The past 10 to 14 days have brought much to be grateful for.
Brandon didn't get the promotion. It was a bit of a surprise (even Boss Man didn't expect one of the other candidates to have more experience), but it's still good. They did give him quite a nice raise and moved him off the truck and into the store to be fine tuned with one of the Assistant Store Managers. This is a HUGE blessing, not just in terms of money, but because Brandon will be having surgery on his elbow first of next month. The truck was wearing his body out. It would've taken him so much longer to heal in that position.
I passed my state boards last week. It was nerve wrecking and I was nauseous, but I passed. I am officially a state licensed cosmetologist :)
Had my first interview yesterday. At a salon close to the house. Owned by lovely men who pour back into our neighborhood. The job is mine pending that Anthony feels that I can in fact actually cut hair. So next Saturday, I'm taking my mom-in-law to be my model and bag me a j.o.b.
"I have all I've waited for, and I could not ask for more" - Edwin McCain
Friday, March 23
Wednesday, March 7
Day 67
Funny the way it is....Sing to me Dave cuz I see lots of Funny the Way It Is stuff.
Funny that when you open your heart back up to gratitude you find more and more things that make you grateful.
Take for instance that big one of this week. Last Friday, Lily had her phone stolen at school. It was a tragic thing not because a possession was lost, but because her faith in people was cracked on the same day our sweet Stella had to be taken back to her original owners. (side note: Stella escaped Monday evening and came bouncing back to our porch. Tail wagging. Peeking in the sidelights as if saying: IIIII'MMMM HOOOO-OOOOOME!!! Then we had to take her back....again. It appears that she wants to live with us too. Prayers please that if this continues to happen that we can find a way to be her family. We miss her terribly.) It was a rough day to be Lily.
Monday afternoon Emma had her ipod taken. It wasn't considered theft because the girl had asked Emma if she could listen to it while they were in class. Even though it is a struggle to like this girl, Emma reached out and said OK. Never leaving the room, but walking across it to get a game to play with another friend, when Emma came back to her seat the girl told her a teacher had taken it from her. The information she gave was sketchy. The questioning was awkward and uncomfortable making it even more obvious the girl still had Emma's ipod. Needless to say she was livid and calling for blood. Emma just kept saying, "She LIED! TO. MY. FACE!!!"
Thankfully we had placed a tracker on her ipod when she bought it in the chance that she misplaced it never realizing it would in fact retrieve it from theft. The ipod did ping up at the girls residence. After a lot of conversations with IMPD about our rights (she misplaced the serial number) and with Mr. Terry the principal the girl's mother was called. Ipod is back in Emma's possession. But that's not what I am grateful for.
What I am grateful for is her reaction. Her mother required her to bring the ipod to school and personally hand it to Emma with an apology. Emma, who the day before was indignant and ready to pounce, extended grace. Thanked her for returning it. Accepted her apology and told the staff she had no intention of bringing it back up again. She extended grace. This is my gratitude for yesterday...and even still today. I told her I was proud of her. Emma in her matter-of-fact way simply stated, "I wouldn't want someone to hold my mistakes over my head."
Then this morning, Belle went bounding out to the van on our way to school. Daily she is dressed in the strangest combinations of attire. Emma thinks it's hysterical. Usually, it is! Today this made my heart glad. The sheer abandon that comes when she dresses herself. I love this and this and this, so if I put it all together I LOOOOOVE THIS! I'm grateful for her fearless ability to be completely and utterly oblivious to the suppose to's.
Funny the way it is. Funny that gratitude can come from the reaction of large life lessons that opens your heart a little wider in order to make you aware of the littlest blessings.
In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.
Funny that when you open your heart back up to gratitude you find more and more things that make you grateful.
Take for instance that big one of this week. Last Friday, Lily had her phone stolen at school. It was a tragic thing not because a possession was lost, but because her faith in people was cracked on the same day our sweet Stella had to be taken back to her original owners. (side note: Stella escaped Monday evening and came bouncing back to our porch. Tail wagging. Peeking in the sidelights as if saying: IIIII'MMMM HOOOO-OOOOOME!!! Then we had to take her back....again. It appears that she wants to live with us too. Prayers please that if this continues to happen that we can find a way to be her family. We miss her terribly.) It was a rough day to be Lily.
Monday afternoon Emma had her ipod taken. It wasn't considered theft because the girl had asked Emma if she could listen to it while they were in class. Even though it is a struggle to like this girl, Emma reached out and said OK. Never leaving the room, but walking across it to get a game to play with another friend, when Emma came back to her seat the girl told her a teacher had taken it from her. The information she gave was sketchy. The questioning was awkward and uncomfortable making it even more obvious the girl still had Emma's ipod. Needless to say she was livid and calling for blood. Emma just kept saying, "She LIED! TO. MY. FACE!!!"
Thankfully we had placed a tracker on her ipod when she bought it in the chance that she misplaced it never realizing it would in fact retrieve it from theft. The ipod did ping up at the girls residence. After a lot of conversations with IMPD about our rights (she misplaced the serial number) and with Mr. Terry the principal the girl's mother was called. Ipod is back in Emma's possession. But that's not what I am grateful for.
What I am grateful for is her reaction. Her mother required her to bring the ipod to school and personally hand it to Emma with an apology. Emma, who the day before was indignant and ready to pounce, extended grace. Thanked her for returning it. Accepted her apology and told the staff she had no intention of bringing it back up again. She extended grace. This is my gratitude for yesterday...and even still today. I told her I was proud of her. Emma in her matter-of-fact way simply stated, "I wouldn't want someone to hold my mistakes over my head."
Then this morning, Belle went bounding out to the van on our way to school. Daily she is dressed in the strangest combinations of attire. Emma thinks it's hysterical. Usually, it is! Today this made my heart glad. The sheer abandon that comes when she dresses herself. I love this and this and this, so if I put it all together I LOOOOOVE THIS! I'm grateful for her fearless ability to be completely and utterly oblivious to the suppose to's.
Funny the way it is. Funny that gratitude can come from the reaction of large life lessons that opens your heart a little wider in order to make you aware of the littlest blessings.
In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.
Friday, March 2
Day 62 (or Stella Luna)
I've been grateful for several things during The Gratitude Project although I will admit that it has been more difficult to do so when not blogging about. I'm an external processor so the blog really does help focus all the things swirling around inside my head and piece through what's in my heart.
Today is quite easy though. I'm grateful for a sweet Pit Bull possibly Boxer mix that found her way to our porch and into our hearts last Sunday afternoon. She is the cuddliest thing I've ever seen. Housebroken. Well mannered. Not leash trained, but you can't have everything. She was so well taken care of we knew that she was some body's pet and they would be missing her badly. That still didn't stop us from praying she wasn't chipped. Indiana State Law states that if there is not a chip present that 30 days after finding and caring for the 'stray' the dog is legally yours.
Brandon has quite a knack for naming the lost of the animal kingdom that keep finding their way to us. He called her Stella and she came running, so Stella she is. Needing a middle name and since we are a rather literary family Stella Luna or Stelluna she became. But what was so incredible about our Sweet Stella was the healing she seemed to pour into Lily.
The past 3 years has taken a hard toll on Lil. Losing the house and moving on top of the ugly in between years that make up middle school has just been more than her big heart could handle. Hurt closed off places in our Sunshine Girl. Depression in kids does not manifest itself the same way it does in adults. Adults get sluggish and sad. Kids get angry. Lily has been too heavy. Too much has happened. Our girl crawled inside. Until Stella.
Lily isn't a dog person. She really doesn't much care for animals at all. On the flip side, animals (especially dogs) don't really much like Lily either. Until Stella.
From the first second they laid eyes on each other, it was love. Almost immediately Lily was laughing and smiling and visibly lighter. She wasn't has mean to her sisters. She would take Stella into her room and snuggle up with her on the bed and read books and watch movies. Lily has never liked being alone and therefore didn't spend much time in her room. Until Stella.
Stella gave Lily something to love. Pure. Unconditional. Untainted. Love. So it breaks my heart to tell you with tears in my eyes that Stella was chipped. She lives four houses down from us and her real name is....wait for it...BELLA! Which is why she came running when B said STELLA.
Her owners are overjoyed, but Clan Maxwell is heavy of heart today. We know that this is the right thing to do. We have to return her to her proper home. She came to us for a little while and in the process helped the healing process of our girl. I will love her always for that.
The part that leaves me the most astonished came this morning. I was sitting at the dining room table with my morning coffee and the laptop when Stella came and placed her sweet baby dog face on my lap. Looking into her chocolate eyes mine started to mist over. I was trying so hard not to be sad or show it until the kids left for school, but alas, I just couldn't stop the tears from falling. Lily came out of her room right about then (OF COURSE!) and said "don't make me cry. You'll mess up my make-up!" I apologized only to hear her say, "It's okay, Mom. She has a daddy that misses her. She has a good home. And it's OK." I'm so proud of my girl who has genuinely opened her heart back to love. Only real love can look at what is right and good for others. Only true love can take us past ourselves.
Thank you, Stella Luna. For affection so deep and so pure it busted through heartache to let sunlight in again. For you I am grateful.
Today is quite easy though. I'm grateful for a sweet Pit Bull possibly Boxer mix that found her way to our porch and into our hearts last Sunday afternoon. She is the cuddliest thing I've ever seen. Housebroken. Well mannered. Not leash trained, but you can't have everything. She was so well taken care of we knew that she was some body's pet and they would be missing her badly. That still didn't stop us from praying she wasn't chipped. Indiana State Law states that if there is not a chip present that 30 days after finding and caring for the 'stray' the dog is legally yours.
Brandon has quite a knack for naming the lost of the animal kingdom that keep finding their way to us. He called her Stella and she came running, so Stella she is. Needing a middle name and since we are a rather literary family Stella Luna or Stelluna she became. But what was so incredible about our Sweet Stella was the healing she seemed to pour into Lily.
The past 3 years has taken a hard toll on Lil. Losing the house and moving on top of the ugly in between years that make up middle school has just been more than her big heart could handle. Hurt closed off places in our Sunshine Girl. Depression in kids does not manifest itself the same way it does in adults. Adults get sluggish and sad. Kids get angry. Lily has been too heavy. Too much has happened. Our girl crawled inside. Until Stella.
Lily isn't a dog person. She really doesn't much care for animals at all. On the flip side, animals (especially dogs) don't really much like Lily either. Until Stella.
From the first second they laid eyes on each other, it was love. Almost immediately Lily was laughing and smiling and visibly lighter. She wasn't has mean to her sisters. She would take Stella into her room and snuggle up with her on the bed and read books and watch movies. Lily has never liked being alone and therefore didn't spend much time in her room. Until Stella.
Stella gave Lily something to love. Pure. Unconditional. Untainted. Love. So it breaks my heart to tell you with tears in my eyes that Stella was chipped. She lives four houses down from us and her real name is....wait for it...BELLA! Which is why she came running when B said STELLA.
Her owners are overjoyed, but Clan Maxwell is heavy of heart today. We know that this is the right thing to do. We have to return her to her proper home. She came to us for a little while and in the process helped the healing process of our girl. I will love her always for that.
The part that leaves me the most astonished came this morning. I was sitting at the dining room table with my morning coffee and the laptop when Stella came and placed her sweet baby dog face on my lap. Looking into her chocolate eyes mine started to mist over. I was trying so hard not to be sad or show it until the kids left for school, but alas, I just couldn't stop the tears from falling. Lily came out of her room right about then (OF COURSE!) and said "don't make me cry. You'll mess up my make-up!" I apologized only to hear her say, "It's okay, Mom. She has a daddy that misses her. She has a good home. And it's OK." I'm so proud of my girl who has genuinely opened her heart back to love. Only real love can look at what is right and good for others. Only true love can take us past ourselves.
Thank you, Stella Luna. For affection so deep and so pure it busted through heartache to let sunlight in again. For you I am grateful.
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