rest

It's a lovely frosty morning and I'm working on future sermons and drinking coffee...how nice.  :)  I feel very peaceful this morning and I think it is largely due to the fact that Tommy and I had our first FULL day off yesterday in quite some time.  Normally, we are very protective of our days off together, but this fall brought some new stuff into our lives, namely Tommy coaching the local basketball team, and our day off was cut short for a brief season.  Even though it has been exhausting without a doubt, I have to say it has been worth it to watch Tommy work with our local kids.  Tommy is not exactly a basketball star; he'll always be my football boy, but he is an excellent leader and coach.  It was so fun to watch the kids grow not only in athletic ability, but also in life skills.  So, definitely a worthy investment of a couple months of Thursdays.

That being said, yesterday was awesome, with nowhere to be, nothing to do and no one who needed us.  We slept in like college kids (a perk of not having kids quite yet), ate breakfast at lunch time, went shopping at Target, had lunch at Olive Garden (thanks to a lovely parishioner giving us a gift card), went to the movies and even got Starbucks on the way home.  *Sigh*  It is just so nice to be together without the weight of the world on your shoulders.

Days off haven't always felt so free, even when Tommy wasn't doing basketball stuff.  For those who don't know, I have dealt with depression since college (probably sooner than that but didn't know how to name it) and I have been on medicine for it.  Last year, nothing the medicine didn't seem even to put a dent in the weight of it all and Thursdays were actually a day filled with anxiety because I didn't have busy-ness to keep my mind off the ache.  But thanks be to God, my amazing doctor found something new for me that works 1,000 times better and I feel free, like all the clogged pipes in my head and heart are finally cleared out.  And now, Thursdays are much more restful, not to mention fun.

So, as I look outside at the sparkly thin frosting of snow on our yard and at my spoiled puppies sleeping on the couch, I am grateful for God's gifts in all their forms: sleeping in 'til 11, gift cards, medication as a means of grace, a sweet husband, Target and all its treasures, Starbucks, facebook chats with my baby bro, and unseasonably warm mornings to run.  Thank you for your gracious gifts God.  Prepare my heart to receive your greatest gift once again this Christmas.