Today is a book. Should be perfect for me. I thought about writing about all of my books – or at least manuscripts – that I have written. I could also do the Bible, which I am obviously grateful for.

I’m going to do “I’m Gonna Bury You” by Gene Neill. It’s a self-published book that I first read in junior high. My church Sunday School teacher lent it to me. It’s about a man who lived a wild life, went to prison, found Jesus, got out, and became a preacher. Every time I read this book, I am filled with faith, and hope, and excitement at the power of God!

When I was having a terrible depressive episode about eight years ago, what finally pulled me out of it was Gene’s book. I reread it, and it gave me a lift, but not like it used to do. But for the first time, I noticed he mentioned a book he read, Power of Praise, by Merlin Carouthers. And that book! That book was all about thanking God in all circumstances, whether we perceive them as good or bad. God is in control of all and it’s all working out for His glory. Like the whole, “All things work together for the good of those who love God.” ALL THINGS. Not just the pleasant things. And if we fully trust God and His plan, we should be praising and thanking him for everything!

And there it is. My heart was troubled before I started writing this, worried about finances and what’s going to happen to our family. But now that I remember to praise God in everything and thank Him, I remember that everything is going to be okay. Even if it looks bad here. Even if we lose our house, or the cars, or even our very lives, God is in control and He wins! And we can be with Him for all eternity, right there with His glory.

I feel complete and at peace again.

I am so thankful for those books!

“I’m Gonna Bury You” on Amazon

“Power of Praise” on Amazon

This isn’t easy to do today. The question keeps reminding me of my stepdad, Jerry, who hospice said today is actively passing. My stepsister Dianna has been taking care of him for the last several years, while I’ve had Mom. Mom repeats herself a lot and asks questions again and again, and that’s hard, but nothing compared to what Dianna has had to do. Although his mind has been sharp the entire time, his body has been having trouble for about four years now, starting with a tick bite.

So I think about that, and the fact that many of take our bodies, and our mobility, for granted. But it can all go.

My body hurts a lot. I think it’s the connectivity tissue disorder the geneticist says Belinda and I have, probably Ehlers-Danlos. But I’m not as bad off as a lot the people in the groups on reddit and facebook that I follow. My rheumatologist thinks it is psoriatic arthritis, but that never seemed quite right to me. I don’t really have psoriasis. I do have a super dry scalp and very rarely a little red spot up in my hairline, but that doesn’t seem the same to me. But I think he came to that conclusion because that’s what I walked in his office asking about, since Marissa had that. And now I wonder if she had it too. Maybe her pain was all undiagnosed Ehlers-Danlos. Her skin was really soft and makes me think of the velvety skin they said some EDS people have.

I’m not going to pick one thing. I’m thankful for my entire body. The good parts and the bad parts. I don’t treat it well; I don’t eat great and I don’t exercise enough and I’m on too many medications right now. But I’m trying. Hopefully as my weight comes down I can get off the medications and feel better. And do better.

I am thankful for the painful parts. I know that God has me experiencing this for a reason. Maybe it’s so Belinda could get a diagnosis and not have to go through whave over the years. Maybe it’s for all my kids and future issues. Maybe it’s something else. Doesn’t matter.

This is such a solemn day. 🙁

I’m sort of hard to make laugh. I only do it for what I consider to be Very Good Things. Ben can make me laugh. Lots of times my kids make me laugh. They all say that I made them funny but not laughing at things they did that I didn’t find amusing, so they had to keep trying harder and harder to get me. And they are all very funny, so I guess that worked.

Another thing that makes me laugh is Ylvis, as posted about earlier. One thing that liking the humor of Ylvis did for me is that it got to to watch Season 1 of Kongen Befaler, which means The King Commands and is Taskmaster in Norway. I watch it with subtitles and it really does make me laugh. And that led me to Taskmaster. And boy do I love Taskmaster too. I’ve watched all the British seasons and some of the other versions. I think there is a new season out now and I’ve been waiting to watch it. That will be a very nice thing to do in November, I think.

I am smiling right now thinking about watching Taskmaster with my dear friends Greg Davies and Little Alex Horne.

These shows are so SMART, you know? So you get to laugh and you get to think, and you get to solve things. It’s such a good combination.

It’s funny because Marissa used to love her Britcoms on PBS and tried to get me to watch them and I was like, yuck, no, I can’t even understand those people. When Ben and I watched Shaun of the Dead, I had to put on subtitles. But then Ben and I watched Downtown Abbey and Great British Bake Off and then Taskmaster, and I don’t have a problem with the accents at all. I really don’t understand how I ever did.

And I’m so glad I can watch it so easily now because the funny things I have found matches up with my sense of humor to a T!

I filled out my Secret Sister form for church today. I hope I do a good job and help her to feel loved. Sometimes I let time get away from me. I’m going to start praying for whoever mine is tonight! I don’t know who she is yet, but God does.

Something You Use Daily is today’s prompt.

I am thankful for a lot of things I use daily. I think I will choose to be extra grateful and elevate our running water above all else.

We have lost water several times here. Our system needs electricity to run, and so if we don’t have power for whatever reason, we don’t have water. We’ve also had the pump go out or other issues with the well. We’ve been without water for weeks at a time before. We always make it work, but it sure is nice to have all the running water you want at the touch of a handle.

I think you don’t really appreciate all the showering, and hand washing, and flushing, and animal watering, and cooking, and cleaning, until you don’t have easy water anymore.

I am thankful for running water!!

A Smell. I’m tempted to link back to one I wrote on this a few years ago, which was the smell of my grandparents’ woodstove. But I think that would be cheating.

I can’t smell as well as I used to. Covid took that from me in Dec. 2020. I can get some things, but not all. One thing I can’t smell very well is poo, which would seem like a good thing but it is not if your house smells like poo and you don’t know it and you have guests. That’s not good at all.

I am grateful for the smell of Old Spice after shave. My dad wore Old Spice, and when I smell it, I think of him. Ben and Bennett both use Old Spice deodorant, but the after shave has a bit of a different scent to it.

I actually haven’t smelled it in a very long time. I wonder if I can still smell it, or if it would be different now?

Today’s topic is A Memory.

This is difficult for me because I try to be thankful for every memory I have. See, a few years ago God led me to this little book called “The Power of Praise” and it talked about how important it is to be thankful to God for all things. All things. Good or bad. Because all things work together for the good of those who love God. And so I have thanked God for all of the things in my past. It really is freeing. I know that even when things seemed bad to me, it’s all part of a beautiful tapestry of human existence that I will not comprehend this side of heaven.

And besides that…it’s tough to pick one memory.

So I will pick the cherished memories I have of my sweet boy cat named Pal, who along with his brother Drumm were my babies before I had babies. Both were good boys, but Pal was especially a Mama’s boy, and if I reached down to pick him up, he would get up on his hind legs and stretch his arms up to me and I would pick him up and put him over my shoulder. I didn’t teach him to do that. He just did it. The memory of that sweet cat reaching up to be held is the one that I will choose to single out and be grateful for today.

My twin men – Pal (on the left) and Drumm.