30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 18-19}

Day 18
So thankful for
- a beautiful warm day
- finding the birthday gifts I need
- hanging out with O. and working together
- watching a new movie that the kids love but I had never seen and they wanted to share it with me
- the gentle rhythms of ironing M's work shirts
- a reminder to no panic and always trust in my Father, He will never fail me
- knowing that I'm married to a Godly man who pursues God in everything he does
- listening to M. talk about his day when he finally arrived home late
- M and I snuggling S. in his bed while we talked and seeing how content he was to have us both right there with him
-being able to turn the days' events over to the Lord and be at peace about them all


Day 19

- being at home, most of the day
- observing S/R lie on the couch and watch O while she practices the violin and then clap after every song
- seeing S/R's creativity come out when it's her turn to practice
-watching the kids play together
- seeings S's delight as we pull out the trains and tracks per his request and then getting to listen to his little train conversations as he plays with them
- the small sense of accomplishment from helping S/R make a loom bracelet while helping O with her pronouns (all 6 different kinds of them!) and nursing S and balancing the laptop all at the same time
- sunlight coming through my living room windows
- M not going out to dinner with his overseas guests from work and pulling in the driveway right after us
- my kids delight screams of "Daddy's home!!!!" as they see his truck park beside us
- the fact that he enjoys my company better than anyone else's

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 17}

Today  I am thankful for
-conversations with a mom-friend at church that blessed and encouraged us both in this hard mothering job of pre-teens and teens.
- getting to surprise our girlies by fulfilling S/R's big birthday request of getting her ears pierced! What a memorable experience for all of us. They both did so well. S/R was 1st  and was quite surprised at how much it hurt to get it done. Thankfully, we had a great girl doing it and she saw the panic on S/R's face and was quick to finish the other ear. O. did amazing! She was surprisef at how little it hurt, compared to what she had anticipated. I'm so glad I was able to be right there to hold their hands and encourage them. My big girls!
I'm still so surprised at how much the earrings changed O. She looks so much older and grown up now. She came to me in the evening and said, "Mommy, I just walked past my mirror in my room and I didn't even recognize myself with my hair in a ponytail and my ears pierced! I look so much older!" And I totally agree. She does. She's such a gorgeous girl, it's beautiful and painful to see her look so grown-up!
It didn't change S/R at all though. She's still just her adorable cute self. I was so tickled by her. This day was the worst day by far of the canker sore in her mouth hurting her. She hadn't smiled or laughed all day and was very solemn faced. So much so that M. and I were starting to get pretty worried about her by the middle of the afternoon. She's such a smiley girl. We had gotten home from the whole ear piercing after church experience and M. and I were cooking lunch for the kids when we heard an ear-splitting scream come from the bathroom. We both stared at each other and M. asked "Is that a good scream or a bad scream? I can't tell." "I'm not sure either," I said. I headed to the bathroom, dreading what I was going to find, and I poked my head around the door and said, "S/R! Are you ok???" She looked up at me, completely solemn and non-smiling, "Oh yes momma. I'm just so excited that I got my ears pierced and you know I've got to just give a little scream of excitement every now and then to let it out." Apparently, it doesn't hurt as much to scream as it does to grin ear-to-ear. :)
- today is the 12th anniversary of M. asking me to marry him. I'm ever so thankful that he did!
- S/R's comment on the way home from AWANA. "Is God going to be there when we get to heaven? Well, I'm glad he is! Cause I'm going to run up and give him a great big hug and tell him how much I love him when I see him!"

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 12 - 16}

I'll be honest, this week sucked. It was a whole week of no-fun-ness. School work was a whine/nag/whine/nag/cry/ fest all week. No violin practicing happened at all. Small children were restless and slept badly. S/R had a canker sore in her mouth which made her cranky and difficult for her to talk, eat, smile, or laugh. M. was getting ready for a very stressful week of work (that would be this week!) and I was in a pretty bad mood every single day. We hung in there and persevered though.
What I am thankful for is
-God grace that is sufficient to cover any and all of my mistakes
- my children's' hearts
- new mercies and new beginnings every day

On Saturday, we were just plain crazy. M. got up at 3:30 to go hunting. S. woke up before 6am (nutty boy!) and demanded that I get up too. We had a birthday party at noon. M. came home (with no deer), we came back by the house at 2 (after the party,)  picked M. up and went to another birthday party, and finally came home a 5:30pm to cook dinner, give baths, and go to bed. Oh. my. word. 2 birthday parties back to back is way too much partying for anybody, just sayin'!
But, I'm thankful that we have friends who love our kids and invite us to their parties. It's a blessing to get to see my kids playing with their friends.

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 20}

This is all so true. I'm also thankful for
- a boy who is talking in such darling complete sentences
- O.'s help when I'm struggling to manage S.
- getting a last minute birthday errand run
- extended breastfeeding
- new body care recipes to try out
- dancing in the kitchen with M.
- a delicious dinner and a mostly clean kitchen
- warm sweaters and tall boots
- S/r's help in the kitchen with breakfast and dinner
- seeing her eyes light up when we praise her for a job well done peeling carrots
- being in the home stretch for our Thanksgiving break  from school
- getting rooms ready for company

30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 11}

Today I am thankful for:
- our Veteran's! It's Veteran's Day here and I'm thankful that we are free and to all the men and women who have served to keep us that way. From my Daddy and both uncles who fought in WW2 to my father in-law who fought in Vietnam and all of my friends of my every day life who are military themselves or who's husbands are serving or have served, I want to say "thank you."