thankfulness

why do mondays always seem like twice as long as all of the other weekdays put together? when ryan and i have our own business, we are going to be closed every monday-it's already been decided. unless, of course, we really want to be open on monday...and then, of course, we will!

ryan and i "joined" a gym this weekend. i use the term joined lightly because we didn't sign a contract or anything..and we haven't actually started going yet, even. but we will tonight, after work. i am really excited about this...i have not been exercising a whole lot over the past few months because...well, no real good reasons why. ryan and i run every now and then, but neither of us like to run in the cold-so that's been kind of on again, off again. ryan works out at his shop, but that's such a drive for us in the evenings...and since we've been planning to move, we haven't been able to join anywhere else because you usually have to sign at least a year's contract. but, we have some sweet friends from church who opened a gym not too far from us last year (or so). we went to check out the place this weekend and talk with them a bit, and they said they'd be willing to let us join for just two months. so, yay! they offer a lot of sweet classes, too-mostly for women-that i'm going to try out. i'm sure it will not be easy to go every evening, but we are going to make a plan to stick with it...and see how it goes for the next two months. we are both really excited!

in other news, mom and hannah are out in colorado right now checking out the university of colorado in denver. they both LOVE the area-have nothing but good things to say! they are actually doing a campus visit today, so i am looking forward to hearing how that goes. it would be just amazing if hannah moved out with us... but i'm trying not to get my hopes up too much!

i know i just posted a little about money the other day, but we had something happen this weekend that i just had to share. though it's never easy to share our own sin, i'm going to do just that for the sake of this post... we have some dear friends who are just about as tight with money as we are. this weekend, someone gave them a large amount of money for something and i was a little bit jealous..okay, actually i was very jealous. and i said as much to ryan. i had a little pity party for us, which ryan (amazingly LOL) did not join in on...he sat with me as i partied alone and then reminded me that God is going to take care of us, even as He is taking care of our friends. and you know what, God did JUST that. on sunday at church, my brother handed me a wad of cash-in fact, it was just the amount that i was so upset about the day before. some of you have heard the funny stories about this boat that my brother and i bought a few years ago. the boat that my brother called me a few years ago and asked if i wanted to go in to buy it with him...to which, i said, oh yes of course-because i was so excited that my brother wanted to invest in something with me, his little sister! the boat that he just happened to forget to invite me to go skiing on for the next few years...in fact, it's the boat that i have only stepped aboard in Montevallo, AL (which, for anyone who doesn't know--that's far, far from any kind of boating body of water). anyway, that boat sold this weekend...we have been trying to sale it for like a year now! the timing of it all just made me laugh...and, then, of course, turn to the Lord in repentance. and then, my daily light reading this morning: My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus..He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things..The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want..the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly..the living God...gives us richly all things to enjoy..
my lesson for the day, not only does God graciously give us all that we need, sometimes He gives us those things that we want....and all we can do is be thankful!

my precious husband had these waiting on my Friday when i got home from a looooonnnnngggggggg day at work:
(and yes, that's bread laid out for our dinner last night-grilled chesse LOL)