Thankful it is November.....

and I don't have to write every day anymore. I privately challenged myself to write every day from the middle of October until the end of October for the sake of writing. October is a tough month for me, and I knew I wouldn't have much to say until the boom of grief had its toll, but once it did, I knew I would have lots to say.

The whole trend of 31 days of all things hit me a bit like most trends do. Namely, is this something worth the investment of my time and bandwagon jumping? Um, no, it was not for me personally. I read some of the other 31 bloggers and benefited from their words, but as far as my blogging personality goes, I have to wear the jeans that fit me best.

Which is writing when I have words, writing when I want to practice writing, and writing for the sake of completing thoughts that otherwise would ping pong around inside of my head and make me inhospitable to the other house inhabitants.

Maybe I should write more. But I buck the trends that do not fit my natural vein. Thankful Thursday though, I love. I don't know if The Upward Call or Rebecca Writes gets first gratitude on it, but my thanks to both for their examples.

My comment that I'm thankful I don't have to write every day anymore is a jest to myself. I needed the personal challenge without the public announcement. I learned about my writing as I made myself do it. Most of my posts were done without editing and editing and editing. More stream of consciousness writing and it was a liberating exercise. Turning off the critic and writing as the words flowed helped me remember why I love writing and also warned me why blogging, for me, has very specific limits.

Of course, November is the month of that Nanowrinomososhopobo thing, or something like that, which also has great intentions. I am just not sure if those are my jeans or not. In the meantime, things I'm thankful for today:

Automated funds monitoring: while sometimes the banking system gets a bad rap, and sometimes rightly so, I was thankful to get a call this morning from my bank stating they had put a hold on my debit card because of suspicious transactions. I called immediately because the children need food to find out that someone else's children apparently needed clothes. To the tune of $2,010.00 from a fancy store in Canada. I confirmed that our shopping was primarily done at Goodwill these days and not online from Canada. The number was cancelled and a new card on the way. The automated system worked on our behalf and also for the merchant who did not, thankfully, lose any merchandise.

Soup: as temperatures drop and friends send great soup recipes, we are all tummy grateful. Still.

Bible study: I'm working through Acts right now and Chap. 14 was a favorite because of its instruction to remember that strength and encouragement come from the truth that through many hard things we will walk to enter the kingdom of God (v.22). Commitment to Christ and His work requires persevering through adversity. He is worthy of any and all we might undergo in this life. He is worthy.

Family: raising teens and a tween is a challenge bar none at times but the sweetness continues to persuade me of why the investment and the struggles are so valuable.