A Thankful Wife

One of the important people in my life is my husband Marc.  He is a huge portion of my world and my day. He is responsible for much of the other important people in my life: our 3 chicks.

It is often easy to overlook your spouse on a daily basis. You do life together, the good, bad, the mundane.  In and out day after day.  Some days just feel like we hit a repeat button: up, eat, work, school, errands, home, eat, chores, flop in exhaustion on couch, watch tv, fall asleep . Repeat . It's like we are stuck reading a shampoo bottle in an endless loop.
But these days are spent along side my man. They aren't necessarily exciting but they are together.  And together is where it is at.  

 I'm grateful to have his face to look at when I arrive home.  His arms around me and his face to kiss. I sometimes forget to kiss that face or fall into those arms when I get home because.... well I'm tired, distracted or hungry.Yet these are the very moments we have together right now.   We're not in the market for a vacation.  Date night can't be every night. So we have this time together and these small interactions matter.  Having 2 chicks out of the nest these moments matter even more. Very soon our littlest chick will fly the coop too and Marc and I will be alone together.

Kinda catches me by surprise when I see it all laid out in black and white like that.  I could focus on the word alone.  All my chicks out of our home. I've been a mom for so long it will be strange to have all the kids out of my immediate reach.   But I'm going to focus on the word together.  Marc and I will be together.

When that time comes I'm sure we will discover a bit of each other all over again.  But I don't want to be strangers , I don't want to have neglected so great a gift in front of me that I missed the joy . I am grateful for Marc.

I'm grateful for his love everyday in his acts of service( his love language) to his family. In fact just a moment ago he texted to ask what time I get off and told me he was buying more blue lights so we can decorate the tree while all 3 chicks are in the nest!! 

 He knows I'm weird and I only like blue lights on the Christmas tree. It's my thing.  

So I'm grateful he gets me and all my quirky things.

Like the saying on my kitchen wall

Together,  the best place to be.

New year - second day

Well here we are at day 2 of the new year. It's starting slow because we,are all on vacation and have no schedule.  It will soon be upon us with school starting next week.  But for now we are still bums.  Plus it was major college football time last night and well it didn't exactly go our way.
Who knew that 2015 would make me a Oregon Duck fan?

Today I am choosing to be grateful for my gift of a husband Marc Hill. That man has loved me through it all.  Good times, ugly times, sick times, prosperous times, and broke times. His love comes in the  reflective form  of Jesus through  sacrifice and service .

Marc's native language is service . Want to know you're loved by him?  Just look at his actions. He always puts his family first from choosing a job, planning his schedule or spending his money the Hill tribe benefits from his every action.

So today an important item on his list will be taken care of by me.  

The garage is as close to a man cave as he will ever get and 

unfortunately it looks like this right now.

stop judging me

What the heck is all this ,as Marc likes to call it , "debris" doing here?  Well some would be Christmas that was taken down and never put up. Some is " crafty" items left over from making gifts. Nothing says "we have been in here daddy " like a  touch of glitter on the work bench   The rest I like to file under " miscellaneous " otherwise known as I -might-totally-need-this-one-day treasures.  Did I mention what a patient and tolerant man he is?

So today the love in action plan is to restore the garage to its former glory. 

Minus a few specks of glitter here and there. Glitter is like  the chlamydia of the craft world,  it just keeps on spreading. At the very least I want to clear it enough that he won't trip over the giant bottle of modge podge on his way to retrieve an allen wrench.

Wish me luck I'm going in.

DAY 9: FAMILY PROMISEo

I can't believe it is day 9 already.  I have talked to some really great people that run great organizations. I have received some great donations and am scheduled to pick more up soon!

As I am cleaning out my home and researching the needs of my local area I realize that the very act of walking through my house and gathering my possessions to give away  is a reality that many in our community do not have.  I was shocked to learn that over half of the homeless are women and children and that families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

 The Baldwin County School System counted 642 homeless school age children last year.  This was a shock to me, The homeless are our neighbors and there are many wonderful ways to help them. 

Family Promise , an Interfaith Hospitality Network, has  a community response to the issue of homelessness in Baldwin County, specifically homeless families with children. Working with local

churches, Family Promise provide over night lodging, meals and hospitality to assist families in regaining their housing, their independence and their dignity.  More host churches are needed. Please consider speaking to your pastor or board about being involved.  Participation doesn't require the pastor to take anything on but rather a coordinator from the  members to help organize the use of the church facilities. 

When I called Family Promise to see what their most immediate need outside of host churches was I  was surprised at it's simplicity.  It's laundry detergent. Families have an opportunity to wash their clothing while lodging and laundry detergent is in great demand.  How easy and yet how effective.  We all want to be dressed in fresh clean clothes. 

 Got any leftover laundry detergent that the kids didn't like? Hubby couldn't handle the Lavender scented gain. I've got a perfect place for that. Next time your at Target, Publix or Sam's buy an extra.

One for your family one for another family. Counponers take this on as a challenge! How many free laundry detergents can you donate this week?  As always I'll be glad to pick it up (even if it's the Sam's 50 pounder)  

Together we can do this.

Ready, Set, Bless!

Check out Family Promise to donate, tell you church about or even help a family register for help

at www.familypromisebc.org .

They are located at 20511 County Road 36 Summerdale, AL  251-947-5641

You know how to find me

Alison Hill

251-463-3511

alison_hill@bellsouth.net

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One small kindness

Day 6 

Today In thankful for the Auburn Tigers- not because of anything to do with football, but because of the family mentality they posses . 

We have some dear friends, the Halls ,  who are Auburn Alumni and one of their sons has leukemia . Our middle child, the old soul, has been babysitting their children for a year or so. 

- you can see their amazing story on Facebook at Warrior Shepard 

The athletic director of Auburn Jay Jacobs called the Halls and asked how he could pray for them . A few weeks later he asked for 60 bracelets that were made with Shepard's name on them, for his team. 

Well tonight that team is in the national championship . They have been spotted on players in per game media and warm ups ( can't wear jewelry in the game) 

This is a huge encouragement to my friends in a difficult season. 

Win or lose tonight I will be writing a letter to Jay Jacobs and the Auburn Tigers to thank them for their prayers and encouragement!!

And those prayers have made a difference - just check out Shepard's progress at Warrior Shepard and see the great faithfulness of our God!!!