Starting over....again.

Lately I seem to be coming up short - way short. In many areas I am way ahead of the curve, but in one that I hold very dear, I am falling behind, and fast. And I am blaming it all on mother nature. I know you are asking yourself "where is this going????" stick with me.....

Ike seemed to wreck havoc on a lot more than the Southeast Texas landscape. It also took over my life! I have been consumed by it. Watching the news, looking for news on the internet, listening to talk radio, all to hear about Ike and the destruction it caused. Turns out I should have been a tiny bit more introspective in my search. I willingly gave Ike the place in my life that my relationship with God deserves. This realization hit me today, and when I say hit; I do mean HIT!! After watching yet another news clip about destruction and desolation, holding back tears, wondering why I was getting more and more effected by the images; I felt God drop some truth into my heart. "You gave Ike MY place."

Ouch! I knew that was true. All the time I was spending searching out Ike info, it was time I was using before the storm, to search out God; to strengthen my relationship with Him. SO, with this post I am starting over again! Saying goodbye to Ike and hello to my God. Thankfully He is there, arms open wide, waiting on me!

....'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 1:3

A lot to be thankful for

Wow!!!! Time flies when you have a natural disaster hit your town..So, as everyone is probably aware of, IKE tore through southeast Texas 2 weeks ago. We were ordered to evacuate, but after the debacle that was the RITA evacuation, we went as far as Pasadena to my parents house! We (my awesome husband, 2 wonderful kids, parents, brother, sister, brother-in-law and nephew, plus 3 dogs!) all camped out at my parents house to wait out the storm. I could write many blogs about the time spent watching the hurricane pass through Pasadena, the eye of the storm (such a surreal experience!) and the time with out power, getting power and coming back to our home; and ALL the times in between. We had our power restored late Sunday afternoon and have been slowly getting things back in order. With every item I unpack, my sense of gratefulness grows. I am so grateful to have a home to come back to, one that was not damaged. I know that IKE caused great destruction all around me, but one thing it caused was my contentment to increase dramatically. I know it sounds slightly off base to be thankful for a storm, and I am in no way thankful for all the damage and destruction, I am just choosing to look at things from a different view point. So, here is a list of things I am thankful for in IKE's wake:

My family
My friends
My undamaged house that has power
My incredibly clean refrigerator and freezer (freshly cleaned because of the power outage)
My parent's hospitality - let us stay at their house during and after the storm
My Dad's foresight - he had generators to keep us cool, and ice machine that kept us stocked with ice, BBQ pit ready to cook on, I am sure there are things I am forgetting!
My husband - he is an all around awesome guy! Kept me laughing, even in the tough times
My kids - they did awesome during all the hoopla
My kid's school is ready for them to come back on Monday.

There are so many more things to be thankful for, I just wanted to get some of them out there. Hope you are focusing on the good too!