Laughs Supplied by God!

Nine years ago this past April, God gave me a very special birthday gift, Max, my parakeet. God knew that this little guy would provide much laughter. Last night was one of those nights that I couldn't help but laugh as Max's antics. 

I enjoy NASCAR. Last night I was watching the Sprint Cup Series Race on "RaceBuddy" and listening to PRN Radio online. Since I don't have cable, I couldn't watch the race on TV, but was glad to have free access to the action. 

When the race started, Max flew to my shoulder and watched the race on the computer with me. He seemed intent on the action. As soon as the first caution came out, Max flew to his cage to eat a snack! He was back on my shoulder just before the race "went green". It was so funny! There weren't many cautions last night, but the few times the yellow flag was thrown, Max went to his cage for snack.

At one point during the race, guess Max wanted a "closer look at the track". He flew to the MacBook and.... well I was able to capture this shot! 

Max decided the view from my shoulder was better, and shortly after the picture was taken, he flew back to me—where he remained until the checkered flag.

The only thing that I can't tell is who his favorite driver is. At one point during the race when Dale Jr's name was mentioned Max did say "happy". But I wasn't sure if Max was just "happy" watching the race, or if he likes Dale Jr. Maybe Max will let me know his favorite driver by the end of this Season. 

Creating a positive day, is about enjoying the special things God provides to make me laugh. And I'm so thankful that God gave me a little bird who provides many reasons to laugh!

God MULTIPLIED His Blessing!

God is amazing! 

Each year in October I set time aside to Celebrate God and His blessings. And each year, God sends special gifts and blessings my way as constant reminders of His love and care. This year He sent several blessings. (Read posts dated October 16—29, 2010 for the details.)

God is so creative

in presenting His

blessings and gifts to me.

This year He used a contest. I won a Cowboy Grillin' Pack, which included a large grill and LOTS of goodies.

The picture of the grill is to the left. For the rest of the prize see post: Cowboy Grillin' Pack. 

Over the years, God has been very gracious to send blessing not just for me, but for my friends as well. And the Cowboy Grillin' Pack is an example.

God MULTIPLIED this blessing

so that others could share in His goodness!

God could have chosen ANY brand and ANY size grill. And HE made sure that the prize was a Char Broil RED® FOUR-BURNER INFRARED GRILL WITH AUTO-CLEAN™. 

God had a very specific plan in mind! 

Special and dear friends of mine like the Char Broil brand grills. A while back, they has discussed that in the future, they'd like a new one for their patio. As I looked at the grill and thought of how special these friends are.... I knew exactly what God wanted me to do!

This was a blessing that God

wanted me to PAY FORWARD!

My friends are getting the Char Broil 4 burner infrared Grill and most of the extras, and in turn they are buying me the much smaller CHAR BROIL ELECTRIC GRILL! Yes, an ELECTRIC GRILL, that means no lugging gas tanks or charcoal up the apartment. I just plug it in and grill. And it takes wood chips so I'll have the flavoring of grilling. The smaller size will fit on my balcony.

Why didn't God just give me the smaller grill? Because God wanted me to be able to share this gift with my friends. Not only am I blessed by God's gift, my friends can enjoy God's blessing too.

This blessing MULTIPLIED! 

My friends have a new grill which they will make very good use of... and I'll have a smaller grill perfect for my needs.

God designed this gift SPECIFICALLY

to be MULTIPLIED to those around me.

How cool is that!!??

Creating a positive day

MULTIPLIES joy to those around you!

And God does it AGAIN!

Yes, God provided

ANOTHER Blessing gift today! 

With my new Vegan diet, many recipes call for roasting the vegetables. I don't have a "real" roasting pan. To roast Acorn squash, the lasagna pan does okay, since only the top has to roast. But to roast vegetables on all sides, it doesn't do the trick. 

I researched roasting pans and found one that was "acceptable" according to the various reviews, and it was almost in my price range. I added it to my "wish list", to wait for it to fit the budget.

Today, on the way home from my Chiropractor, I saw an ESTATE SALE sign. The car turned down the street before I realized it! I stopped and went into the house. There was stuff in the garage, backyard, main floor, upstairs and downstairs.

I saw several things in the garage that would be fun to have, but knew that they weren't in the budget. I continued through the backyard and entered the kitchen, then went upstairs. There were many nice things throughout the home, but all out of my price range.

I was heading out the door, when the lady asked if I had been downstairs. I kindly replied, "no", and turned to walk out the front door.

I was STOPPED

LITERALLY in my tracks!

They were moving furniture out the front door, so I had to move out of the way.... and where did I end up? At the stairway heading downstairs! 

I figured that I was to go look downstairs! Again there were some very nice items, but nothing I needed, so I turned to head back up... that's when I saw them..... sitting on a small sink counter in the corner of the room.... ROASTING PANS! 

I looked them over and saw the price for the set was LESS than HALF of ONE NEW PAN! And the REALLY cool thing... if all this wasn't enough... was that one pan was smaller... perfect for me to roast "single servings". 

So, not ONLY did God provide

a Roasting pan—

He provided TWO!

And God made sure that

I had one that was

JUST THE RIGHT SIZE!!!

GOD LOVES DETAILS!!!

Some have asked why I celebrate the anniversary of my back injury. Well, I don't celebrate the "injury", rather I celebrate God and His Goodness. Over the past 10 years, God has taken care of me in the most AMAZING, CREATIVE, and AWESOME ways—and the LEAST I can do is spend some time PRAISING GOD and CELEBRATING Him and His Goodness. 

Creating a positive day EACH day is one way I can celebrate God's goodness. When I focus on the positive, I am rejoicing in God's love.

The more I rejoice & praise God,

the more positive my day.

And the Count continues!

It's Oct 20th and God has already provided

two amazing gifts this month to help me

CELEBRATE HIS BLESSINGS.

(See post dated Oct 16, 2010).

As the actual date of my back injury approaches (10.25),

God continues to

SHOWER HIS BLESSING

upon me! 

Today, I won a $25 Dominick's Gift Card. That's a local grocery store with some awesome Organic products! So, not only did God give me a new grill, He gave me the money to buy some great stuff to cook on it!

GOD DOESN'T MISS

A SINGLE DETAIL! 

Noticing God's blessings

makes the any day—a SUPER POSITIVE day!

Counting blessings!

Day two of no morphine or Tylenol 4. How am I doing? Spiritually, very well, Physically, not so well. The pain level is high and my headache is severe. But it has been worse. I'm so thankful for all the tricks I've learned over the past 10 years. 

What tricks? Here are a few.

1. Strawberries and other fruits with "red meat" help reduce inflammation and pain. So, I'm eating strawberries throughout the day. 

2. The aroma of Essential oils fills the apartment  24/7 from the potpourri pot. Today it was peppermint to help with the nausea.

3. Changing my focus. I worked on "short" projects today, so I could keep busy without overdoing anything. By having short term projects, I could finish one and move on to the next. By keeping the mind busy, there is no time to focus on the pain.

And NUMBER 4: Count my blessings! This is one of the best medicines available and you can get it without a prescription! Counting my blessings today started with the two most recent gifts God has give me!

Yes, God has sent a GIFT

each day of this journey!

On Day One God gave me a grill! Someone was throwing it away. It was dirty, but a little Dawn dish soap cleaned it as good as new! It's the perfect size for me and will easily fit on the balcony.  Can't wait to enjoy the summer aroma of charcoal and grilled meat and vegetables! 

Today God gave me a H2OTUGO! I have a TUGO (a drink holder for luggage) which I've modified to fit on my crutches. The H2OTUGO is a pocket that will hold a water bottle. The company is sending me a FREE one because I wrote and told them how I use their TUGO, and how it helps me keep a drink handy. A big THANKS to TUGO!

Will God give me a gift every day? 

I have to say YES! 

God already gives me gifts EACH and EVERY DAY! Sometimes, it's a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Or a kind word from a friend. Or maybe He makes Max do something to make me laugh. God has SHOWERED me with gifts—my problem is that I don't notice so many of them. My 365 Days of Thanks is making me more aware of ALL the wonderful things God does and provides for me. Each day, I find it harder and harder to write down ONE thing... because there are SO many.

I'm very blessed, and when I stop

and count my blessings

it makes me aware of just how much

God loves me. 

Today, it could have been very difficult to create a positive day, with my high pain level and the severe headache. However, by taking time to count my blessings, it turned the day around to a very positive and encouraging day.

Yes, even a high pain day

can be a POSITIVE DAY—

if I count my blessings!