a Very Special Edition of Sister Talk

This week I got to spend quite a bit of time with my sisters and I loved every minute of it.  Here is a brief look at the Sisterhood in my family.  (Our sister in law is missing, but you may remember here from this edition.)


I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas.  I'm sure you're aware, but it's Cyber Monday.  You should check out Outfit Additions.  They're got a sale going on that's oh so sweet.  The sale ends today so make sure you get in on it.

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a week of Thanksgiving...Dalayna Dillon

The warmth, the smell, the laughter in the air
today is Thanksgiving day.
You greet and smile, with plans to stay a while
but the day will all too soon come to an end.

This time of year you hold what's dear
in such a high regard.
The normal things that appear mundane
are the very things we are so glad to maintain.

It is easy to get caught up on all that we do not have,
we are people of want much more than people of need.
The things we have can soon be caught away
with other worries, concerns, and cares of the day.

But now we see, as we gather to be
together for just a short while,
that the things we want are not what we need,
the two are very different in fact.

As we gather today, to laugh and to play,
our hearts are more happy and won.
Won with gratitude and won with praise,
overflowing with joy and love.

Our thanks is not contained to a day or a date,
November the 22nd or 23rd, fouth, sixth, or the eighth.
No matter the day or season, we should always remember the reason
to count our blessings not our lackings
and give praise to God with a heart of thanksgiving.

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a Week of Thanksgiving...Lanie Luttrell

Hello, let me introduce myself. I am Lanie Luttrell from "Shoutin' It Loud" and let me just say I am SUPER excited to be here! Thank you so much, Danette, for giving me this opportunity to guest post. It is definitely an honor to post on one of my favorite blogs.

A couple things I am thankful for is God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, the Bible, my family (including my pets), my church, friends (this includes your pets too!), my house, food, clothing, and showers. Now this may be the basics, but not everyone has the basic necessities. But there is a couple things I would like to share with you that I'm recently thankful for that has been radiating in my heart.

So lately I have been reading in the 4 gospels and something that has really been brought to my attention is when Jesus feeds several people with what looks like not enough. Every time the disciples ask if there would be enough, Jesus took the food and gave thanks and there would always be food left over after satisfying all the people in the crowd. (Mark 8:1-13)

There are several things you can pull from this story, but one thing I pulled out is the simple truth that He, God, is always enough. In fact, He is MORE than enough! When it looks like we won't have enough to get us through, we can still give thanks to Him for what we do have, and God will take care of us as long as we keep our eyes and heart on Him. That is another thing I am thankful for. Just remember, God will NEVER leave us, or forsake us!  

So anyway, Here is some more things I am thankful for that, well, isn't a need, but things I enjoy!

Music, my instruments (I practically collect them... there's so many!), my phone, the mall, my car Lulu, computer, twitter, Facebook, and last but definitely not least, my blog! 

Thank you so much All My Love for All My Days readers! I would love to hear back from you! Just comment below! 

Wanna come check me out, or at least... check out my blog?! Then here ya go!  http://lanieluttrell.blogspot.com/ 

I am thankful you read this :)

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a Week of Thankgiving...Lauren Frank

Hello all you lovelies! I'm Lauren and I blog over at Tutus & Tea Parties about parenting, crafting and some stuff in between. I'd love for you to come by and say hello!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is this week? I feel like the holiday rush has already started. Shopping, decorating, visiting family...stress! I always like to be sure that the season is celebrated for what it really is all about...being thankful! This Thanksgiving, I want to be extra certain to count my blessings. The Lord has given me so much to be thankful for this year and I want to make sure He knows how truly thankful I am!

If you follow me on Instagram, you will notice all month I have been posting a photo a day of what I am thankful for & today I would love to share some of those with you:

 My faith in my God! How awful life would be without Him.

 My hubby who always knows how to make me smile.

 These three kiddos who have such great hearts.

The relationship I have with my family. I love how close we are!

Friends who are so caring and would do anything for us.

I can go on and on about all the other things I'm thankful for...but these are the most important to me. Oh...and coffee!

  

Thanks you for having me here today Danette! 

 Don't forget to acknowledged all the things in your life you are thankful for this holiday season. If you want to see more of what I am thankful for I would love for you to follow me on Instagram. :)

Don't miss a thing, keep up with me here:

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a Week of Thanksgiving...this is my life

As I just get in from a long day of complete fun (and a little bit of work) I find myself surrounded with the serenity of home and family and peace and love.  And it's here, in this sweet habitation that I'm embraced with a thankful heart and a reflective mind.

I light a solitary candle and let it's warmth run over my face as the fire catches hold and eats away at the air and the day.

I reach over to run my hand along the soft fur of my dog Jackson and find it to be soothing...warming even.

I listen to melodies and counter melodies and sweet harmonies and the beautifulness of dissonant chords and complex rhythms and find my imagination has carried me to another place.

I lay back and sink into a mound of soft, hungry down pillows that envelop me, holding me tight and secure.

I rest, sweet rest, in the presence of a mighty God and I think, "how could anyone ever be more in love than I am right now?"  In this peace.  In this rest.

And then I remember a time when I was more in love than I am now. And although there is pain in that thought there is also a drawing.

A drawing back to who I love. A pulling back to the things that are really important.  A stirring to return to my real home.

And it's here that I find it...Him...

...and I'm thankful for Him above all else.

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I dare you...

source

I have a good friend who also happens to be a licensed counselor.  She is blessed with the gift of truly speaking her mind and I love that about her, but it can be a bit scary sometimes.  I'll never forget the first time she came into my office.  I personally painted most of the artwork in the room because I wanted to make it my own creative outlet.  I do spend countless hours in there creating.

Being quite the artist herself she took the time to admire my work.  Her first comment was, "Oh, this piece is quite dark."

Can you imagine what's going through my mind?  "What does she mean by that?  Is that a good thing?  Does this painting reveal some negative secret about my personality that I don't even know?"

I didn't think the piece was dark.  I actually saw it--felt it--as warm.  In reflection, I might agree with her.  Instantly our mind thinks of dark as ugly.  But is it really?  Or is it in the dark times, in those times of intense trial, when the most beautiful artwork, melodies, lyrics, rhymes, sentences flow from the deepest cisterns of our hearts.

This is a hard lesson to learn.  To believe that their is beauty is pain and to believe that the pain will make us better.

I think that revelation will only happen when we choose to be thankful in the hard times.  I believe that revelation only dawns on our tired, cold hearts when we become thankful in the pain.

Last Saturday I was confronted with this message again during a women's Bible study.  Honestly, it caught me by surprise.  I came to "work" for my mom, but found myself enveloped in the teaching.

We watched this video from Ann Voskamp.  As I watched the video I immediately recognized Ann from a blog I read called A Holy Experience.  As I was watching this I was absolutely confronted with the beauty...with the joy...that comes from pain.  The book is called One Thousand Gifts.  And I've decided to take the challenge.  A challenge that should bring great change and definitely reflection.  A challenge to find 1,000 things, people, life experiences that I'm thankful for.

• I'm thankful for long beautiful walks where the sun lights the path.
• I'm thankful for colors that completely express all emotions.
• I'm thankful for smells as they overwhelm me taking me back to moments, good and bad, that have shaped my life.
• I'm thankful for coffee.  It makes me happy.
• I'm thankful for my mind because even though it's complicated and difficult and misunderstood most of the time, it's still mine.
• I'm thankful for my parents--for their silent and not so silent love, support and strength.
• I'm thankful for bad times because in all their difficulties they help me remember the good.
• I'm thankful to be in a community where there is love and respect.  Perfect?  No, but still a home.
• I'm thankful for the majesty of the ocean.  It's overwhelming and simple as the tide sweeps in and pulls out. Its gravity pulls me to its shore almost begging me to find life in the waves.
• I'm thankful for flying cardinal birds because they remind me of my great-grandfather and the legacy I have to live to.
• I'm thankful that God cares and loves me so deeply that He has written me on the palm of His hand as a constant reminder.

So that was my first day.  I'm sure there will be many more.  And really what a great time to stop and be thankful and to give to praise to whom it is do:  Jesus, the giver of life and the sustainer of my faith.

I've already asked you, Friend, what you are thankful for.  (here)  Many answered, but I think the challenge here is more than just a simple "I'm thankful for..."

The challenge is live a life of gratitude, thankful for the hardships, and choosing joy in pain.  It's definitely difficult, but so much more rewarding than staying in the meer of this nasty, hard life.  And believe me, life will be hard.  It takes work.

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