I am thankful:
1.) For a God who loved me before time began, who created me, who wooed me, and who captured my heart.
2.) For that same God who has never, ever given up on me, no matter how deep I have fallen or how far I have walked away. He is the greatest romance of my life, and I wish I could say that I even remotely deserved His faithfulness and love.
3.) For the Bible - the love letter from God, that shows me how to live my life, how not to live my life and every important thing.
4.) For a husband who has always been my best friend - the one who makes me laugh so hard I end up in old-man wheezy coughing fits, the one who holds my hand when I'm afraid and knows exactly how to calm me down when I'm freaking out.
5.) For my oldest child - Miss EG, my 6 1/2 year old bundle of sweet and sassy charm. She amazes me with how smart she is and how quickly she picks up on things. She has such a kind heart and sense of empathy for those around her, and her compassion sometimes simply overwhelms me.
6.) For my second child - Miss Charlie, my almost-4-year-old strong-willed, hot-mess bundle of amazingness. She cracks me up all the time with the way she sees the world and how determined she is to control it. And yet under all that determined attitude, there lies a strong vein of compassion and love and desire to serve.
7.) For my oldest son - Mr. Drewby, my 2 1/2 year old tank of a boy - rough and tumble, sweet and kind, he is the perfect mixture of masculinity and compassion. He shocks me with what he picks up on, and the insight he has into the inner workings of people's minds, saying things that point out the truth of a situation much more effectively than I ever could.
8.) For my youngest child - Baby J - my 4 day old little man that I can't wait to get to know. So far, I know he's passionate about eating, sleeping and pooping, and I can't wait to learn more about him every single day.
9.) For my father, who consistently seeks after the Lord's heart, who was a rock in our family. There was never a spiritual question that I felt I couldn't ask him and he wouldn't at least know where to point me to. We haven't always had a great relationship, but I praise God for second chances at that as an adult.
10.) For my mother, who has been such a support and friend throughout my entire life - speaking truth when I really didn't want to hear it but really needed to, letting me call and rant and cry for an hour on the phone when I'm sure she had better things to get done, and showing me how to prioritize people over things and relationships over so-called duties.
11.) For the family that God placed me in at birth - the youngest of 5 kids, I was so blessed to have 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters who took care of me and loved me - even when I was probably the most annoying little snot to ever walk the face of the earth. I know that, even though they still live thousands of miles away, I can call them and ask them advice, laugh about kids, and just have a great conversation about anything.
12.) For my in-laws, who have become more than in-laws to me, but are now a second set of parents. I am thankful that they are so kind and generous, and that I am blessed enough to get along with them. Even better, that my family and my husband's family get along so well. I know too many people who don't get to experience this, and I treasure it even more because of that.
13.) For an amazing delivery of my fourth child just 4 short days ago. Every single thing I asked of the Lord, He granted to me: I was able to have him on the weekend before Thanksgiving, only one day after his due date, so I could maximize my husband's time off and get to spend time with family from out of town. He came out in literally 4 push cycles, about 10-15 minutes, and for only 3 of those was the doctor present. I didn't and haven't had any of the major problems that I had with my other deliveries and the recovery has been phenomenal.
14.) For being put in the part of the world that I have been at this time in history - where I have access to clean water and food and medical care whenever I need it.
15.) For the ability to stay home with my crazy children. It's not easy, nor is it always fun, but it IS always a blessing to me. Not having been able to stay home with my first two children when they were very little was hard for me. I wanted so badly to see all of their milestones and had to hear about them second hand from my mother - which was also a blessing that I didn't have to put them with someone I didn't know. I treasure all the silly moments and crazy comments they make and that I get to experience it first hand.
16.) For the ability to craft and do what I love and actually sort of make some money off of it. Is it super lucrative? No. But does it pay for itself and allow me to continue doing what I love? Yes. And bonus, sometimes it even makes enough that I can do fun stuff with the kids that I wouldn't get to do otherwise.
17.) For my Lifegroup, a great group of ladies that I can laugh with, cry with, and spend time seeking the Lord's heart with.
18.) For friends that make me laugh, commiserate with me, and watch bad movies with me ;P
19.) For my husband's job - that provides for all of our needs and allows me to be a stay-at-home-mom.
20.) This sounds dumb, but for my minivan. I have a big ol' brood of kids and really wouldn't make it too far without one.
21.) For the ridiculous amount of food we're going to eat today...
22.) And for the awesome amount of leftovers we'll be eating for the next week ;P
I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!! God bless!!
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