pet sitting

Thanks and Giving

Thanksgiving was absolutely lovely.

A little craft I made with the kids at our church. Some of the things I'm thankful for :)

A little craft I made with the kids at our church. Some of the things I’m thankful for 🙂

This special holiday always has me reflecting on God’s blessings in my life. To have a roof over my head, abundant food, clean water, electricity, a wonderful husband, a healthy family, a job, a vehicle, and so much more is crazy to think about. I have all I could ever need. 

On top of my basic needs, God has blessed me with much, much more. This Thanksgiving was extra special for my family for some personal reasons, so I just want to acknowledge how good God has been to us. He answers prayers in amazing ways. He goes above and beyond.

thanksgiving-2016

Jimmy and I celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents’ house with my mom, dad, Hannah, and all of our pups. We ate, laughed, prayed, and relaxed. It was a great day.

I also had to pet sit, so that was done before and after visiting my parents. It’s tempting to resent working on holidays, but that’s just when pet sitting is the busiest. I’m thankful for the extra work and the opportunity to contribute financially to our little family in a way that I so enjoy.

thanksgivingthanksgiving-2

After eating, my mom convinced me to go Black Friday shopping with her, even though it was still Thursday. It was my first true experience with the craziness that is Black Friday. I went not to buy anything, but to spend time with my mom. We had fun, and it wasn’t too wacko out and about.

This time of year reminds me not only to be thankful, but to give. To give of myself, my time, money, love, and more. However I can help others, really. Here’s to having an attitude of thanks and giving the whole year round.

I hope all who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful day spent with loved ones!

My Shadow

You guys, I am related (by marriage) to one of the sweetest boys. Josiah just turned 11-years-old, and is incredibly mature, sweet, and playful.

josiah-and-allie

Josiah and I go to church together and he has mentioned a few times that he might want to have a career with dogs in the future. Soo, I had him job shadow with me this week and loved every second of it!

We started off the day by visiting Chloe and Ava to let them outside, feed them, and play.

chloe-josiah-and-ava

After hanging out with Chloe and Ava for a bit, we headed home to bake and walk Lola girl! Josiah also got to meet Malcolm for the first time.

I let Josiah take the reigns and do all the baking himself while I supervised. He made some incredible banana bread 🙂

baking banana-breadwalking-lola

After eating lunch, we drove to take care of Haley! We took her on a nice, long walk and then played ball before we headed to the grocery store to pick out some food for dinner. We decided on burgers, corn on the cob, and veggies. We went to Aldi and didn’t have any bags, so Josiah carried a box full of groceries for me. I wish I had him with me every time I went to the grocery store 😉

walking-haley

We put all the groceries away and then got right back in my truck and drove to see Chloe and Ava again for their afternoon visit. More playtime ensued, with Josiah training the girls to sit while he held a toy between them. He had them wrapped around his finger within 30 minutes!

training

Once we said goodbye to Chloe and Ava, we ran to Walmart to get Malcolm a few toys. I also got Lola a sweater, which is kind of small on her, so it’s more of a belly shirt. A belly sweater, maybe?

Jimmy and Josiah’s big brother, Cody, got home from work (Cody works with Jimmy each Wednesday) a little after 4:00 and we all took showers and then cooked dinner. The boys shot each other with Jimmy’s nerf gun and also played some video games. The sound of belly laughs from young boys echoing throughout or house was the best.

Do you spot Lola in her new sweater?!

Do you spot Lola in her new sweater?!

We then headed into Wednesday night Bible study and parted ways afterwards.

I loved having Josiah come along with me through my day. I’m usually all alone, talking to animals for hours on end, so it was nice to have a human buddy with me for once!

I asked Josiah if he learned anything about pet sitting. His answer?

“It’s a lot of walking!”