Thinking Happy Thoughts

I have been trying to think happy thoughts the past couple of days. I have also been trying to make sense of Noah's passing and wrestling with my own feelings on it. I don't think, at this point, I would have had the faith and peace that Noah's parents had in order to do what they they did. I guess that's why I wasn't given Noah. Many parts of his story and his parents words spoke to me. Here is my little story and if you stick with me you will see how they tie together.
My mom and her best friend were talking the other day about my sister. (The one I had the Brittany argument with.) They were talking about their concerns and what not. My mom said something about my sister being an alcoholic. My mom's best friends says,'We're not going to use that word anymore. I refuse to label our girl. We are just going to start calling her a child of God, and anytime we want to use the A word ,we will just call her a child of God.' My mom recounted this little story to me on the same day that I read on Noah's Blog about his mom being glad that Noah didn't have a diagnosis and therefore no label could be put on him and it hit me.... When we or others are given a label it confirms or reaffirms something about us. If it's negative then we buy into it and can let that thing control us. We give the negative thing a foot hold in our lives ,or the lives of others, and therefore it has power. I have been given the story of God talking to Abraham lately. I was trying to piece together what it all meant. My sis, dad, Noah, no labels and Abraham. I think I might be getting it. When God told Abraham he would have descendants as numerous as the stars and that he would have a son; Abraham laughed at God and said 'I am an old man and Sarah is an old woman. We can not have a child at this age.' He labeled himself and Sarah. When we label that limits what we allow God to do. Maybe if he would have just fallen down and thanked God and accepted it as fact, MAYBE he and Sarah would have had their son sooner. What I am getting at is I am not longer going to label Dad or Sis. I'm not going to label them out loud or in my head. When I start to label them I'm just going to say child of God and thank the almighty for what he IS doing and will do in their lives.

Now on to less complicated happy thoughts that don't require as much thought. :)
I LOVE mint Christmas M&M's. I ran across a hidden half pound of them. I had hidden them over the holidays. I am relishing them. Ahhhh, it's the little things.....
I am enjoying a wonderful book call "Nonviolence: 25 lessons from a dangerous idea". I'll be giving updates on it as I get more into it. At this point , regardless of your stance, I recommend it. It has a lot of history in it.
I am so happy that my cat is getting de-clawed at the end of this month!!!! My couch is happy too. I have some great friends coming into town in a few days and it will be so nice to catch up with them.
I just received a few new cookbooks in an attempt to over come my culinary rut. I am looking forward to using them. I love to cook. I come from a family of great cooks and have been feeling inferior lately. I'm hoping these books will help. It's Rachel Ray, how can it not?!
These are my happy things for the moment. They may not be glamorous, but they are helping to keep me a little sunnier.