30 Days of Gratitude. Day 13

Gratitude is expressed in prayer and thanksgiving, but more so in living lives of honor and integrity, of kindness and compassion, in awareness of others and their needs, and in honest expression of gratitude for all those who bless and affect our lives for good. Thanksgiving is best expressed in thanks-living--in lives of goodness and obedience and love and service.

Do you know anyone who works really hard, day after day and night after night and never complains? Do you know anyone who spends at least 100 hours away from home every week and does it all to provide a living for his family? Do you know anyone who hasn't really ever taken a vacation or hardly even a day off in all of this? I DO! I am speaking of my sweet husband, Geoff. Can I tell you that he is such a hard worker and such a great man!? I am so blessed to have him! I know that he has been through hell with this pharmacy school, and I know that he is stressed beyond belief, but he still works so hard!! For the last couple of months we have been able to see him a lot more since he is only gone about 60 hours a week, but until this point, I am not exaggerating when I say he is gone 100 hours a week. Easily that many. All the time he was in his prerequisite classes for pharmacy school, he worked full-time and went to school full-time. He worked every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and put in full-time hours in those three days so he could go to school every other day. I think he went 5 years without having a single weekend off. And honestly, he never complained. I know that he is doing all of this for his family, and I have to say that I feel so blessed to have a husband that works so hard to provide for us. I am blessed to have him also because he is thoughtful of me. It is hard to have him gone all the time, and when he is home, he makes sure I get a break. Today he watched our kids, and a friend's kids, so that I could go to lunch with a few friends. It was all his idea, too! There was a really hard time in my life where I didn't have any direction or hopes for the future, but Geoff came and made everything seem clear. I just can't imagine my life without him. I hope this doesn't sound to "mushy", but I just had to mention him sometime in this gratitude blog because he is such a blessing!!