Thankful Thursday

"Studies tell us that we move toward what we consistently see.  You should keep something in front of you, even if it's symbolic, to remind you of what you are believing for."

~Joel Osteen, You Can, You Will

Happy Thankful Thursday!  I'm so glad that the weekend is almost here because I'm ready to sleep in.  While I have been going to bed earlier instead of staying up until the wee hours of the night, JJ has taken to waking up around 3 AM.  He's not hungry or anything and usually goes right back to sleep if I rock him or bounce him on my knee.  The only issue is that sometimes it can take him a while to drift off into a sound sleep and other times I find myself restless after I've put him to sleep.

This week I'm thankful for my vision board and for it serving as a constant reminder of what I'm striving to achieve.  I'm keeping something in front of me to keep me motivated to move forward.  It can be discouraging at times, especially when you're trying to achieve career and professional goals.  You'll find yourself asking is it really worth it as you try to jump over hurdle after hurdle.  I can't answer for y'all, but for me the payoff will definitely be worth it.

I'm thankful for the ability to say "No."  There are so many offers that come flooding through my inbox.  It's tempting to say to yes to them all, but I'm determined to stay true to myself and not take on more than I can handle.  I'm determined to be picky about the brands and companies that I work with.  I'm at a point where I'm not looking for a one time deal,  I want to work with brands who looking to establish a partnership.

Also, this week I got to Skype with a friend who is a blogger as well.  We had a great conversation catching up on our latest projects, discussing how we can better support each other and even tossed around some blog ideas.  I'm grateful we had this talk because I will be unveiling a new series here on YUMMommy this Spring!  I'm really excited about it and can't wait to share what it is with you guys.

The finish line is coming into sight with one of my books (yes, I'm writing more than one at once) and I couldn't be more thrilled.  There's been a few things going on behind the scenes in my personal life that kind of stifled my creative juices.  However, I prayed hard and have just made the effort to sit down everyday and write something.  I'm not worrying about it being perfect yet because that's what the editing phase is for.  Right now, my goal is to "get her done" and off to beta readers for feedback.

I think that JJ has gotten the hang of using small phrases.  He's getting better at adding please to end of requests.  He's working harder to hold conversations with us and I love it.  Looking back at where we started on this journey, I felt like we'd never get here.  It truly has been a walk of blind faith and just trusting God to help move whatever was blocking his speech.  I'm so grateful to see him gaining more independence as his speech gets stronger and stronger.

Before I go, I unveiled my new smile earlier this week.  While you're over there checking it out don't forget to enter in my giveaway!  Also, as you can tell from the quote at the top, I'm reading You Can, You Will by Joel Osteen and it is an awesome book so far!  Very inspiring.  You can click on the picture (affiliate link) below to buy a copy from Amazon.  I'll definitely be writing on official review here in the coming weeks.

What are you giving thanks for this week?