Thankfulness Thursday

It took me until I was thirty to realize that I am an encourager by nature.  I'm not sure why that came as a surprise to me; I just thought everyone made random phone calls, sent impromptu texts and emails, and took great delight in surprising someone unexpectedly with an uplifting thought or word.  I now realize encouragement is one of my spiritual gifts  - along with sarcasm and over-complicating things, which I am sure you will find in one of Paul's lists of the gifts of the Spirit, probably in Romans!

Anyway, I have unintentionally created a pattern for myself of sending my "just because" thank you notes  on Thursdays.  I'm sure I am extra inclined to be grateful on Thursdays since that is my last workday each week, but what I have discovered is that those little impulses to tell someone they're doing a great job, or I noticed the little things they are doing well, actually matter to the people on the receiving end of the notes.  Again, who knew? 

So today I am channeling my Thursday thankfulness into our own family's story.  Many of my recent blog posts have been heavier than I want them to.  I don't want to be a whiner or complainer.  I want to be an uplifter and a praiser (yes, I think I just made that word up), so here's a few lighter notable moment's in the lives of the Shelton family in 2015!

Today is the last day of school!  I can hardly believe it!  The big boys were both blessed with great teachers who really cared about them and inspired them to do their best.

Trevor's career objective at the beginning of second grade was to grow up to work at Target.  Seriously, Target!  We told him he'd better run one, or even open his own competing chain, to aim higher than simply working at his favorite place to buy Skylanders.

His teacher told us at the beginning of the year parent meeting that second grade is the year when kids go from learning to read to reading to learn, and boy has that been true for Trevor!  He is now officially a book worm, reading hundreds of pages each week, particularly loving a children's biographical series known as  "Who Was" books.  He has read about presidents ,generals, inventors, artists, musicians, explorers, athletes, and pioneers and it has been so much fun watching his understanding expand with each new book.  He asks tough questions and draws parallels, and thinks deep thoughts.  It has now become our tradition for him to read his latest books aloud to me, if I have the patience to sit still that long, and I love it!  And his newfound love of reading has also prompted him to change his career goals.  He now wants to be a history teacher, or better yet, a professor, at OSU, because someone told him he'd get free football tickets that way!  O-H!

This year was Tyler's first year of middle school.  He'd heard enough horror stories from other kids and read enough "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books to make himself all sorts of nervous about it, and me too!  We gave him pep talks and sent him off to face the halls of a new building, full of new faces and bigger kids.  And as it turned out, he loved it!

Tyler's math and science teacher turned out to be the highlight of his year.  He is a man who has overcome a lot of adversity in his own life and who sports a can-do attitude and openness about his own life story that outweighs the physical scars he bears.  Tyler idolized him so much that every single night at dinner we'd hear  "Do you want to hear a Mr. Math and Science Teacher story?"  He told us so many of those stories, that Trenton picked up on it, and began telling Mr. Math and Science Teacher stories of his own.  It's pretty common to hear him refer to Mr. Math and Science Teacher when he's playing imagination games involving Batman, Superman, and other heroes.  Amazingly, when I sent today's thank you note to Mr. Math and Science Teacher, he wrote back to me that the privilege was all his, getting to work with a young man who's smile made everyone around him happy, and saying he looks forward to seeing him continue to grow next year.  I could cry!

The end of the school  year centered around creativity.  While Trevor worked on creating a contraption to protect an egg from breaking when dropped off a roof, Tyler was building a catapult to launch water balloons at targets held by teachers, and at the vice principal. Math, science, and critical thinking skills became useful as they pondered cause and effect and accidentally applied some of what they've been learning because their homework was designed to appeal to their competitive and ornery sides - and those qualities run deep in the Shelton blood line, I assure you, and seem to get worse with each generation!

Speaking of ornery, Trenton will not be outdone by his brothers.  He isn't in school yet, but he's learned to express himself with words, and most especially with Sharpie marker....on the walls, on the floor, on his toys, on himself, on the dog, and on almost any other media that is not paper!!!  Yesterday he created a note telling Daddy "I love you too," in red pen on the refrigerator!  This child will be the one who knows more about stain removal than anyone else as he has caused us to try a lot of things to clean up after him.  Hint  - most messes can be removed by coloring over them with dry erase marker and then wiping it off, but not all!

He also has a very unique flavor pallet.  For months, he had to eat a bowl of Cheese Its every day, with a spoon.  He would prefer mac and cheese over almost anything.  And most recently, he has become obsessed with ranch dressing, which he refers to as "cold sauce."  (I again blame genetics for this....sound familiar, Uncles on his mother's side?) But he took his love of ranch dressing to new heights (or depths) when creating his new favorite snack, swiss rolls a la ranch!  I blame the fact that I watched a lot of Chopped while pregnant with him and nursing.  In all fairness, I haven't tried it myself, maybe it's delicious, but I'll leave the enjoyment of that delicacy to the chef who created it!

In other news, the promotion Steve applied for that didn't work out, has turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Through a long series of events, he ended up accepting a transfer to another store with more responsibilities, and God has continued to provide for us financially.  We have not yet figured out how we will turn our current three-bedroom house into a four-bedroom dwelling, but we have found some great resources, right within our own church, to help us figure it out.  And yesterday I got a call from The Seeing Eye saying they have been training a "candidate" with me in mind, and if all goes as planned, I will get a call with training dates by mid-to-late June.  The timing of that could not be more perfect and I am soooooo ready!

We had expected to travel to Haiti this fall to meet our child for the first time.  We know that's not going to happen, but we will still be boarding a flight that is Haiti-bound.  As an ambassador with GO Exchange, I have the opportunity to go on mission trips to Haiti and Uganda, and better still, I can take friends and family with me!  So when we canceled the contract for the new-build home, Steve secretly emailed my GOEx director and asked her if she would accompany me to Haiti, using the now-refunded  deposit we had given to the builder to pay for it.  Most people probably wouldn't find a trip to Haiti to be romantic, but he told me on Valentine's Day and I cried bittersweet tears....and then I texted a friend of mine, who said she'd go with me, and then her husband wanted to go, and then Steve decided to go....and well, I don't know who all will be going, but it's going to be awesome!  We will spend time playing with kids in one of our partner orphanages, worship with a local church, and quite possibly meet some of the people who create the products I sell as an ambassador.  Our connection to Haiti, which is nothing more than a calling and deep-seeded emotion, will solidify into something tangible as we begin coming to know the country we have already come to love.  Our hearts will leap with joy and be broken to pieces in one trip, and it will be good!

Thanks for hanging with us on this journey.  It's quite the ride!  Some days I want to take the reigns and plan every detail so I can know how the story ends, and other days I am so glad I'm not the one in control!  What I do know is this, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion..."  And we are determined to keep fighting the good fight, will continue keeping the faith, and finish the race!

Shameless plug: Our "Finish the Race" tee -shirt is available until June 1.  If you'd like to support us on our journey by wearing a super cool shirt with a positive not guilt-trippy message (yes I made up that word too), you can order here:

http://goex.org/janelle-shelton-s-tee.html


"Give thanks to the Lord.  His love endures forever."