Thanks Given - Day Thirty

Today will be my last post this month. I have enjoyed giving thanks for everything in my life this month. It has kept me focused on all of the positives in my life even when I feel like nothing is going my way. I wanted to do recap of all of my posts today.

Day 1 - A Full Briefcase
Day 2 - Staying Home with Jack
Day 3 - A Free Saturday Morning
Day 4 - A Creative Husband
Day 5 - For Soap and Other First World Provisions
Day 6 - The Privilege of Voting
Day 7 - My Hope in Jesus
Day 8 - The Triplets
Day 9 - Friends
Day 10 - Sweet Kids with a Sense of Humor
Day 11 - Finished Laundry
Day 12 - A Husband that "Gets" Me
Day 13 - My Parents
Day 14 - My Bed
Day 15 - Tom's Parents
Day 16 - Movie Night
Day 17 - Weekend at Home
Day 18 - Pinterest & Blogs
Day 19 - Our Kids
Day 20 - The Christmas Spirit
Day 21 - Our New Town, Greenfield
Day 22 - An Attitude of Gratitude
Day 23 - Retail Stores
Day 24 - Previous Generations
Day 25 - Our Home
Day 26 - Our Babysitter, Aneth
Day 27 - Teachers & Staff
Day 28 - Our Customers
Day 29 - Rotary

Today, I am thankful for everything I didn't get a chance to mention. Here's just a brief list...

Extended Family - Brothers, Sisters, Cousin, Aunts,  and Uncles (Can't believe I didn't get this one in - it will be at the top of my list next year!)
Diet Coke (Ridiculous I know)
Coffee
Our Employees
Vehicles
Being Able to Run/Exercise
My Health
My Family's Health

That will be a good starting point next year. That is if I do this next year. I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with it and finishing up on the 30th and not the first of December. I'm not sure I can top that next year. I highly recommend doing this to those of you with blogs, or even just in a journal. Thirty days of thankfulness is a lot and it really did make me think about how much I have and to be thankful for it.

Signing off now for a little blog break. It won't be a long one, but I can assure you I will not be posting tomorrow. :) Thanks for indulging me this month.

Thanks Given - Day Twenty Nine

Another day late. At least I'm consistent...

Today, I am thankful to be a part of Rotary. I know I've said a word or two on here about our group, but it's probably time for more of an explanation. Rotary International is a service organization with a motto of "Service Above Self" with 34,000 clubs all over the world and over 1.2 million Rotarians. The mission of Rotary International is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. One of their largest, and most familiar, initiatives is the eradication of Polio across the globe. Through the Rotary Foundation, individual clubs across the world work on projects that are in one of six areas of focus - 

• Peace and conflict prevention/resolution
• Disease prevention and treatment
• Water and sanitation
• Maternal and child health
• Basic education and literacy
• Economic and community development

Source (and to learn more): Rotary International

So, what do we do? And, why am I thankful? Our club meets every Thursday at noon at the local Ponderosa and is comprised of a variety of business professionals throughout the community. Each meeting has a time of Happy Bucks where we each put money in the pot to talk about something, really anything, that has happened in the last week. This money goes towards our many projects throughout the community. Generally, we also have a speaker. 

Outside of our meetings, we work on all kinds of service projects. We take apples to all of the teachers in the local school district once a year. We raise money for fresh water in other countries. We ring the bell to raise money for the local Shop with a Deputy at Christmas. We pick up trash on the highway. We sponsor exchange students - both inbound and outbound. We put up pergolas on the local bike trail. 

Our largest, signature project is the Gift of Life program. I talked a little bit about it in this post. We have a huge auction every year to raise money for the program which funds heart surgeries for children around the world. This year, we are the sponsoring club for a Vocational Training Team heading out for Uganda tomorrow. One of our club members is the team leader and will take over a team of doctors and nurses to train the surgeons in the hospital there more about heart surgeries on children. That is what you call a sustainable project! You can follow their progress and cases on their blog. This is a photo from last year.

I am so proud to be a part of a club that does so much good in our local community and around the world. What a better path toward world peace than healing the sick, feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty. I am thankful to be a part of such a generous, hardworking club.

Thanks Given - Day Twenty Eight

Good thing the month is almost over. I'm getting slower and slower at keeping up with the every day thing. I'm still thinking about it everyday, but as we all know, thinking does not equal doing. Here's how yesterday's post would have looked.

Today, I am thankful for our customers. (I'm losing track a little, but I don't think they have made the list yet.) This week, we have had eight closings. Not all are Timber Run sales and some are multiple closings on the same property (long story), but still eight closings will keep anyone busy. :)

Although I am eternally grateful for all of our customers, I think I have the softest place in my heart for our very first customers - both at Timber Run and now our first customers at Joyner Homes, our custom side. These people believed in us before we even started up the bulldozer to clear the ground, let alone started building homes. It takes a lot of trust to be the first customer at any business, but to be the first on one of the largest investments of your life takes it to a whole new level.

I look back at our first Timber Run customers and think about how far we have come. I imagine how far we will be in four years on the custom side too. We've been building at Timber Run for four years now and built and closed 36 homes there with another 8 under construction and then 28 more to go to be 100% complete.

On the custom side, we started with our own home which we finished in April. Now, we have two officially under construction, with one more slated to start in December and a renovation that we hope to start shortly after that. Again, there is that level of trust while we move on to the next stage of our business.

I am incredible thankful for all of our customers. Every last one of them. :)

Thanks Given - Day Twenty Seven

Ach! Another day missed. I'm determined to stay caught up though. Last night I had no excuse. I spent my computer time obsessively researching our trip to Mexico. I think I have read every snippet on every forum online about our hotel and the area. I'm just a little excited... :) Here's yesterday's post...

Today, I am thankful for all of the great teachers and staff that have had a part in my life and my kids' lives so far. I met with Josie's teacher and the speech pathologist today to talk about the results of Josie's speech test. I was surprised at the thoroughness but not surprised at the results of the test. She will be doing two days a week of speech at school for 10 minutes each. (It cracks me up that they can get anything done in 10 minutes but they must get down to business!) Tom and I both went through speech therapy during school and I wouldn't be surprised if all the kids need it at some point. I'm a little sad that her little flaws will be trained out of her, but totally understand it's a part of life. I certainly wouldn't want her to talk like that when she's 15.

I can still remember all of my teachers in elementary and most of them from junior high and high school. But, I have a really tough time naming more than two or three in college. Isn't that funny? Shouldn't my memory fade when I get back to 25(+) years ago and be pretty clear for only 15 years ago? I think that just shows what an impact teachers can have on a child so early in life.

Tessa and Josie have been so incredibly lucky to have had two wonderful teachers at Mt. Comfort. Mrs. McCleery is only in her first year and has done such a good job really making things interesting for the kids and going the extra mile to make it memorable. So far this year, she has created a book club in the classroom and made Josie a chart to track the Magic Treehouse books she has read. Josie just loves her and probably mentions her name at least once a day. And, Tessa has Mrs. Brown again this year. Our experience has been the same as last year - wonderful. Tessa doesn't talk about school as much as Josie, but I can tell she is having a great time and really enjoying her time there.

These girls just adore their teachers and are always thinking about them. I am constantly amazed at the energy and time it must take to be a teacher in these younger grades. My three kids wear me out and I can't imagine a whole classroom! I am so thankful for teachers that care for my children and are teaching them so many new things - so much more than reading and math!

Thanks Given - Day Twenty Six

You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. Not true.

Today, I am thankful for our babysitter, Aneth (Annette). She, and her husband, are in the Philippines visiting her family for the next two weeks. I miss them already. :)

Aneth and Steve are true blessings in our lives and in the lives of our kids. The girls have been going to Aneth's since Tessa was a year old. Jack has known nothing else. They beg to go there and are sad to leave. To trust someone with your children takes real trust and they have ours completely.

Most importantly, and special to me, is that they pray for us and the kids everyday. When the kids are sick, she always tells me they prayed for them the night before. It means a lot. I'm so thankful to have found them.

These will be a long two weeks. We don't have a back up. Mainly because they're never gone. So, Jack gets to tag along with mom and dad for two weeks. It's not too different than the first six months of his life when he did the same. Ok - a little different. He watched WAY too much TV today and walked around with a dirty diaper for too long as I forgot wipes. But, he was a cute office mate. I'm looking forward to it and have big plans for around the house which probably won't happen. A girl can dream though. :)

So, a big thank you is due to Aneth and Steve! We hope you enjoy your trip - you certainly deserve it!

Thanks Given - Day Twenty Five

Today, I am thankful for our home. To me, it is so much more than shelter. (Of course, I'm thankful for that too.) But, I just love everything about it and it fits us so perfectly. We put so much thought into every detail. It was a ton of fun watching it come together and I love living here even more. I'm also thankful that Tom and I were so much on the same page about things. I've heard horror stories about people building houses together, but we didn't go through any of that. In fact, I've not had any of our customers go through that either, so maybe it has to do with the builder. :)

That's it. I'm keeping it short tonight because I'm trying to get caught up around here and I'm in the middle of a good book that is calling my name...

Thanks Given - Day Twenty Four

It's a good thing I'm not getting graded on the timeliness of these posts. I'm falling behind and trying to catch up! I posted yesterday, but it was for the previous day. Tonight, I need to do two to catch up. We'll see if that happens. Here is yesterday's post...

Today, I am thankful for previous generations and the wisdom they are able to share.

We went to dinner with Tom's parents and his grandmother, Grammy, to celebrate her 88th birthday tonight. We ate at the Chop House in Newark, which used to be the Natoma when we were still in town. So many fun nights were spent there. Even when Tom and I were just dating in high school, Grammy and Grandpa took us out to dinner there every other month or so. Then, as the family grew up, we would all go out on special occasions. It was very fun to sit and reminisce in the place that has such meaning to the Joyner's (me included).

With a big extended family, and our own three little noise makers, we don't get to just sit and talk to Grammy very much. Between Tom and I, she is our only living grandparent. So, we talked a lot last night about her childhood and her family. (Side Note: Tessa's middle name is Coad, which is Grammy's maiden name and still the name of the family potato farm in Utica.) We heard such a rich history, one that revolved around taking care of family members, being generous and trusting in God.

Grammy remembered that once her mother didn't have a nickel to give her for a pencil for first grade. And, bananas were a special treat and didn't come along very often. Although, as a farmer, they did have access to milk, butter, grains and meat, which was not as common. She said she never felt poor but knew they didn't have any money.

The night was also reminded me of my Grandpa Paul, who also grew up on a farm during the Great Depression. I know Grandpa, and likely my Grandma Elnora (mom's mother), grew up much the same. My Grandpa Chuck grew up a coal miner's son which I can imagine was not the lap of luxury. Unfortunately, I don't know much about Grandma Jeannie's childhood but I do believe she grew up in the city and I'm sure had a story to tell there too.

Our generation has come so far. And, I'm not just talking about in my family history. But, really, as a society. We have advanced past the point of living off the land. To decide to live a life like that again would likely get us committed. In fact, just today, I read an article about a family in West Virginia that did that and they really did seem a bit nutty.

I am thankful for their generation and that they have given us the stories of their past so that we do not forget from where we came. I tried to savor much of last night's conversations, and the ones of my grandparents, and commit it to memory. I hope that one day, I can be a spry, 88 year old passing down the wisdom of my generation to my children, grand children and great-grandchildren.