think about your childhood-do you want your children to grow up like you did? Some of you may, some of you may not. Don’t settle for mediocre parenting. Jeremy said something to me recently that really hit home in our situation, “actions speak louder than words.” You can say it all day long but are you doing it?

Love God, Love your spouse, Love your children(in that order). Again, I know that I am not a parent and I don’t know how hard it is. I understand that, but parents need to understand this-from the outside looking in you, you are taking them for granted. I’m not talking about everybody either, so please don’t get offended. It’s just some thoughts I have had recently. God Bless!

Work

Please note-This was written about a month ago.

Well our house officially went on the market today. Well I have been saying that, but the sign actually went up yesterday. It became available on the internet today. To me that means that it’s now on the market. I have some mixed emotions. I feel relief that it’s one thing off our backs. And I do feel sad because of the whole sentimental thing-first house and not to mention I LOVE the location and our little spot of land. Okay enough of that before I start crying. J I have less than 5 months until my last day of work. I have told several people that I am leaving. I probably shouldn’t say this publicly and I don’t mean anything towards any of the rest of my clients, but I have favorites. The ones that I see regularly that have “adopted” me as their own and I have “adopted” them as my own and we just sort of click. I love ALL of our people, I enjoy working with them. I guess I have just bonded more with some. Well one in particularly who is just amazing. His attitude on life is outstanding. After being a big, burly working man for years, he came down with an illness. I didn’t see him for awhile because he was so sick and honestly didn’t really talk to him a whole lot before he became sick. He is now just skin and bones for the most part. They have recently said that the original diagnosis is no longer his diagnosis but they still don’t know what is wrong with him, but he is getting stronger. His response to all of this, “prayers work.” He says all the time that he isn’t giving up and he doesn’t.  He is so positive about it all. He can’t eat but he still cooks for his family and enjoys doing so. We could all learn a valuable lesson from him.

I had to tell him yesterday that I was leaving. I had been dreading that because just thinking about telling him made me cry. It actually went pretty good though. I will miss him and everybody else, but I will be back to visit and I plan on keeping in touch.  And God is going to bring so many more amazing people in my life that I won’t be able to keep up with them all. My reply to this- BRING IT!!! I am ready!