Deep "Thankful" Thoughts: By Rachael Parrish

So I was going through what i had to write about today and then I saw my sisters 30 days of Thankfulness.  I have never done that.  I see it ALL OVER facebook through the month of November, but i have never hopped on the bandwagon...til now :)  I shant put it on facebook, but I will do it on my blog.  That way I'm not TOTALLY caving in. ;)  

I had intended to write a little bit about how saddening it is that my dads office manager of 30 years is in the final stages of her life because of cancer.  That has really had my heart hurting over the past few days.  I talked to her just the other day and she said something along the lines of having to come to terms with dying this early.  I cannot imagine.  It breaks my heart.  Not for her of course, because when she passes away she will be in an amazing, umimaginable, beautiful, wonderful place and she will not longer be in pain or be sad.  But those of us left behind, her husband, her two daughters, what do they do?  How do they go on?  It is unknown if she will make it to the holidays, which is even sadder, because this time will always be filled with heartache for her family.  She has been so resiliant and has had the best attitude through this battle.  She has fought it HARD and ALWAYS with a brave face.  She rarely got good news from the doctors, but nevertheless, she shared it with no negativity.  She was truly an amazing witness through this, just like Jenni.  Please pray for her and for little to no pain and for her to remain strong as possible.  Pray for peace for her family also. 

Not to make light of the above subject, but now, on to happier topics.  THANKFULNESS!!!!  I am extremely thankful!!  I am thankful for my health, for my husband, for my amazing children, for my Jesus, for my parents and sister, for my church, I could go on and on.  I wont right now tho!  I plan on doing 30 days of thankfulness on here, but I will be doing it two at a time!!  I write every other night, so i will continue with that and just put two on each post! :)  there ya go, thats my plan...if ya care ;)

So to finally start my first 30 days of thankfulness in November!  Which, by the way, I think is a MUCH BETTER idea than the whole "no shave november" nonsense!  #nofacialhair

November 1st, I am thankful for my daughter, Kyndal Faith Parrish.  From the time I found out I was pregnant with baby number four, I prayed so hard every single day, everytime I thought about my being pregnant that God would bless me with a baby girl.  While i was growing up I never wanted girls, I always wanted boys.  I didnt want to deal with the drama and nonsense of girls in their teen years.  #totesnotcool  But after having my three boys, I decided I wanted to have a sweet little girl.  I wanted to get to dress her up in the adorable outfits and put the super cute bows in her hair.  I wanted a girl that i could teach how to NOT be a "mean girl" and how to be kindhearted and try my best to show her how to have a gentle quiet spirit (although that will be tough for me to teach) 

I will never forget, I had to go in for an early ultrasound because they werent sure if my fluid was leaking again like it had with Jace.  Mom went with me because Josh couldnt and we didnt think they would be able to tell us if it was a boy or a girl that early, but boyyy i hoped they might be able to.  and sure enough, she asked if we wanted to know and OF COURSE i said yeah!!!  So she told me it was a girl!  Tears came to my eyes immediately.  I was thrilled!!!  So was mom! :)  It was awesome!  Mom knew how desperately I wanted a baby girl.  She was trying the whole time to keep me from getting my hopes up too high, telling me how "4 boys would be cool" and all that!  I know she didnt want my heart to be crushed, but I was pretty close to dead set on it having to be a girl!!  Thank you JESUS!!!!!!!  He truly heard my prayers!!!! :)  He gave me the most amazing baby girl in the world!

I am so beyond thankful for her!!  I love how sweet she is.  Even when Mickey walks up on the screen in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she tells him "HIIIII!" and I love how she cries so hard anytime I have to tell her no or to stop it.  She has such a tender heart already and it is precious.  I love how she is just learning to walk and how when she falls she says "aaawwwhhhh" because she has heard us say it so many times.  I love how beautiful she is.  And how much she loves bathtime and swinging!  I love how much she loves her brothers.  Every morning when she and I go get Jace out of his bedroom she gets so excited!  I love how God made her so extremely limber and how she sleeps in positions that couldnt possibly be comfortable.  I love her precious voice and I want it to stay that way forever!  I love how anytime she needs help she will turn to you and hold her hand out and do the "come here" sign with her hand...its adorable!!  It is pretty safe to say that i love every single thing about her!!!  It is crazy because in pictures that dont seem like were that long ago, she has changed so much!!!  She is growing up so quick! :(  She is absolutely perfect!  One of Gods greatest masterpieces!! 

As for November 2nd, you guessed it!  My sweet son, Jace Michael Parrish!!  I am so grateful for that boy!  He is the one who officially made me a momma, not just a step-momma!  He has taught me so much in my own life, and he was most certainly one of the main things that helped me get sober!  (Remind me to thank him for that one day ;)!)  He is the toughest child I have ever seen.  He can literally "take a lickin and keep on tickin!"  He is tough, but at the same time, every once in a while he needs his momma to kiss his "sores"!  I love how strong willed he is!  I love how he used to have the highest pitch cry ever!  He used to shake his head violently when i tried to give him his pacifier.  It was so cute!  He loves loves loves his blue icees and bug juices!  He has always loved playing with his footballs and basketballs and any kind of balls really!  He now loves firetrucks and airplanes!  Every once in a while they scare him a little and he will say "they cant get me?" and he is TERRIFIED of thunder!!  "Thunder cant get me?"  "get outta here thunder, we dont need ya round here!"  A few other phrases he likes are "Get back to Tinker, planes!"  "its a crescent moon"  "Shape Bandit, ya gotta hand it to meeee"  "I dont mean to brag, but ive played alotta golf in my day!"  "BEEP!  BEEP!  HELP!!  BEEP!! BEEP!  (insert goofys laugh here)"  "Im a Stinky dragon"  "I love you dude!"  "I NEEEEEED to..."  He loves getting to go see Prissy!  The littlest things thrill him and make him so happy...like sitting in the dryer, or riley licking his face, or jumping on a trampoline!  Hes just a happy boy in general! :)  He is extremely smart and intelligent and knows directions like no child ive ever seen!  If we go somewhere ONE TIME (seriously) he knows where we are going the next time!  He loves his little buddy Fielder and he enjoys seeing Brooke, Chris and Mason.  He loves his big brothers and his baby sister and loves every second of getting to play with them!!  He is absolutely FEARLESS, which scares me at times!  But i am glad he isnt scared for the most part!  He LOVED swimming and was never scared of the water, including the 2 times he jumped in fully clothed!  #scaredmetodeath  He adores his bampa and mamaw and grandad and babaw!!!  He is as stubborn as the day is long......some say he gets that from me, but I disagree!  I cant hold a candle to that boy!!  He is most certainly another one of Gods greatest masterpieces!  I love that boy so very much!!  ***Also, there will be quite a few pictures of him!  I have two years of highlights for him and i only know how to put them in the center, so you will be scrolling down a bit ;)  #getready  #sorrynotsorry ;)

Okay, Congrats for making it all the way through!! ;)  Arent they both cute as can be?!  #motherslove  #mybabiesareperfect