“Bad stuff wakes you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to.”

Today I’m thankful for all the pain in life. Odd thing to be grateful for, isn’t it? But the above quote sums it up: we don’t always appreciate what we have until we’re reminded of how things could be.

I’m grateful for recent interactions with mentally ill loved ones. Though painful at the time, each episode awakened me to what a blessing it is to be mentally healthy. (Not that I don’t have my issues—we all have issues. But it sure could be a lot worse. I am thankful that I don’t know what it’s like to live with such a huge degree of internal turmoil.)

I’m grateful for the heartache I felt when I read through a friend’s legal forms to set up custody arrangements in her impending divorce. I am so sorry she is going through this—it all seems so overwhelming. But I seriously considered divorce when Donnie and I were having problems after he returned from the war. When I saw the details spelled out before me of what we’d have had to go through—of what our children would’ve had to go through—I was so thankful that it didn’t happen. I don’t always take the time to thank God for the quiet, solid, mature marriage Donnie and I have today, but it is a blessing and a testament to healing. I know that reconciliation isn’t always possible (or even preferable, as in my friend’s case) but I am grateful that Donnie and I are still together.

I’m thankful that I get to be with my grandmother during her last days alive. I hate seeing her suffering. I hate it. If I could’ve chosen her way to pass, it would’ve been quick and painless.  If anyone ever deserved that, it’s my sweet grandmother. Yet, she suffers, and has for well beyond what anyone, including her doctors, predicted. It’s especially hard to uncover the good behind this, yet it’s there. I’ve had plenty of time to make sure she knows how much I love her. She is still mentally coherent most of the time, and has told me again and again how precious I am to her, how beautiful I am, all the wonderful things she’s said to me always but I never truly took to heart until now. She lights up when the boys and I visit, and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such pure joy behind someone’s eyes when I walked into the room. What a gift. What an amazing gift of beautiful memories that I will have, always. And had she died suddenly, I wouldn’t have experienced this.

As my friend and previous pastor Beth used to say, it is from thorns that roses grow.

Thank God for the thorns.

For more Thankful Thursday posts, click here.

Eli just asked me, “Mom, why do bullfighters wear Mickey Mouse ears?”

I never really thought about those hats looking like Mickey Mouse ears, but they really do!

While we were on vacation, the following dialogue took place between my dad and Eli, after Eli announced he didn’t want to sleep in the same room as his Papa, because Papa snores too loudly.

“So, Eli, you don’t want to sleep with me because I snore too much. You don’t snore?”

“Nope. I don’t snore at all.”

(Long pause…)

“But, Papa, there is something really strange about me…”

“What’s that?”

“Actually, I do snore. But only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

My baby Jonah has never taken a pacifier, even though I tried to introduce one when he was younger.

Neither of his big brothers were pacifier babies, either. Zach was a thumb sucker and Eli never wanted anything but breastfeeding and his bottles. Jonah has been just like Eli in that regard.

The other day, Eli found a discarded pacifier in J’s toy box and gave it to him to see what he would do.

He chewed on it, played with it, and then sucked it for a good ten minutes or more.

Then I gave him some bananas, and he’s all, “What paci?”

But then…

We went on vacation. And while on vacation, Jonah got used to sleeping with us. He also got used to nursing all night long. We were in a king-sized bed, so it wasn’t that bad.

Then we got home. And that first night was awful, the three of us crammed into the queen sized bed, Jonah awake every hour. It was insane.

And then we remembered The Paci.

And last night, we popped it into his mouth at bedtime and he started sleeping five hour stretches again.

I know, I know…I’m probably the only mother on the planet who started a nine-month-old on a pacifier, but that, my friends, is how much I value sleep. Whatever it takes to get it, I’m game.

Besides, no one ever went off to college with a pacifier.

Posting might be a little sparse this week, as our family is enjoying some much-needed vacation time together.

Unfortunately, the weather has been very hit-or-miss, so it’s anyone’s guess as to whether I’ll be too busy playing to post—or cooped up indoors with ample time to goof off online.

Personally, I’m hoping for plenty of time to play and I’ll catch up with y’all next week. But we shall see…

This is my Jonah.

His name means “dove”, which is the symbol of peace.

Asleep on my chest, he fulfills his name, and more…

For more Straight Out of the Camera photos, visit Slurping Life.