Thankful Tree

I have a tendency to be negative. I always look at the glass half empty, and usually lose a lot of sleep stressing about things. I also find myself always looking at what we don't have.  We don't have a house, we don't have a garage, we don't have really nice clothes, we don't have a nice camera, so on and so on. Its sad the list I could make! But I and not all bad, all the time! I do have my moments of pure gratitude with Jesus. The other day I was putting away free food we got from a friend. Thanking God for free ground beef! But overall I have to admit I am always looking at the downside, when in reality, I am so so so so very blessed. I have healthy happy children...well most of the time! We currently have been overrun by boogers and coughs! We always have a full pantry, a warm home, and many many other luxuries that most of the world does not have. In fact my husband who is a native of Argentina likes to point out how very blessed we are! He laughs at how many toys our girls have! He is a very good check and balance for me when I fall into the typical American material mindset!

So I am making a Thankful Tree! An idea I found on Pinterest. Thank you Nichole for yet another time wasting activity! :) I am listing as many things as I can to put on my tree! Although I can have a bad case of "stinkin thinkin", in my heart of hearts I am so very thankful for what God has given me and my family. Here is my tree! The girls had fun helping me too.

Some things Bella wrote she was thankful for: Her pillow, Monkey Bizness

(a playplace), and drums :)

Some things I was thankful for:

Mormor, my husband, my girls, the dishwasher, my washer and dryer, my Ktichen Aid, and my bed!

Col 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful

Emotional Hoarding

Hoard:

1: to lay up a hoard of

2: to keep (as one's thoughts) to oneself

I have recently discovered my child is a hoarder. No, she is not not stock piling old clothes, crafts, or even chickens. Rather, I found a pile of toys on her top bunk, and under her sisters bed. My older sister was here the other day and was trying to give Isabella a pep talk about sharing with her sisters (she was crying about having to share her Barbies), and explaining how a certain little sister used to take her toys! Us little sisters are such a pain :) Anyway, I have noticed her hiding toys in her bed, but yesterday the pile was out of control. I found two Barbie dolls, three Polly pockets, Buzz, Woody, two Jessie's, Dora, Boots, Rapunzel, among a bunch of other random small trinkets. Its funny how random crap is a treasure for her. Plus, I found old broken leaves and rocks in her "jooly" box (jewelry box). She calls them her special things. I started to think about why she would keep these things. But its simple, to her these have meaning. To me they are trash.

Have you seen the people on TLC living in mounds of stuff? I know they are crazy, I know they have serious issues. It makes me so sad, I cant watch. Usually at one time or another they lost everything (most of the time a loved one died), so now they hold on to EVERYTHING. Literally every wrapper has meaning. Although I don't hoard things, well I may hold on to things I shouldn't!  I am not a hoarder with material objects, but I think there are times I can hoard my feelings. Because of past hurts from relationships I often push a feeling or emotion back. With the intention of sharing the emotion later with my husband. I don't always do it intentionally. I usually have intentions of going back and opening up.

  For my daughter, a pretty leaf is her own perfect little treasure that she can tuck away for a later time. What she doesn't realize is that the leaf dies, falls apart and is even more meaningless than before. Much like our hidden emotions it rots, falls apart, and dies. Therein the same problem or issue still exists, and is not resolved. I am an out spoken person, but often emotionally hoard to avoid conflict in my marriage. So I am making a point to tell my husband when something bothers me, or hurts me.