I am Thankful...

We were privileged to be able to attend the Medina Children's Home annual benefit dinner this weekend. We ended up getting to see a lot of old friends which was an added bonus. Gerald Turner, the president of SMU was the speaker. While he was quite good, I was even more blessed to hear the testimonies of some of the children and mothers who either are or have been at Medina. One young man who ended up at the home when he was teenager, has just graduated from Harding University and is working on his masters there! May God continue to bless him and the others who are and who will cross through the threshold that is called Medina Children's Home. What an awesome work they are doing there.

As I have continued to think about these children, it makes me think of how thankful I am for the family in which I grew up in. My family was not perfect, no family is. But I always had a roof over my head. We never had lots of "things", but our pantry was always overflowing. And we always had a refrigerator in the garage FULL of Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper. I grew up back when everything came in a glass bottle and tasted absolutely wonderful! I can remember a section of one wall of our garage that was always loaded with cartons of Cokes and DP's. My mom always bought them on sale. There is still nothing like a Coke right out of the bottle and to this day, I still don't drink Dr. Pepper unless I can find the ones in the bottle made with imperial sugar from Dublin, TX the way they were originally made. Now that's a Dr. Pepper!

I also had a wonderful father who died when I was in the 6th grade with cancer. Even though I had my father for a much shorter time than most people, I still have wonderful memories. I am thankful that though my time was cut short, I had a father who loved me and thought the world of me. I think of some of the children from Medina whose fathers drank and then beat them and their mothers and it's reminds me that even though my time was short, I was still blessed by a wonderful, loving father. After hearing their stories, I realize I got more love and blessing from my father in a short time, than they have in their entire lives. I am so very grateful for that.

I am also grateful that even though my earthly father is no longer physically with me, I have the assurance through Christ that we will meet again one day. I am also grateful for the knowledge that my heavenly father is always here with me. Because of the loss of my father, it took me a long time to realize that, but I am so thankful for the relationship I have now with my heavenly father. And I know that through the Medina Children's Home, these children have learned that relationship and blessing as well. Hebrews:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” Praise God for His blessings, through places like the Medina Children’s Home. If you haven't told your family lately how much you love them, please tell them, because they are a blessing from God. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. You do not know how long you'll have them.

On a different note, this was also a charity auction. They had an autographed basketball signed by Dirk in this nice ball case. For those who know my daughter Ashley, she is absolutely a Dirk fanatic! We went to a Medina dinner a couple of years ago and they had a Dirk ball that went for $200 in the silent auction. She just about flipped out that year when I told her about it and said, "I would have paid that for it!!". So this year, I called her from the dinner and told her about this ball, it was at $325 at this point. She sat there on the phone for a minute and said, "Hmmm.... I'll go to $500!" I said are you sure??? And she said “Yes!”. You might be wondering how a college student would have that kind of money. Well, she has been working all year at the Abilene Newspaper. And of course she never spends "her" money she only spends the money we send her. Anyway, back to the ball (I got sidetracked on a parent moment!!)... I bid on it once about 25 minutes before the end of auction. When they announced it was 5 minutes until the auction was closing, I went back and the bid had increased to $400, so I waited until about the last 2 minutes to increase the bid to $425. Well, the auction ended and we ended up with a basketball! She was besides herself! We came home and sat it on the fireplace. When she arrived home later, she walked over and took the case off the ball, pick it up and looked at it, and then smelled it! Yes, my daughter smelled the ball! I told you she was a fanatic. Then she placed the cover back on the ball and just smiled from ear to ear.

So I guess on that note, all I can say now is..... GO MAVS!!!!!