gratitude

Julianna and I just returned home from our outing of the day.

We stopped by Ready Mart #1 to visit with my brother, Nick. I put the 4 bags of trash bags of clothes in his truck. He's going to take them to his church for their clothing closet. The message on gratitude at church on Sunday made me realize that I don't need to make a few dollars off of those clothes. They will be put to great use at Ward St. Mission (http://www.wardstreetmission.com/). I am thankful that I have plenty of clothes still in my closet even after pulling out a total of 5 trash bags. My goal this week is to try to show as much gratitude as possible. I have so much to be thankful for!

Speaking of church, Josh and I recently started attending a new church. Five weeks ago, we decided to try out North Ridge (http://www.northridgenow.org/) because we had heard amazing things about it. After just one visit, we knew that it was the right church for us. Making the decision to switch churches wasn't easy. We had grown to love many of the people at Bailey's Grove but NR was just a better fit for us. We also have the opportunity at NR to get involved more with the community and I'm also hoping to work with the children's ministry. There are so many awesome things going on at North Ridge and I'm very excited to be a part of it! Josh and I (and Julianna) already feel so loved and welcomed there. God always leads us in the right direction.

Now back to our outing, we chatted with Nick, picked up Josh's check, and then headed to the bank. Waiting in line at the bank drive thru was torture. Julianna hates being strapped in her carseat if she's not moving so she had a mini meltdown while we waited. It seemed like an hour but it was probably closer to 4-5 minutes. Next we headed to the mall to go to Belk. I had my eye on a cute top there about a month ago and I wanted to see if it was on sale yet. It must have been my lucky day because they only had one left, it was my size, and it was on sale! Regular price $58 and I got it for $13.99. Woo hoo!

We browsed through a few other stores in the mall but this is the only thing I bought. I went into some of the stores that I used to shop in all the time but they seemed to "young" for me now. When in the world did I grow up and start shopping in the women's department??? Sometimes I just about have to pitch myself when I think about the fact that I'm married, I'm a homeowner, I'm a teacher, and I'm a mom! I guess I'm not a little girl anymore.