A Green Thanksgiving

We had a very Green Thanksgiving this year.  No, we didn't install solar panels or use biodegradable dishes or anything like that.  My side of the family (the Greens) came to our house to celebrate the holiday this year.

My Grandma Green came on Wednesday afternoon and spent the night with us.  I had asked to her to come early to show me how to make her famous homemade stuffing (a simple copy of the recipe wouldn't suffice; I am primarily a tactile, and secondarily a visual learner), and was thrilled when she complied.  We all got in on the action, except for Will, who was zoned out on the Wii.  Sigh.  Tara chopped the onions, Leah chopped the celery; Luke, Leah, and Grandma pinched the bread, and I took pictures of the whole thing.  Oh, and I did chop a little onion and celery too.  Honestly!!  It was so heartwarming to see my children making special memories with their Great-Grandma Green.

On Thanksgiving Day, my Aunt Gloria arrived mid-morning and was immediately accosted by Luke, who wanted to play board games with her.  Being the fabulous great-aunt that she is, she played several with him.  My parents were the next to arrive (my sweet mom brought my exhausted hubby an entire pecan pie just for himself), and by that point I was about to burst with the secret I (and all of my kids) were trying to keep...my brother Brent and his family were going to be joining us all the way from Mississippi!!  I didn't have my camera handy when they walked in the door, but word has it that the look on Grandma's face was priceless. 

My brother Brent wasted no time in pestering my girls.  Tara quickly caught on to what was happening and high-tailed herself out of reach as soon as the opportunity presented itself, but Leah got caught in mayhem of Uncle Brent's lovey-dovey-ness (don't tell anyone, but I think she secretly liked it!).  And yes, I'm still making up words.  Try it, it's great fun!

I'm not gonna lie; I was pretty nervous about cooking for my family.  I've never been very good at timing everything out to where the food is all done at the same time, I'm a slow, messy cook, I'm extremely forgetful, and I get easily overwhelmed in the kitchen.  Sounds pitiful, but I'm just being real.  I did make myself a little cheat-sheet so I could look at it and gather my thoughts when they started wondering.  My brother made fun of me for it, but my sister-in-law Robin and I are kindred spirits, so she understood.

Even with this list, my grandma had to remind me to put the ham in at 11.  *blush*  It's very embarrassing to be so forgetful that you forget to look at your reminder list.  And I just have to say that due to my ever so slight OCD-ish tendencies, it took all I had not to write 'Robin:  sweet potato casserole' on that list when I was making it out the night before.  She also brought yummy choco-chip cookies and choco-chip pumpkin bread.  Mmmmm.

In spite of me, and because of everyone's contributions, the meal was a success, and I was so full from it that I didn't have room for a piece of my mom's delicious pumpkin pie (I had 2 slices for lunch the next day to make up for it) afterward.  The whole day was very enjoyable, and it was a real treat to be able to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often.  And, I'm not braggin' or anything, but I know you all wish you had a grandma cool (and limber!) enough to get in the floor for a picture with her great-grandchildren while wearing her ultra-fly Will's Warriors shirt.  Just sayin'.  On a side note, pay no attention to the boy who is giving his cousin rabbit ears with great vigor and enjoyment. 

On another side note, pay no attention to all of the parentheses in this post (I shamefully overused them).

I hope all of you had a happy Thanksgiving, spent with the ones you love.

Melissa

Thankfulness...it makes the coldness go away!

I woke up this morning with my mom on my mind.  She is in the hospital because of a blood clot at the moment, but that lady has really been through a lot the past few months...years...decades.  I won't go into details other than she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) when I was a teenager.  It's a nasty, mean disease, and I hate it for what it's done to her body.  She's had so many surgeries that I've lost count.  I jokingly call her a trouble-maker, and she jokingly says back to me, "Well, everybody stopped paying attention to me...I had to do SOMETHING!".  I think it's good to laugh in tough times when you don't really know what else to do.

Being blatantly honest, when I heard that Mom was being hospitalized yesterday, it put me in a not so thankful mood.  Also, this season is the apex of my husband's work year.  He is the manager of a retail toy store, and is working so much that his employees and customers see him much more than the kids and I do.  I have dubbed myself the 'Toy Store Widow' the past several years just for a laugh, but again being honest, this time of year is tough on all of us, especially Keith.  He comes home completely mentally and physically exhausted, and is usually starving because he doesn't even have time to sit down and eat a meal for the 12-14 hours he spends at (and in transit to) work 6 days a week.  I'm not trying to make anyone feel sorry for us, and I know that many people have it much worse than us.  I am just laying out the facts.  All of these facts lead up to this fact...my thankfulness meter has been sadly low lately.  Thanksgiving is next week; I should be overflowing with thankfulness, right?!

The simple answer is yes, I should be.  I should not let the circumstances that cause me anxiety or that stress me out steal my joy.  Period.  No, exclamation mark!  Two, even!!  I have so very much to be thankful for; I could probably start saying them one by one right this minute and keep going until my final breath and still not be done.  True story!  My Sunday School teacher, Sis. Gloria, tells of one of her former pastors who questioned why we should have only one day, Thanksgiving, to focus on what we are thankful for.  In fact, he suggested that it be just the opposite; we should have one day to be complainy and un-thankful, and the rest of the year should be spent giving thanks.  Stew on that for awhile.  I have, and it has really helped to put things into perspective for me.

My 3 year old son, Will, summed it up perfectly this morning.  He was cold when he woke up, and that gave me the perfect excuse to wrap him in a big, soft blanket and snuggle up with him in his Daddy's big chair in the living room.  He looked up at me, smiled, and said, "Ahhhh.  This makes the coldness go away.".  I instantly had the thought that it's the same with being thankful.  On tough days when life isn't going exactly right, if you take the time to think about all that you have to be thankful for, it will make the coldness  go away.  I'm going to make a conscious, daily effort to focus in on the many blessings in my life instead of on the very few things that are negative.  I am 100% positive that it will make all the difference in my attitude and demeanor.
For now, I will leave you with a sweet picture of Will and my mom, 2 of the great blessings in my life.  This picture sure does warm me up on a cold day.

Melissa

God's Scavenger Hunt

I am often amazed at the sheer awesomeness of God's creation.  We live in a big, beautiful world, and I absolutely love looking at it.  God spared nothing when He created.  He went all out.  From the vast oceans, deserts, and wide open prairies, to the rolling hills and majestic mountains, to the fathomless expanse of the sky and universe...my mind is aflutter with the grandeur-ness (this is my blog, I am allowed to make up words if I want to) of it all.

Our family went to the Gulf coast of Florida for vacation in September of this year.  Each time we were at the beach and I was looking out at the water that went on and on as far as my eye could see, I felt much like I did on my very first trip to the ocean as a teenager.  I was AWED.  I don't think I will ever not be awed by it.  It has a way of making one feel so very, very small.  In fact, when my kids were playing and swimming in the water, that same thought stuck me even more.  They all looked so tiny in comparison to that great big Gulf of Mexico.

Something about that was very overwhelming to me, but in a good way.  I could go on and on, but the point I'm trying to make is that God makes big things.  REALLY big things.  He made them for us to enjoy and to be inspired by, and they also remind us of how great and mighty and powerful He is.  I believe it gives Him great joy when we look at His handiwork in awe and wonder. 

In comparison, I have this notion that God especially delights in putting little, tiny things in our paths for us to discover, if we are looking.  That's the key; we have to look.  Many times we are so busy with life and its many cares and responsibilities, that we overlook these little things and pass them by unknowingly.  Through my growing love of photography, I have discovered so many things that I would have missed, had I not been looking through my lens for that next little thing to capture in picture form.

I know it may sound far-fetched to some of you, but I believe with my whole heart that God deliberately places little things like this in my path just so I can find it and smile (and of course snap a pic).  I believe He does it for all of His children.  My family has talked about this on our frequent nature outings.  In trying to explain this theory to my kids, I told them that it was a little bit like God had set up a scavenger hunt for us.  It's up to us to find the things that He has hidden just for us, and  when we do find them, He smiles when we do.  He knows each of us so well, far better than we know ourselves, and He knows exactly what will make us smile, laugh, get a blessing, or praise Him, so each of us gets a tailor-made scavenger hunt - put in place by God - for us as individuals.  Wow, that just gives me goosebumps, to know He loves us like that!! 

At times, though not very often, several individuals will find that their scavenger hunts collide and intertwine, and when that happens, well, sometimes it means that a lucky turtle will have a really great story to tell to all of his turtle buddies, if he should be able to recover enough from shock and fear to be able to make it back to them.

I have a challenge for you today; look for the little things, and when you find them, please take the time to share your thoughts with me.  I would love to hear from you!

Melissa



I've gone and done it!

Well, here it is; the day I've dreamt about, contemplated, and talked myself out of and back in to at least a million times in the past few months...it's...wait for it...it's THE DAY I STARTED A BLOG!!  Whoo-hoo!  At this very moment my brain is on toggle between 'I'm so excited, I finally did it!', and 'What in the world have I gotten myself into?', but I'll deal with it.  My brain is on toggle a lot, it seems, so I'm used to it.

Now to address the question invading everyone's mind, I'm sure (including mine)...why would I ever think that people would want to read about my life?  Honestly, I don't have a brilliant answer for that.  All I can say is, I'm not doing this for any of you.  I'm doing it for me.  Selfish?  Maybe.  But, it's the truth.  Writing has always been very cathartic for me.  A way to get my thoughts out there without opening my mouth and inevitably inserting my foot, or saying something stupid, or worse yet, not being able to think of anything to say at all.  My keyboard has a handy 'backspace' and 'delete' button; my mouth does not.  And, my computer screen doesn't randomly break out into hives when people are looking at it.  At least, not that I've ever noticed.  Trust me, this blog will be one of the quickest and most simple ways to get to know the real me, if you're interested.

On to the next order of business...the name.  People who know me even on a casual level, and especially those who are close to me, know how much I love taking pictures, and with 'Snapshot' in the title, one could easily assume that this blog would be about photography.  Photography is fast becoming one of the great joys of my life, and if you see me out and about without my camera, well, that's a rare occasion indeed.  However, this blog isn't going to solely revolve around that aspect of my life, although I do suspect the 2 will intermingle quite frequently.  Dictionary.com gives the informal definition of the word 'snapshot' as follows:  A brief appraisal, summary, or profile.  I think this perfectly describes what I want this blog to be.  I want to share the moments of my life that make me laugh, cry, get excited, throw my hands up in the air, do the happy dance...I think you get the point.  I hope my sharing with you inspires you to share in return.

Finally, here is a brief bio, for those future readers who don't know me at all.  I'm 5'10", 125 lbs, with gloriously flowing auburn hair, green eyes...

What?!  One of those things was absolutely true!!  Okay, here's the whole truth.  I'm an Evangelical Christian, which means that I'm a believer who holds to the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and salvation by grace through faith alone (thank you, GotQuestions?org for that eloquent description).  I'm happily married to the love of my life and will celebrate 16 years of marriage with him on 11-11-11.  I like to call him my hubsterstud on occasion, but his given name is Keith.  He's a wonderful, loving husband and father, and I love him more with each passing day.  I'm blessed to be able to stay at home with our 4 children; Tara, 14; Leah, 12; Luke, 7; and Will, 3.  I consider each of my children a precious gift from God, and I love and cherish them beyond measure.  I'm fairly certain I'll be writing about them way more than they want me to.  We felt called to homeschool our children way back before our oldest daughter was school age (she's now a Freshman in high school), and we have never looked back.  It has been one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges in my life.  We live in a rural area on the outskirts of a small Midwest town, on land that has been in my husband's family for many years (I affectionately call it Shepherd Acres).  Our closest neighbors are my husband's parents on one side, and his sister on the other, which might not work for some families, but has honestly been a very happy and pleasant arrangement from day one for us.  I enjoy nature, photography (and any combination of the 2), reading, singing, cooking, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.  If you want to know anything else, I suppose you'd better follow this blog.  ;)

Thanks for taking the time to read this. 

Melissa