March 13 was the day my mommy died (I refer to my biological mother as mommy and my aunt who raise me as mom). This Wednesday was 12 years and for the first time I was struggling on how I should feel. When I was younger my mom (the aunt you raised me) took me to Galveston where we spread my mommy's and daddy's ashes on their death anniversaries or birthdays. We would let up balloons that said we missed them or happy birthday. After that we would get a Carmel apple as a dessert while we were in Galveston. We haven't done that in 6 years. This year I decided I wanted to do the same thing again however we weren't able to. So I was pondering the whole day, do I celebrate her death? But, I have no idea where she is. I don't know what my mommy's relationship with God was like when she was alive. However, I didn't want to mourn either. I've done that already and didn't want to restart the process all over again. (Now that I am writing this, maybe it would be a good idea to mourn again or take a grieving class at least).
As the day went on, I thought of how thankful I was for the decision my mommy did make on who was to raise me. I am who I am in part to my mom who raised me as her own. For that I am thankful and celebrate knowing I was loved.

Here is my thankful list for the week:

1. Date nights❤
2. Lazy mornings with my love
3. My doggies
4. Exercise
5. Bowling
6. My mom
7. Walks with my Molly

What are you thankful for this week? How do you use times of mourning to be thankful?

I LOVE The Wizard of Oz so naturally when I heard about this movie I knew I had to see it. However, I thought the movie would be shown from the perspective from Oz, I had no idea it was a prequel! Which is perfectly fine to me, I enjoyed this movie very much. There were no sex or nudity scenes although there were some cleavage shown and two kissing scenes. The only profanity I heard was the "d" word used once. I would have caution taking young children to see this movie as it can be frightening with the wicked witches and flying creatures with the noises they make.

Here is a trailer for Oz the Great and Powerful:

For almost six months now, I have seen people struggle in life and endure hardship after hardship. I wonder if it ever crosses their mind about the lifestyle they live and just maybe their actions and the way they choose to live their life are the reasons for these constant hardships. What if God is putting them through these situations to show them something. To show them they are trusting in the wrong things or relying too much on people instead of Him. (I am in no way saying being born-again means you do not endure hardships because we do and Jesus did!)

What I am saying is this: when my husband and I are having hard times in whatever, we do not overly stress (we still stress but not as much as most people). For, "a Christian is one who's MORE bothered by his sin than his suffering." (Burk Parsons)

We know whose hands our future lays in.
We know who our Provider is.
We know who carries our burdens when they become too much for us.
We trust in God.

For the people, who consistently look to other people to provide for them, look to others to care their burdens and trust in themselves and others are the people who overly stress. Why? Because people are not perfect and they WILL disappoint you.
God WILL NOT!!

Trust in Him, beloved.
Hand over your burdens to Jesus.
Praise God during your good and bad days.


I noticed I missed last week's thankful list so for this week, I created a list of 14 items I am thankful for instead of my normal 7.

1. Life
2. Salvation
3. Sanctification
4. My husband
5. My husband's job
6. My job
7. Shelter
8. Transportation
9. Church home
10. Blessings
11. Breath
12. Sun
13. Wind
14. Butterflies