Thankful Thursday

Thursday means it's time to link up with Rebecca Jo @ Knit By God's Hand to share just a small handful of the things God has blessed me with during the past week. Whether they are large or small things, I'm very grateful for all of them.

This week finds me thankful for...

** the generosity of a friend. She gave me one of those sweet old-fashioned metal chaise lounges with the wheels on the back legs for easy moving. She decided she had too much stuff on her deck and asked if I wanted it. Yes!!! She even threw in the cushions, the waterproof cover, and a cute little side table. I already have visions of spending many happy hours reading on it this summer.

** the warm temperatures that seem to finally be here to stay. I love not needing a jacket to go to work in the morning. Now if only the rain would stay away for more than a day or two at a time....

** our daughter and son-in-law, who mowed our grass this week. I had been fretting about when it would get done due to work schedules and rain in the forecast, but came home on Tuesday to find it done. Such a wonderful relief since our yard gets water logged and it's usually days after a heavy rain before it dries out enough to mow.

** the wisdom God gives me to know how to handle behavior problems when they pop up in the dementia unit and even more so for all the help he gives me out on the floor in the rest of the nursing home when ladies, who should know better and really have no excuse, are very mean to people. Sometimes being at the nursing home is like being back in high school with all the different cliques. 

** getting to see God at work in my boss! I have vented here on the blog a time or two about what a difficult person she can be and not just with me. It's not an exaggeration to say that nearly everyone that works at the home dislikes her. She is very....let's just go with bossy....and not just with the employees under her direction. She tends to tell everyone how to do their job and point out when she thinks they are doing it wrong...and not in a kind way. 

So we have a resident who is younger than most. She says she has Parkinson's, but think it must be something she was born with. She is attached to the activities staff, which is fine. In the afternoons she likes to park herself in the activities room right before most of the staff goes home. She stays there so she can visit with the person who stays into the evening. Not a problem, either, except that she stays through the person's break and her condition leaves her with a lot of excess mucus and spit. To be blunt, it's pretty gross to have her anywhere near your food. We were all dealing with it, though, and just going somewhere else to eat. The nursing home is the resident's home, after all. My boss, at some point, told this resident that she could not come in the activity room any more unless we asked her to come in. I didn't know about that.

On Monday, the boss came in right before we left for the day and said she'd been told she was wrong to tell the resident she couldn't come in the room. We all assumed someone higher up than her said something. Well, it was definitely someone higher up. She said it was God. He really worked on her and convicted her, putting the verse about "what you do for the least of these" on her mind and into her heart. So, she went and apologized to the resident, told her she was wrong, and that she was welcome in the activity room. 

If you knew my boss you'd know that was major God work right there!

** for another great week at my Bible study group.

** that our son decided to get rid of the motorcycle he bought over the winter. He was just learning to ride it and laid it down right in front of his house. That made him nervous enough to sell it. Talk about relief! We weren't too excited that he got it since he lives in Pittsburgh and would be riding it too and from work. (Just an FYI: Pittsburgh is ranked second in the nation for being the worst place to drive.) He already had a close call a couple of years ago in a car. That one left him in a neck brace for several months and the doctor telling him he's lucky because usually the vertebrae that cracked in his neck will break completely and sever the spinal column. Yep, very thankful he'll be in an SUV instead.

** as always, each one of you who pays a visit!

Have a blessed and beautiful day!