This week has been a week of Grace.  I have felt cranky.  I have been in a bad mood.  And I have prayed.  Mostly my prayers sounded something like this: Please Lord, I can't do this.  Help me.  I have felt weak and needed God's grace to make it through.  I  have attended one event or party or outing after another.  It has felt like a lot.

 

I know that hormones and the cold I have been fighting have played into my attitude a lot.  I know that not grounding myself in the Word every day has played a part.  I know that a week with my family can be hard...not because they are difficult or we don't get along.  It's just that I don't see them very often (5-6 times a year) and we don't usually spend more than a week together.  13 days has been a long visit.  I am definitely thankful for it and enjoy all the time I have, but there have been some rough days.

 

Today has been wonderful, though.  Have you ever had one of those days when you know before you wake up that you don't want to do anything, especially not what you have planned?  Well, today was definitely one of those days.  I knew we were taking down Christmas decorations and I knew I wanted to get some Thank You cards written (so I don't have to do it when I get home) and so I didn't really wnat to help.  So last nght, I prayed that God would change my attitude, because left up to me, I wouldn't be very helpful and we would have another miserable day.  This morning I woke up with a headache (ok, so I went to bed with it and what I took didn't help), so I took some excedrin, laid down for 1/2 an hour, and then got up for the day.  Mom said she wanted to get some things done this morning and that we woudl start on the Christmas decorations after while.  I got to write my Thank you notes.  Then we took down some of the decorations.  I finished packing my bags (to make sure everything fits), and then I helped take down the rest of the decorations.  All afternoon, I felt like helping, and so I helped and was cheerful about helping clean the house and put everything back to normal.  This is definitely a Grace Gift.  There has been a lot of that this week.  God has given me Grace each day to handle each thing...if only I ask.  It's only when I don't ask, that I get miserable.  This has been a good visit: a few ups and downs, but definitely a good visit filled with grace.

 

I realize it has been a month since I last wrote, but it's been busy.  Christmas always is.  Decorations to put up, presents to buy, friends to see, school work to be done, parties to go to, and all the normal every day stuff.  Nothing really exciting to share.  Nothing extra I want to share.  So, I haven't written.

 

I really enjoy being at home and visiting family.  This year it seems like we are doing a lot of extra visiting, but I suppose we usually do this much.  It's funny because we never really had any family growing up.  One cousin of my mom's that we see on Christmas eve.  (Although, I don't think we started doing that until recently.)  But since my mom got remarried we now have a lot of family and it just makes Christmas busier.  It has been nice though.

 

We had my grandmother and uncle over for lunch yesterday (our big Christmas dinner) and then after they left we opened presents.  Today we are going to my grandmother's apartment for lunch...which makes it real nice for my mom because Christmas is easy this way.

 

I celebrated with my dad and sister the day I arrived and had a lovely dinner with them.  I really had a nice time.  So this is a wonderful improvement over past visits.  Praise the Lord.

 

I am home for another couple of days.  It seems like a long visit this time, but it is nice to spend time with my family and I know it makes mom very happy. 

 

Well, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!