Thoughts

I have a big family...(and even bigger now that I'm married I have a total of 2 real sisters, 2 real brothers and 4 sisters in law and 5 brothers in law).....so that's a total of 13 siblings. Um....yes. that is ALOT. I am seriously so thankful for having almost all  my siblings down the road from me...and really the furthest ones away are the Gards, "up west" in PEI  (1.5 hours) and the Grants in Fredericton (3 hours).
Recently, we started attending a small group with my littlest bro, Mike, again....(I say again, because he BRIEFLY attended the small group Kristi and Jason and I went to...but solely to meet and talk to Alyson, and promptly stopped going after they started dating!LOL and then last year we had a "siblings" small group on Mondays that was great too) and I have appreciated hearing him talk in a different setting. He's a book worm. He loves to read, like a nerd!! haha But because he reads so much I really trust him and appreciate his ideas, thoughts and opinions. I tease him too much when we are all together, but I think its really good for our friendship to go to small group together.

I was sitting here just thinking about....what is it that I am THINKING about these days. Alot of it has to do with a whole bunch of ideas and feelings that are convoluted and messy dealing with:
Church...missing our old one, adjusting to the new one
Romans...our small group has been going through it and we are currently on Chapter 14...dealing with Essential and Disputable Issues.
Friends...Amanda moved back, missing my Prairie friends, wishing I was close to Kristin as she just had her second little darlin, and named her Sophie...which is my favoritist girls name EVER!!!
Marriage...appreciating the season we are in, thankful for the time I get with Danny, wishing I was a more gracious, kind and serving wife to him
Home Renos...my back is hurting from painting the ceiling 2 days in a row....boo...my house stinks of paint/primer...but I'm STOKED to do the COLOR tomorrow!
Money... trying to budget better, save more and be wiser with the money we have

...but then after all those things filtered through, I started thinking about something my brother said at our small group on Monday "It takes a lifetime to build something and a second to destroy it"....maybe not a direct quote, but a direct thought. It made me think alot about the life I'm living. I am not patient. I don't like waiting. I wish things were done quickly and I rush when I do things. I find it hard to do monotonous things like filling holes in the wall or even PRIMING a wall..I want to get right to the good stuff...the color!!! But I'm learning to build something lasting takes ALOT of time...ALOT of effort...ALOT of patience. So all that to say is I think the good, the slow, the hard things are building a foundation of something very important. I am thankful that I have a place to start again in a church with people I like. I am thankful to be in a small group, that is by far not perfect or suiting my every need, but still good. I am thankful for friends near and far. I am thankful for the moments that people have taken to give me time. I am thinking of little visits that people have made. Time spent with me. Opening my home and having a place that is mine to invite people over. I am thankful for 3 pastors taking time to meet with me, Danny or both of us together this month. That means so much. I am thankful that this week without work meant that I will (hopefully) have one beautifully painted room by Saturday. And Money. grrr....I just want to be rich, but I am thankful for budgetting and hopes and plans and ways I can see we are getting better, more diligent and finding more ways to share and be generous with our few pennies we have.