Thankful Thursday

This week's list is a little long, mainly because most of the items on it require a back story. Consider it my gift to you for slacking off last week.

1. Answered prayers. We had something break this week at our house and it was just two weeks past being covered by warranty. It had to be fixed, though, so we called the company and found out it was going to require a service call at the low, low price of $145 for the first 30 minutes and $45 per 15 minutes after that. That didn't include the repair or part costs!

I made my plea to the rep on the phone who told me I'd have to take it up with the technician and then scheduled me an appointment. I was dreading having to argue and fight about the charge and worried that we'd end up shelling out a huge chunk of change to repair something that was barely three months old. The morning the technician was due to come, I was working on my Bible study while Audrey was napping. I came across a verse that read: "Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials..." Daniel 1:9

I stopped short and prayed for God to grant me favor and compassion in the eyes of the technician. Obviously God has the power to do that, I'd just read that He'd done it for someone before, and so I asked.

The technician showed up and I decided to let him do his job and then discuss payment at the end. After an hour of working and replacing a huge, expensive part, he came downstairs and said, "You know, you're so close to your warranty, I'm just going to make the decision that it's covered." "Including the service call?" I asked, amazed. "Yup," he said.

I didn't even have to open my mouth. I didn't have to argue or fight or negotiate or plead. God had granted me favor in this man's eyes. I told the technician I'd been praying about it that morning and that he didn't know what a blessing that was. He looked at me like I was a weirdo, took the bottle of water I offered him, and left...without taking a dime of our money. Praise God for answered prayers!

2. New leggings. As I said on my Facebook status yesterday, I'm excited about them but hoping that I don't look back on this fad in 18 years with the same regret I have about my last pair. My new ones are neither hot pink nor do they have stirrups, so I think I'm on the right track. I will say that my behind was much smaller the last time I wore some. No worries, though. They make really long sweaters for just such a problem.

3. Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners. Any time I've dropped any kind of significant weight in my life, these things have helped me get there. There are a few (the Artisan Four Cheese Pizza, Ziti Marinara, Santa Fe Rice and Beans, and Lasagna) that are amazingly delicious. The WW ice cream is crazy good, too. The sodium in the meals is probably off the charts, but I use them a lot short-term and then cut back to 1-2 a week once I meet my goal.

4. Finishing my major photo project. I had planned on doing a ton of framing the week after Christmas, but David ended up having to work so much that I didn't get to it and put it off a while longer. Finally, I decided it couldn't wait another second. After all, Audrey is seven and a half months old and we only had about four framed pics of her in the house! So, out came the huge collage frame and the two 5 x7 frames I bought. I also pulled two medium collage frames and two 5 x7 frames off the walls to redo along with two 4 x6 frames and three refrigerator frames. I dragged out the four 300 photo capacity albums we've filled up since her birth and started going through them. (Are you getting an idea of the vastness of this yet?) Three days and SIX trips to Wolf Camera later, it is finished. They all look great and I'm quite pleased with the work I did. Which is good, because given the amount of time and energy it took, those photos may never get changed out. Poor future kid.

5. Lamination. Really, what isn't better when it's laminated? And if it's laminated AND labeled...look out. ;)

Have a great Friday everyone!