Grains of Gratitude

Now that we are so close to all the holidays I feel myself getting more and more anxious and antsy wanting time to pass quickly...because of course Joe will be home shortly after the new year. So every week I think, another week down!

And as last week came to a close this is what I was grateful for:

1. Over a year ago I did a post on a frustrating experience I had getting Kayla's hair cut. Since that time we've had a few more trips to the salon for trims and she started to get just a little better. Not so much fighting. She still wouldn't sit on the chair by herself, still wanted nothing to do with having a cape draped around her neck (so we ended up with her hair all over the both of us), but she was sitting a bit more still. We went a few months ago and she only put up a token fight about the cape; I took it from the stylist and Kayla basically gave in and let me put it on her. I think it helped that I told her it was a pink Cinderella cape! She had an appt on Mon and the whole way there I kept telling her where we were going, what was going to happen, and asking if she was going to sit in the chair like a big girl and wear the Cinderella cape. (I've tried this talking about it beforehand trick and it hadn't worked before). We walked into the salon and I was stunned to see her go directly to the chair and climb up without being asked! She even was happy about the whole thing! She was excited to wear the cape! We still need to work on actually keeping her head still for more than a few seconds at a time, but this was such progress! My little girl is growing up!

2. Right after Joe left I found out about a DVD called Talk, Listen, Connect: Helping Families During Military Deployment by Sesame Street. There was going to be a workshop on base and we would receive the DVD free for attending; well I hadn't heard anything about it and it's been 2 months now. I found out that I could get it online! The above link will enable you to download it for free, but if you're military you can go to Military OneSource and order it for free too. (You'll need to register if you don't already have an account.) The DVD arrived this week (it's about Elmo's dad going away for a long time) and of course Kayla has really been enjoying watching it; I'm glad I was finally able to get my hands on it!

3. Friday was monthly Bunco night; I ended up needing to bring Kayla with me so it wasn't a complete "get away and have some down time with the girls night" for me, but she was pretty good so I was at least able to enjoy myself for the most part!

4. The BX had advertised that on the Saturday before Thanksgiving the first 100 customers would receive a $20 gift card and stores would open early. They didn't list what time they would be opening though and I kept forgetting to call. We didn't make it there until 10 so I figured I was too late for a gift card, and when we walked in no one was handing them out at the entrance either. I still wondered if they really gave them all away because the parking lot wasn't full and I had my doubts that 100 people had already went through. So when I checked out I asked the cashier, "so are all the gift cards gone already?" She said they weren't - her manager was walking around with them, but she knew they didn't have 100 customers yet. So she called her manager and said, "I have a customer who wants a gift card." She finally came to the front and I got my $20 gift card - whoo hoo - ! I don't know why they didn't have someone still there handing them out, but just goes to show it doesn't hurt to ask or else you'll just never know!

5. I'm grateful for the Bean Box (or bucket as ours is called!) I'm just amazed that Kayla can still sit on the floor and play with this for an hour. She's not hopping from one thing to the next, wanting me to get this, or do that. I played with her on the floor, for as long as my back would allow me to, and then I was able to sit on the couch and watch some football while she hid toys in the beans then dug through to find them, and made me some bean soup! This is such a sanity saver!

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and now I have some thank yous to give out! I participated in the "31 for 21 swap" and received my gift from Jen at I Never Thought. She sent me an adorable angel from Ten Thousand Villages. It was made from an artisian in the Phillipines and is made out of recycled newspaper and coils - it's so neat to see what they were able to create out of recycled materials! Thank you Jen!

Karen created the Ray of Sunshine and Encouragement Award - thank you so much Karen - you are definitely the meaning of "ray of sunshine and encouragement!"

Corey passed on to me the Bloggers With Integrity Award - It humbles me to know others see me/my blog as one of integrity - thank you Corey!

Nikki gave me the Mathetes Award - Excellence in Discipleship - that means a lot coming from you! Thank you!