Author: Suzy Taylor Oakley

Today I’m thankful for … our back yard and the cow pasture beyond.

Why? Because it’s so dark back there, you can go outside on a cloudless night and see a gazillion stars surrounding the big, shiny moon.

When the sun is just coming up, you can look out and see a mist across the entire stretch of land. Eventually, this scene gives way to daylight and, a few hours later, a harvest glow at sunset. Then as evening falls again, the moon shines down on the pasture, and the land seems to glow.

Sunrise, sunset, moonrise. At every stage of the day, it’s magical.

Some days I think God created that pasture just for me. This was especially true on the Fourth of July, when we were too tired to go to the river to watch any official fireworks show. I wandered out to the back yard in the dark and realized I had happened out there just in time for my own private fireworks display, above the row of trees that borders “our pasture.” Salsa and I enjoyed the show while Bruce and Pepper napped inside. (I don’t believe in coincidence, so I know that the light show was God’s special gift to me after several weeks of hard work.)

Salsa and I often enjoy sunrises together, too. We are the early risers. And we enjoy the fireflies together in the evenings. We had so many fireflies this summer it didn’t seem fair to the rest of the world. Surely we possessed them all in our little back yard.

I love sparkly, shiny things.

That’s probably why I also enjoy the trains.

Beyond the border of trees at the edge of the pasture is where the trains pass by. I love to listen to a distant train at night, and as the trains approach our pasture, you can see the lights reflect off the trees, illuminating the night sky. Another glowy display, accompanied by a lonesome sound that countless songwriters have tried to capture in words.

The trains are music to me. And so are the cows. To me.

To my furbabies, however, the cows are a different story. The Spice Dogs don’t look on the cows as benevolent creatures. The girls make their own kind of music when the cows come home. When the evil bovines get too close to the fence, Salsa and Pepper let them know they should back off – or else!

The cows don’t seem to listen, though. They don’t seem to mind the “music” my furbabies make when they’re sounding a warning.

The big guys just chew their grass and meander away when they’re finished.

The girls may not like it, but I love it.

Today I’m thankful for … A NEW FURNACE!

We’re warm. The house is warm. Pepper is warm. Bruce is warm. I am warm. Salsa doesn’t care so much; she runs around outside in the cold like a crazy dog.

The rest of us are grateful. Even Pepper is grateful, even though she would never admit it.

She can have the heating pad tonight.

Today I’m thankful for electric blankets, space heaters and heating pads (Pepper is especially thankful for the heating pad – she hogs it!).

A couple of weeks ago our gas furnace started making funny noises, so I got up in the middle of the night and turned it off. I’m a light sleeper, and it woke me up every time it kicked on.

Good thing Bruce was more afraid of it than I was (I had just wanted some dadgum sleep!) because he advised me to leave it off until we found out what was wrong. (I had been planning to turn it back on at daylight so I’d be warm as I got ready for work.)

A few days later we finally got someone to come out and look at it (don’t get me started on that ordeal!) and were told that the heat exchanger is cracked and we would’ve been sucking up carbon monoxide if we hadn’t shut the thing off. Bottom line: We have to replace the furnace.

A new unit is on order, but meantime we’re grateful that our friends Betsy and Tommy have loaned us their space heater and that we have little wall furnaces in our two bathrooms.

We’re also grateful for our two little four-legged, furry space heaters (even though Pepper thinks my heating pad belongs to her!).

Our new furnace should be in any day, and the dude will come and install it. A bonus is that we don’t live in Buffalo (Bruce’s hometown), where we’d be freezing our bee-hinds off!. We’re thankful for the relatively mild Arkansas fall weather.

And thankful that we’re saving money on the gas bill this month.

But we definitely will be grateful when the new furnace is installed and working.

(PHOTO OF TWO GORGEOUS WOMEN – LISA AND SUZY – GOES HERE.)

I’m starting this two weeks late, but I’d like to spend the rest of the month counting my blessings, naming them one by one (or two), and posting them here daily.

The Batesville Camera Club’s theme for the next meeting is “Things I’m Thankful For.” We’re to take pictures relating to that theme and share them at the Dec. 9 meeting (see details in my Nov. 13 post).

And, while I didn’t take the picture I will post here (as soon as it’s available from my niece Catie), it illustrates what I’m thankful for on Sunday, Nov. 14.

Today, I’m thankful for my new sister-in-law, Lisa.

She is a direct, specific answer to one of my most-heartful prayers. No, she’s an answer to two prayers. Aww, I could probably stretch it to three:

No. 1: When I began getting to know Lisa a couple of years ago and suspecting that my brother may end up marrying her, I quickly realized that she’s a very special woman. She’s a great mom to her kids and now a great wife, stepmom, daughter-in-law and sister-in-law to my family. I’m thankful for a wonderful sister-in-law. I had prayed that we would be close as family members.

No. 2: My best friends live in California, and I see them every few years at best. I had prayed for a good friend locally. And, while I don’t expect to magically become BFF’s with Lisa (friendship takes time and can’t be forced), I see a good future for us. JT, you treat her like a queen, because I want her to stick around for a long time! Since Bruce and I moved here in May and JT and Lisa were busy expanding his house so that Lisa and two of her three kids could move in (they got married in July), we’ve all been busy and Lisa and I haven’t spent a ton of time together, but not for lack of desire.

No. 3: Today, over lunch, the subject of walking or running came up. I was so excited about the decision we made, I can’t even tell you how the conversation started. Result: Lisa and I are going to be walking buddies and then running buddies (she wants to run a marathon – I told her I’m good for maybe a half-marathon). I have gotten way overweight and have realized that in this stage of my life, accountability is going to be the key factor for me.

I have been successful with weight loss (at least temporarily) in the past with other methods – sheer force of will and a formal support program (Weight Watchers, more than once), but I no longer suffer from the delusion that I can do this on my own.

I also know that my obsession with food is a form of spiritual bondage. I’m working on that, too. (I told Lisa, though, that when I’m working out I tend to make better food choices. It’s psychological.)

With the accountability, it helps that those who are going to be holding my feet to the fire are like-minded spiritually. Lisa and I talked a lot about God as we did our brisk three-mile walk this afternoon. He has worked on the heart and character of each of us over the years – in different ways but for the same reasons: to make us whole and to mold us to his character, so that we can bring honor and glory to Him.

Besides Lisa, I have to thank the Lord for Betsy. Sweet Betsy has already become a wonderful friend this year. When Bruce and I sit in our “normal seats” at church (when we don’t decide to move outside our comfort zone and sit with people we don’t know), we sit behind Betsy and her husband, Tommy (he plays in the worship band, so they have to sit in an easily accessible spot). They came to our party last week, and she even brought homemade cookies!

Despite the fact that she is petite (a good, swift puff of wind would blow her away), Betsy likes to eat, but she likes to eat healthy. I do, too, in theory, but I’ve been so hit-and-miss with that over the past few years. She has already encouraged me just by her example.

But even more, she and I talked about running last weekend. I told her the reason I had chopped off my hair and bought running shoes was that it’s time to quit messing around and get fit again. She told me some positive changes she has made over the years, including cutting out soda pop. (I’ve been a diet Coke fiend but have cut back quite a bit this year already.)

This morning when I saw Betsy, she asked if I had done any walking this past week. My first thought was, “Oh, crap! Why did she have to ask me that?” I fumbled around with an excuse, but later I realized that on the only day I had daylight, I did walk. It’s too dark to walk by myself in the mornings, and this past week it was too dark each evening when I got home (what with my class, visiting a sick friend in the hospital, working a bit of OT).

That is why I am so very, very grateful for Lisa. Now I will have someone to walk with each day, and then run with when we get to that point.

But back to Betsy: Even though I was uncomfortable answering her question, I’m so glad she asked. Betsy cares enough to stick her neck out. She had the courage to try to hold me accountable.

After all, isn’t that what I said I needed the most?

God is good, and he has given me two special women to walk this journey with.

Thank you, God, for Lisa and Betsy.