No Strings Attached

Today I am so thankful for my wonderful and awesome wife!  Brenda is the love of my life and she is such a tremendous blessing to me!  Her love and support is unconditional.  No matter what, she is and has always been there for me.  She sees past my quirks and my idiosyncrasies, and still chooses to love me for who I am!  That unconditional love.  Even on my bad days!  Yes I do have them.  There are days when I get frustrated, whether it be with kids, work, or just everyday life, she is still there for me, takes me as I am and still always there to love me!  WOW!!!  What more can I ask?  We have shared this wonderful connection with each other now for over 23 years and it has been awesome and I am truly looking forward to the many more years that we have together!  My wife is the best and I would not have her any other way!  So a big THANK YOU and I am so GRATEFUL for YOU! goes out to my loving and wonderful wife Brenda Lorenzo!!!  You are truly the best!

Are You Counting?

Hello everyone!  I hope this post finds your day going well?  Mine is fantastic!  Today I am counting. Counting what you may ask?  Well, counting my blessings!  That is what I am thankful for today.  The many blessings that have come to me and are still and will come down to me!  You see, blessings can be so many things.  They can come in so many different shapes, forms, sizes.  You just have to realize that they are there and they are blessings!  I know I get accused of a lot of looking at the glass as "Half-full" all the time, but I choose to be that way and try to see the good and the blessings in all situations!  Even in the tough times.  Yes, tough times will come and they have come and will continue to come, it is just how to go through them that will make you or break you!  It all goes back to the "Counting." 

You see, when I choose to see the good in all things and count my blessings, I truly believe that it makes going through life so much easier.  Yes, I do acknowledge that the bad things are there and do effect outcomes of situations, but still I can find the blessing or the good in it somehow or somewhere!  So I will always be "Counting!" 

There is an old Hymn that says this:

1. When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
   When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
   Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
   And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
   
   • Refrain:
     Count your blessings, name them one by one,
     Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
     Count your blessings, name them one by one,
     *Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
     [*And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.]
2. Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
   Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
   Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
   And you will keep singing as the days go by.
3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,
   Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
   Count your many blessings—*money cannot buy [*wealth can never buy]
   Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
4. So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
   Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
   Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
   Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

So are you counting?  Start today and I think you will truly be amazed at what you come up with!   Now go and be blessed!!!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work I Go!

Day # 7 of the November Thankfulness challenge.  Today I am thankful for my job!  Yes, my job!  Not only because it is a source of income for me and my family, but I truly enjoy what I do.  I am very thankful that I can get up Monday through Friday and go into work and do what I love to do!  I have an awesome group of people that I work with everyday.  It is fun and challenging, keeps me on my toes!  Got to love the rush!  So I am extremely thankful for the awesome opportunity to work with a fantastic group of people! 


P.S.  Now I'm in trouble because I don't think I can get the Hi Ho song out of my mind :)  Keep being thankful everyone!  You will be glad you did!

The Gift of Freedom!

Hello All,

I know I am behind on my own challenge here, however, I have not stopped being thankful for something each day.   Today (Nov 6th) is Election day here in the good old United States of America.  So today I am VERY thankful for my right as an American Citizen to vote and have this democratic process in our country to select our leaders.  As we all know, this opportunity did not come without a great price!  This freedom is a gift given to us by the many men and woman who have fought valiantly for our freedom and ability to vote!  The sacrifices that they have made so that you and I can have the opportunity to cast our ballet will never go unappreciated with me and hopefully you feel the same way.

So on this Election day, I am very thankful for my gift of freedom.  So I challenge everyone of you regardless of your political preferences to exercise your freedom to freely vote.  Just remember to be very thankful for all the men and woman who have fought for this right and freedom!

Counting on God!

Day #2 in our November Thankfulness Challenge.  So what am I thankful for on this second day of November?  I am thankful for God's provision!  In Him I have all that I need or could want.  I am so thankful that I am in the hands of a loving God who knows my needs and meets them according to His riches and glory!   Sometimes though, I have to admit that it is hard to see this.  There are and have been days when I look at my bottom line and think and say to myself "I don't know how we are going to make ends meet?"  and I would find myself starting to get frustrated and upset, then I am reminded that God will and has ALWAYS provided!  On my own, I don't understand how, but it does, God always meets mine and my families needs!  I just have to learn to rely on His provisions and not my own!  So for day two of this challenge.  I am very Thankful that I can "Count on God!" and that I know that my needs are met in Him and according to His economy and not mine!  God is so good and to Him I give all the glory!

So I encourage you today, if you are feeling down and you think you don't know how things are going to work out, I highly suggest you look up, and "Count on God"  He is your provision and HE Will supply all your needs!

Be blessed everyone!

"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:19 (NLT)

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. 

An Attitude of Grattitude!

Hello All, I can't believe that it is November 1st!!!  Where has this year gone?  Last year I started the November Thankfulness Challenge.  This was where one would choose something specific they were thankful for during the Thanksgiving season.  This year it would be 22 specific things that you are thankful for.  It is a challenge, but I am sure that you can do it!  Are you up for it?   Join me.  You will be glad you did.  As I did this challenge last year, it truly made me look and see how many things that I have to be thankful for!  It has kept me looking on the brighter side of things through out the year!  So are you on board?  I hope so.  Let the challenge begin!

So here I go, Day 1.  I am thankful for the support of my family!  My wife and kids, as I have taken on the adventure of going back to school this past year!  They have supported me in this and have sacrificed themselves to help me do what I truly have been wanting to do for a long time now.  So I am extremely thankful that I have their support during this time of my life where I am pursuing my higher education.  I could not do it without knowing they are behind me!  They are my cheer leaders and encourage me when I get down and tell me to hang in there and that I can do it!  Having that support goes a long way in creating that "Attitude of Gratitude!"

I Blew it!

Hello Everyone!  I hope this blog note finds your day going well?  For me, now it's great, but last week it was not so great.  Yup, Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky was not his usually bubly and happy self.  I had a bad day, wait let me rephrase that...I had a bad week!  Most of my friends and family know that I am just a overflowing bubly case of joy.  I usually don't let anything get to me and I am just an all around nice kind of guy.  Well, this past week, I BLEW IT!  Yup, I had a very stressful and bad week at work.  It was a particulary long week, we had some systems fail and and I am the lead on these systems.  So needless to say my hours were very long, about 12-14 hour days for the last week.  Not to mention the stress load that goes along with trouble shooting and trying to come to a resolution.  Well, I let all this stress get the best of me. 

I try never to bring the stress and issues of work home with me.  I try my best to leave them at the door when I walk out for the day.  However, that was definately not the case this past week.  I brought all that stress home!  OK, now you can see where I am going with this.  Not  a good thing!  I found myself all that week withdrawing from the family.  I found myself getting very quiet and not wanting to talk or letting little things get to me that normally I would not even bat an eye to.  That should have been the warning sirens right there.  MAYDAY MAYDAY...ALL HANDS ON DECK...but I was so consumed in my stress and the issues of the week that I did not see the forest for the trees so to speak.  Well this all came to a head on Thursday this past week.  I came home and was very quiet and not talking very much.  I was also letting all the little things get to me.  This is where my reality check came in.  THANK GOD for a spouse who loves me so much that she is willing to tell it to me straight.  My wonderful wife called me out!  Guess what, I still did not see it!  I said that I was not stressed and that I just had a very long week.  I tried to deflect and push back everything on her.  Well, needless to say once again, THANK GOD for a spouse who loves me and tells it to me like it is, she told me that she did not like this Joe that she was seeing and that I needed to change my attitude.  Well that night, I did some self-reflecting and praying, and YES I did now see exactly what she was saying.  I had let all the stresses of work come home with me and took all that baggage from work and off loaded it at home.  Not a good thing to do!  So I did apologize to my wife and told her how sorry I was for bringing the stress of work home and makeing my family take the brunt of it!

I say all this for everyone out there that may be stressing out and bringing all that junk with you to your familes or significant others.  Take stock in what they have to say to you.  Once again I am greatful that I have a loving spouse who is willing to tell it to me like it is.  She gave me a great reality check and a well needed attitude adjustment!

I sure thank God that His mercies are fresh and new every day.  I thank God that I can get up in the morning and know it's a new day.  I thank God that I can run to him and ask for forgiveness and it's there for my taking.  Because I know that I sure need it.  I also thank God for my wonderful wife that He has placed in my life.   She is a wonderful and loving spouse whom I truly appreciate.  She is so full of unconditional love and has the boldness to tell it to me straight.  Thank you Lord.  My prayer is that you have someone like that in your life.  Someone that is there for you.  Someone that can tell it to you straight and put you back on the striaght and narrrow.  Someone that can give you an attitude adjustment when needed.