Happy Thanksgiving - blessings and thankfulness

 

A few of the blessings for which I'm thankful. It's hard to get our family together, much less to get a good photo of everyone. 

Part of the Zabel family

Our son Bob took this picture, which
shows Robert and me in the background,
Randy and our granddaughter Macayla on my
side of the table. Grandson Ryan is closest
to the camera, with granddaughter Keri
and Janelle facing Randy and Macayla.

                                                                                                      

Bob and Brenda

          I am thankful for the blessings God has given me. All my family cannot be together for Thanksgiving, but I'm glad to be with those I will see: Robert, Randy, Janelle, Ryan, Colby, Shane, Jackie, and Merrietta this Thanksgiving. Randy and Colby will be on crutches, but they are recovering from surgery.

          All our other grandchildren and children will be with members of other family branches, as will our great-grandchildren. I pray all will be safe and with loved ones.

          I pray all my friends and church family will have a day of blessings Thursday. God has given me so much, and though I may not always remember to give thanks, I am grateful.

Christmas greetings 2010

No matter that many sorrows befell me this time of the year, I still love Christmas, the whole season and the reason for the season. Yes, having a Christmas celebration a few days after my baby girl died was hard, very hard, but I had a loving husband and three very lively children. The fact that God sent his only son didn't change. My mother, father, sister, and brother joined us for Christmas, even though all of us had a heartache. Christmas still came.

When my father passed away, my mother's mother, and then my mother during the holiday season, I hurt, but Christmas still came: the joy of which the angels sang.

The hardest trauma was the loss of two grandchildren who disappeared with their father not long before Christmas. Their presents sat in a closet for several years. But other grandchildren helped keep the Christmas spirit alive. The good tidings still existed.

Christmas is here again, and the joy fills my heart. No, there aren't many presents, and I may not receive a one, but I have the amazing love of God in my heart, a husband who still loves me and even thinks I'm beautiful, three children whom I love deeply, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are the best in the world.

May your Christmas be blessed.

What a life

I sit here, a dish of tamale casserole for lunch by my elbow. I look around and see the many blessings that surround me.

Let's start with the yummy casserole which my husband baked last night. He may have a limited menu, but he's enlarging it all the time. He and I take turns cooking for each other. Not many men, especially men with his possible excuses, would be the help he is.

Which leads me to one of my greatest blessings: Robert, my husband of nearly 49 years. Up toward the top of the list, close to him, are three children, each with his or her own personality and talents.

Rene is a marvelous musician and song writer, attending college to get that degree and a member of the dean's honor roll, and she's the mother of five of my grandchildren. She wrapped her daddy and me around her finger minutes after she was born. We treasure the CDs of her music.

Robert, Jr. "Bob" is well named. He has many of his father's qualities, including the ability to work with his hands. Of course he uses his mental ability and talents he developed as a child through adulthood in his job, but he still likes to build things. His artistic talent is amazing, and one of his paintings hangs in my living room. He and his wife Brenda brought two beautiful granddaughters into the family.

Randel "Randy" could be anything he wished to be and chose to mix intelligence with athletics to be a teacher and coach. He can sing, write music, and play the guitar. He can teach and show young people how to play football, basketball, and baseball. With his wife Janelle, he provided three grandsons to carry on the family name. My "baby boy" is a big man, and not only physically.

Of course, our 10 grandchildren are blessings beyond compare, as are our great-grandchildren. God has been good.

I may complain about my "new" knee, since sometimes it gives me problems, but I'm thankful that I can walk.

I may struggle at times physically, but Saturday, with the help of my good friend Jacque, I'll be taking books to the Oklahoma Book and Author Showcase in Tulsa. I hope many people come visit, and maybe even buy some books.

No matter how discouraged I may be, or how bad things may seem, life could be much worse. God is good.

Happy Thanksgiving

May your Thanksgiving and rest of the year be special and blessed. I hope everyone finds a list of things for which to be thankful. I have so many I cannot list them all, but I thank God for my husband, my children and their spouses, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, my friends, and the people connected to 4RV Publishing.

I am blessed indeed.

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Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for so much. Let me try to count my blessings. I say try because I know I won't remember them all.

1. Robert is still with me after nearly 47 years. Actually we've known each other for over 47 years, and in February will celebrate our 47th anniversary.

2. My three children are doing well. Rene's job appears stable and all five of her children are doing fairly well. Aiden, the three-year-old I've never gotten to met, loves the book Trockle. Bob has a job, after retirement, that he likes. His wife and girls are doing well. Randy teaches and coaches, which are his passions after his wife and boys. Janelle, Ryan, Colby, and Shane are blessings to Randy and to me.

3. For eleven Thanksgivings I had no idea where Faris and Meena were, or if they even lived. This year I know where they are, and even though I've had no contact with them since they were in Oklahoma in June, I hear about them from Rene, Macayla, and Keri, who do hear from them.

4. Macayla and David are expecting a little girl and have named her Haylee Rose - my fourth great-grandchild.

5. Jacque, my dearest friend, came through open heart surgery and is doing great.

6. I may not agree with how things are going in thi country or in this lifetime, but I know a better and glorious eternity awaits. However, I'm going to enjoy my life here and the people I love for as long as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving.


cross posted on Vivian's Site

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Need for bubble wrap

Life goes on, one breath at a time. Need some brain cells to help me figure out how to beat asthma or lots of bubble wrap to survive it. I've heard that heart attack is the silent killer, but asthma must be the loud one. *cough* *cough* *cough* Someone please remove this elephant off my chest.

However, a breathing treatment helps, and if need be, I can take steriods, where other problems might not be as manageable. So, I need to count my blessings and not whimper so much.

I've had friends who suffered through cancer and the difficult treatments involved. Some survived; some didn't. I've been blessed. I've had loved one suffer heart attacks and stokes. My husband is in a power chair. My heart is in good shape, and with careful managing of my diabetes, a stroke isn't as likely as for some people. I can still walk, even if not far or well. Yes, I am thankful.

The homeless haven't roofs over their heads or often no food. I have a roof, even if it leaks at times, and perhaps too much food. Many reasons to be grateful. ... continue

Some people don't have family or friends, no one or few who care. I have a husband I've known for 47 years, and who will celebrate our 47th anniversary with me in February. I have three children whom I love and who love me. Ten grandchildren and four (a fifth on the way) great-grandchildren really think Granny is just great. I have many online friends and reality based friends, five are exceptionally close. I am more than blessed.

I try to count those blessings when I'm feeling low or a bit neglected or not very well. Then I can face what comes and continue on my way -- wrapped in loving bubble wrap.