This Thankful Heart- Multitudes on Mondays

"Oh my words could not tell, not even in part
Of the debt of love that is owed

By this thankful heart"
- Matt Redman

Counting My Blessings One by One to 1,000...

#77   A Thanksgiving meal that was a true feast.  Smiles like this one were my reward:

 

 

#78   A perfect bird

#79   A Thanksgiving that was far more than a meal, but a weekend of love, laughing, cards, shopping, and cousins.  Memories-  

 

#80 Seeing the big kids learn Pinochle with Grandma and Grandpa:

(And wondering when they become the BIG kids?) 

Beyond the Holiday:

#81  King Charming telling me I'm beautiful and laughing at me when I say my face is aging.  : ) 

#82 God's gentleness when He is disciplining me and shaping me.  We've been working on something lately, and I keep failing.  So thankful He doesn't fail me and doesn't quit on me. 

Clinging to this verse:

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. - Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

#83 Family friends who surprised us and visited our church Sunday morning.  The joy their surprise brought my kids.  (and me)



#84  Whispered conversation at the coffee pot in the back of the church with sweet friends (When we should have been sitting down and listening).  Trying to squeeze in everything I wanted to tell them into a few quick whispers before we became a distraction. 

 

#85  Reading, reading, reading- every chance I could steal this weekend.  Books that made me cry at the end, but smile at their beauty.  

#86  Tuesday morning.  Can't wait to do it again someday.  

#87  Remembering this:

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.    

-Philippians 4:19 (NKJV)

                                                                       
Remembering all the times He has in the past

                                         Confident He will continue in the future.

#88 Singing this song at church today:   

 

This thankful heart overflows. 

I'm participating in Multitudes on Mondays on A Holy Experience.

Love, 

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Multitudes on Mondays- One Thousand Gifts

More Counting of My Amazing Blessings and
My Thanks to You, Lord-

#65 A phone message saying something had happened to Nana.  I was so afraid to hear the news and crying before I could dial.  The relief and gratitude I felt when Dad said, "She's doing OK and  going home from the hospital."  Thank you, Lord.  Praying for continued healing from her stroke yesterday.  I love you, Nana. 

#66 Witnessing my sweet girls take a stand for Jesus.  Hearing, "I want to tell the world that I love Jesus." 

#67 It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Super Prince Charming!

Memories of my own little brother in his superman costume with cape, now seen in my own son.

#68 Beautiful snow falling this week covering the dirty earth with white making my heart feel the holiday expectation.   

#69 Joy overflowing in church yesterday as many stood up and shared their thanksgiving. 


#70 Seeing this necklace  and pondering its message in my heart.  Closing my eyes and seeing it in my mind and knowing that Grace Won in my family.  

#71 Friends who know me, all of me, and love me anyway, covering me with grace.

#72   A butterfly raised by Littlest Princess from a caterpillar not willing to fly away.  The joy its beauty brought and also the reminder that I'm no longer the caterpillar and to remember that I can fly if I'll only do it. 

#73 Rediscovering my love for poetry as I newly discover novels written in verse.  So thankful for the way they move me and inspire me and make me dream of creating beauty with words.

#74 My children are warm and have new coats, gloves, boots, scarves, and hats when Wednesday's forecast says a high of 15 degrees. 

#75 Two beautiful princesses dreaming together by our fire while I read aloud one of my favorites.  

#76 The building excitement of family coming to help us celebrate Thanksgiving.  Only two more sleeps and then  "over the river and through the woods" to Aunt Becky's house they will all go.  

Taste and see that the LORD is good;

blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
- Psalm 34:8

I'm participating in Multitude Monday on A Holy Experience. 

Love,

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Grateful

"You are my hope, Your promise never fails me. And my desire is to follow You forever. For You are good, For You are good, For You are good to me!"

Today was a hard day, emotional and full of everyday life frustrations.

Then I went to check on my kids tonight before I went to bed...

I looked into the crib and saw Prince Charming sprawled out in his red feetie jammies, clutching his blankie, lost in sweet dreams.

I tiptoed into Youngest Princess' room, pulled back her princess canopy, and listened to her talk in her sleep until she rolled over and pulled her baby doll tight.

I peeked into the bottom bunk and found Oldest Princess there, sleeping in her old room so she could be close to sissy, lying on her side with her hands tucked under her chin, long dark hair framing her sweet "growing up too fast" face.

I knew my life was good. And I wanted to end my day updating my list of 1000 Gifts. I wanted to fall asleep remembering His GOODNESS instead of my "light and momentary troubles."

58. The joy of being a part of this sweet fellowship of believers:


We still love our "old" "big" church in the city and consider it home, too, but being a part of this "little" church plant out in the country has been an unexpected blessing and given us a wonderful place to call HOME. So excited to be there tomorrow morning, to learn more of God's Word, and to be with people I love.

59. King Charming and how hard he works. For the past year, he has had a hard schedule for work. It has been a challenge for our family to work around the odd hours and stay connected when we are all like "ships passing in the night," but it has been the most difficult for him. I'm so thankful for the sacrifices he makes for us and the amazing way he provides for us.

60. The hope that that shift might change in May. Praying...

61. Being tired today because I got to stay up until the wee hours of the night chatting with sweet friends.

62. The comfortable bed waiting for me.

63. I can lay the frustrations of today down and remember that Your mercies are new every morning. A new day tomorrow!

64. Oh, Lord, thank you for the beautiful gifts asleep upstairs right now. Please bless their lives as abundantly as you have blessed mine. I pray they will grow up in love with you, and will have lives rich with love.

Goodnight bloggy land! I'm going to fall asleep counting my blessings one by one.

Thankful,

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Time for More Gratitude

I haven't updated my Gratitude List in awhile. I better keep going if I'm going to make it to 1000. : )

(Special Grandma alert: There' s grandkid video for you in this post)

(Have to keep Grandma happy, you know) : )



And the list continues.....

40. These blues and this fog are distant memories. I'm feeling alive again and happy.


41. The resources to decorate this room. I had so much fun and love my green wall.





42. Pretty flowers Mom helped me plant when she was visiting. I love my morning ritual of going outside in the morning air to water them.



43. An idea that is blossoming into a possible novel? I'm excited about this and so thankful for the fun of trying to create this story. We'll see...

44. Supportive friends who dream with me and make me believe the impossible is possible.

45. This big boy! (Please excuse the goofy mom and grandma voices. He brings that out in us, somehow)

46. The way Littlest Princess always remembers to stop halfway down the sidewalk on her way to the school bus every morning, to turn around and yell, "I love you, Mama!"

47. My newly discovered love of running. That time of freedom, of being able to turn off, to pray, and have solitude. Every time I get done with a jog, I think "What a gift that time was!" I can't wait to recover so I can get back to it.

48. The sense of accomplishment I felt running across the finish line at the 5K race I did last week.

49. The beauty of the greenbelt, the river, and the perfect weather that day.

50. I still can't believe I'm going here:

51. Watching Prince Charming scoot/crawl and explore the world around him. (I'll post video soon, Grandma) He's got a funny system down.

52. My husband's great job with the contract that allows him to stay home for the next two weeks while I need help. I can't lift over 10 pounds and Prince Charming weighs 19, which is a problem. They didn't warn me about that before the surgery, so it was so great that he can be here.

53. King Charming's selflessness. I'll spare you the gory details, but the day after my surgery he definitely won the Husband of the Year award. He put into practice the "worst" part of "for better or for worse" without complaining and said, "If that's the worst it gets, I'm a lucky man." I'm the lucky one.

56. As the school year is wrapping up, I'm so thankful that I love our girls' school. It is so nice to feel content and not worried about the education choices we've made for them.

57. The freedom I have being an American. Today, I'm remembering the very great sacrifices made for that freedom.

Life is good.

God is great!

I am thankful!

More to come later on my way to 1000 gifts.

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More Gifts- More Gratitude

(You can click here to read about what this list is all about.)

On my way to 1,000 Thank Yous.....

29. A project that was sent home for my first grader as homework. I dreaded the hassle when I first saw it, but completing it last night was such a joy. We cranked the Christmas music and made Christmas candy to share with classmates. I was thankful for the unexpected bonding time with my girls.

30. Consistently losing the extra weight from pregnancy each week- even after Thanksgiving. The ability to do this is not coming from me.

31. Realizing my computer was stealing too much of my time. Seeing how much I am accomplishing now that my priorities have been shifted.


32. The excitement over Grandma coming tomorrow. We are all counting down to her arrival.

33. A coffee date with a good friend on Monday night and the encouragement she gave me.

34. Listening to my youngest daughter do her speech practice- loving how deliberate she is every time she says her L's, W's, and Th's. She's trying so hard! Hearing her say, with pride in her eyes, "I used to say wuv but now I say L-ove."

35. Lunch with a good friend- delicious food and dark chocolate for dessert.

36. Prince Charming discovering his hands and fingers. Watching him learning new things right before my eyes.

37. The financial resources to buy Christmas presents and the thrill I get from finding the "just right" gifts for people I love.

38. Conversations with King Charming that go late into the night because we have so much to tell each other.

39. That feeling of knowing there is no one else I'd rather be with.


More to come....

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Thank You One Thousand Times

I've been thinking more about all the reasons I have for being thankful. I remembered visiting this beautiful blog and seeing her One Thousand Gifts. Over time, Ann has blogged a running gratitude list, until she arrived at one thousand gifts. Eventually she inspired other bloggers to join her, and they have become the "Gratitude Community."

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I decided I wanted to join the Gratitude Community. So today, I begin to count my blessings, one by one: (In no particular order)

1. Watching my girls hold hands every morning on the way to the bus stop.

2. A hole in our fence and a worn path down the hill connecting our backyard with our buddies.

3. Priceless pictures of my babies taken often by a talented friend

4. Giggling at the dinner table.

5. Warm inside when it looks like this
outside:

6. A new promotion for King Charming.

7. Friends who "get" me and make me laugh. (And don't judge me too much for not recycling)

8. This You Tube video when I need a good laugh

9. Zac's cartwheels : )

10. My Tempur-Pedic mattress. (You know you are getting old when a great mattress means so much)

11. Being able to keep in touch with far away family like her, her, her, and her.

12. Finding old friends on Facebook

13. PRETTY pink boots for little girl feet.

14. Warm coats for my kids.

15. My morning hugs from sleepy, just woke-up, barefoot in their jammies little girls.

16. Friday Night Pizza and Family Movie Night

17. Being able to be a stay-at-home-mommy

18. These toes:

19. A bowl of hot Grape Nuts on a chilly morning

20. Dutch Brothers Coffee

21. A steady paycheck from KC's secure job.

22. My whole family is healthy. I just watched a segment on the Today Show about St. Jude's Hospital. Thank you, Lord, for my family's health!

23. Swedish pancake breakfast with the WHOLE family on the holidays.

24. Sitting around in our pajamas, drinking coffee, and trying to solve the world's woes after that Swedish pancake breakfast at Mom and Dad's house.

25. That I can still go home to Mom and Dad's house.

26. The way Mom and Dad make Christmas happen in a magical way. There's no place like home.

27. Having plans for Thanksgiving this year when I thought I'd be all alone. Thanks for rescuing me Luke and Daiquiri!

28. Blog readers who leave me comments. : )

More to come........

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Love,

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