Today has been a God day...

...I'm not ready to call it a good day, though.

I'm sure we've all heard the idiom "Trouble comes in 3's." I hope that means we are through with the car trouble, and any other trouble, for a bit...a really long bit!

#1. CD and I head out Tuesday, crawl in the van, turn the key, hear the motor turning over but it would not crank. At.all.

#2. I call My Dear and ask if he has any clue about what I might do to get it going...I had things to do! He responds with a very depressing "great!" Um, not really, Dear!! Come to find out, he had a flat tire on his car and was waiting on AAA Texas to come change his tire (since he was dressed for work!)

#3. Okay, so for two days, I have taken My Dear to work so the girls can get to where they are supposed to be, when they are supposed to be there. Can I just add, I LOVE TRAFFIC??? (sarcasm indeed!) Today, we had friends coming over to spend a bit of time with us and they arrived at the house as I was leaving to pick Bunny up from school. I would come home with Bunny and we would eat, visit, then take CD to work in a bit...at least, that was MY plan! So...I go to the high school, pick Bunny up and head toward home. We were no more than 1/8 of a mile down the road when I hear the clunk-clunk of a flat tire - again, on HIS car!

I called AAA Texas and they quickly dispatched a service truck to my location. The original thought was that we could air up the tire and drive the car the 1/4 mile to Sam's Club which is where we bought the tires. Remember, it was just Tuesday that AAA changed his tire out with his spare, so I had no spare...only another flat tire in the trunk! However, we noticed a hole in the sidewall - yes, the sidewall, and realized it would never hold air even for the 1/4 mile drive.

I'm not kidding about Sam's being so close to the high school! And Wal-Mart, too.

The tow service then dispatched a tow truck, which took about 30 minutes to arrive. By this time, My Dear had borrowed a co-worker's car and had arrived just a moment earlier...I am so thankful for both Neil, his co-worker, and My Dear choosing to come to my rescue, as it was!

Jeff, the tow truck driver, was very proficient at putting the car up on his flat bed and we were at Sam's in moments. Only to learn that Sam's no longer carried our size tire! They could special order, but it would take a week, something we don't have!!! So, we then had Jeff drive to the Wal-Mart tire center, right next door to Sam's - no joke!

At Wal-Mart, we were able to buy 4 new tires. By the time they were on, it was time to head to pick My Dear up from work...so I was on the road, again!

I am not trying to complain...in fact, I have a lot to be thankful for at the end of this day!

I'm thankful for family and good friends that have shuttled my children around for the past couple of days...you know who you are and I love you so much for serving us this way!

I'm thankful for cloud cover today, that kept the Dallas area temps in the 80's - not the high 90's as was forecasted earlier in the week!

I'm thankful for the 3mph breeze that continuously blew across my face while waiting for the tow service to arrive, and the tow truck!

I'm thankful that both vehicles broke down in places that were safe and out of harm's way!

I'm thankful for the ONE Father that stopped to ask if we needed help! About 100 cars passed by (including a policeman!) and only one truly stopped to offer his service!

I'm thankful that we now know what is wrong with my van - it needs a new computer!

Again, I'm thankful for Neil allowing My Dear to use his vehicle, and my sweet man for coming to my rescue!

Truly, it has been a God day! He has been my Strong Tower and my Refuge!

I'm ready to put this day to bed and can't wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow...I think!!!

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow....

God's girl,

Pamela

God is so good, cont.

Thank you to the anon commenter about your Grandparents!!! It is on the blog below so y'all can check it out. Just proves our God is so good!!!

I pray this blog will be all that I spent most of the past couple of hours dreaming of! I just feel so called to this computer to put down the many things I am THANKFUL for because of Christ!

A wonderful prayer from my children's elementary school years says:

God is so good
God is so good
Thank Him for the blessings of life
Blessings when you're coming in
Blessings when you're going out
Always plenty of blessing when you walk in His way.

That last line chokes me up every time! Sometimes it is so hard to walk in HIS WAY!! I want to do it my way, but the promise is that when I surrender to God, there will be blessings. This goes along so well with the verse displayed at the top, Jer 17:7,8.

I am thankful for salvation and my relationship with my Lord.
I am thankful for my home, my house and my family.

My home: y'all know that place when as parents we are fully surrendered and the peace in our home truly passes all understanding...that is the home I am thankful for. It doesn't happen all the time, but the frequency has increased in the past couple of years!
My house: I love my house! It is what I dreamed of as a young lady! We moved here in Oct '96 and by God's grace, I don't plan to move for a llloooooonnnnngggg time!
My family: obviously the first ones will be dear hubs, dd1 and bunny. But also for Mom, Dad, my sissy, DL, my niece....this list could go forever!

I am thankful for our employment.

My dear hubs lost four jobs from 1999-2004. This is what prompted him to start his own business. Most of these losses were due to layoffs and downsizing. However, God's grace and provision has been so abundant in our lives! When he was just starting the biz, God led me to a verse in Psalm to pray over our family before we went our separate ways in the morn:
Ps 90:17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands.
How awesome to know that God himself wants to establish the work of my hands...no matter what that work is!

I am thankful for our marriage.

We have walked through some trials that have made lesser marriages crumble. We have walked through no longer loving one another - and then of course, God decided to move in and continue to love us so we could love one another again, except better! Does that last sentence make sense? I hope so!!!
At this point, we have grown up together. We left the states as 20 yr old newlyweds, him in March me in May of that year(1989). We returned to the states as parents in Dec 1990. We had not seen either of our families since leaving the states! For many of those first few years, it was just us and God. We didn't realize then what a blessing that was, because when the tough got going and we wanted out, God had other plans that we just could not ignore!!!

I am thankful for our daughters!

They are precious points of light in my day! I know they struggle with truly feeling loved...I hurt so badly to watch them make wrong decisions based on something they perceived the wrong way!!! However, they are truly a gift from God and I would not trade any of this journey!!!

There are so many other things...the dog that was a gift from God, who gave us a gift shortly before she had to be put down, the two 90ish cars that drive well and get us from place to place...and on, and on, and on.
However, if you are reading this, you have a life as well. And yours may be even fuller than mine!!! I pray you are so blessed.

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW...

God's girl, Pamela