Thankful Thanksgiving post

...Late. Of course :)... Sorry! But we are actually celebrating Thanksgiving today, so I guess it isn't too bad :).
Just some of my favorite Thankful Thoughts over the past 34 weeks have been (going from oldest to newest)...

~God's love :)!
~God's goodness,
~A twenty-two month old who asks me to read her the Bible :)!
~A loving Savior who dead for me!!!
~Handwritten letters.
~History.
~God's mercy!
~Hearing a 22 month old's voice singing the chorus to "To God be the Glory"... in her sleep!!!
~Being invited to read the Bible through with a friend. This is the second time that we have done this, we're just taking it a bit slower this time. It has been a blessing!!!
~Getting to see Andrew's drawings (he has become a great artist!!!).
~Walks at the park.
~Jesus' forgiveness.
~Books written by strong, godly men and women to help us on our journey
~Staying up late talking with Tori. We don't do this quite as much as we used to since we have four more people in the room, but it is still fun when we do.
~Watching two brothers bonding (it is truly precious!!! It is hard to explain, but it really seems to me that even Peter knows that they are going to become best buddies.)
~Watching little ones with babies,
~And hearing them cooing to that baby-
~Cooing such things as "I just can't wait to hold that chubby hand every day while we pray!" (said by Andrew, age 5, while stroking Peter's little hand.)
~A good, Godly (!!!) sign language curriculum DVD.
~The book to go with this DVD- we got this DVD free, but didn't have the book. Mommy and ~Daddy bought us the book for our "first day of spring" celebration.
~Sisters to learn sign language with :).
~The sound of rain on the roof.
~Quiet, rainy days...
~And not-so-quiet, rainy days ;)
~The sound of a brook.
~Beautiful gems and rocks.
~The gift of Mothers :)!
~Cameras.
~Learning how to use these cameras.
~And a Daddy willing to teach me all he knows.
~Photos.
~Celebrating another year with a precious family member.
~Reasons to crochet...
...Which include babies...
... little ones...
... loved ones...
...birthdays...
... and Christmas...
~Or just crocheting for fun :).
~The gift of Fathers :)!
~Blueberries.
~Leaves.
~Shade.
~Sun.
~Blueberry Popsicles after blueberry picking.
~Swings.
~Reading others thankful thoughts!
~Trying new recipes, whether I make, or just eat them :).
~Lots of recipes to choose from!
~Cooking.
~Old hymns.
~Singing praises to God along with our church family.
~Singing with my family as we work together.
~Enjoying time with family and friends, working, playing, talking, laughing, and living together.
~The Bible.
~Little hands.
~Jesus' grace to sinners!
~A bed full of family telling/ reminding others of family stories that were the cause of much laughter ;)... (at about eleven o'clock at night, which may have also been part of the cause of the hysterical laughter. That, and the relief that that piece of toilet paper wasn't permanently stuck in Abbi's nose...)
~So much to be grateful for!
~Watching little ones enjoying singing praise to the Master :).
~And a Lord to praise :)!!!
~Getting to visit family.
~Getting to take Peter to visit Granny for the first time :).
~The example of people before us that loved their Lord, and that God lead others to document their lives.
~The smell of bread in the oven (Thank you, Tori, for making the bread the last few times! You have done a wonderful job!!!)
~Antique tatting shuttles :)! I saw a tatting shuttle last year while Mommy and I were out antiquing. But, I decided not to pay 25 dollars for something that didn't tell how old it was. Now I'm glad I didn't, because this year Daddy and I found one that was under 13 dollars, and it has the date it was made engraved on it, so there can be no mistaking it- it is 89 years old! How neat is that :)?!
~My wonderful family!
~The crocheting book that one of my closest friends gave me just over a year ago. (Thanks K.!!! I just finished using it yet again. With all the gifts I've been able to make out of it, it has most likely more than given me it's money worth. It was so sweet of you!)
~Watching Andrew read to Peter (LOVE  IT!!!).
~Sewing fun. Guess what? I have fallen in love with sewing!!! I didn't think it would happen, but I have! Thanks to the fixed machine and the fact that I kind of know what I'm doing now, I have enjoyed myself so much! Mommy and I altered two skirts, finish a nightgown for Abbi, and made matching nightgowns for the little girls the other day (although they were cut out the day before). It was fun, even though I did forget a few steps that had to be done after I thought I was done, haha...
~"Finding treasure" (Andrew's description of GEO-caching) with our Grandpa.
~Staying up late with Tori, my Mom, and my Aunts.
~Lots of crafting to look forward to! After a project I really should get working on, I have Christmas presents, and I really should finish the basket/jars covers I started forever ago to make all my crafting containers match ;).
~God's provisions for our family.
~Creativity in the kitchen :).
~And that we found a certain button I need for a project I'll try to do for that auction. I was going to do it for the Musser's fundraiser, but God seems to have had another plan, and I can't wait to see what it is :)!
-Which brings me to another thing. God was obviously planning on me joining in these auctions years ago! Those buttons I mentioned just happened to have been sitting in my button jar for years. I bought them for absolutely no other reason except they were so adorable I couldn't leave them on the shelf ;). I couldn't see them going with any fabric, at least not for a piece of clothing, I figured if I ever used it it would be for scrapbook pages. We couldn't find buttons to match the fabric I choose (pine cone fabric to make a little tea towel dress). I remembered those buttons after we got home, and they were a perfect match!  That was so neat!
~A godly church, where the word of God is proclaimed and the members have become just like family to us. We will miss everybody when we move, but it is exciting to know that God has lead us this far, and he will surely lead us to another church in VA that will be just as much of a blessing. And then, of course, we'll just have even more "family". Between letters, phones and the internet, we'll be able to stay in touch with everyone, and Mommy pointed out that never before have we had Facebook or blogs to stay in touch with people we're leaving behind :).
Bible study, and the way that God teaches you something new no matter how often you have read a passage :).
~That Daddy was able to finish his training here! That was such a blessing, we were able to have him home every night :)!
~Phone calls from Daddy, while he is up in Virginia starting to work up at his store there.
~The great time we had on our trip to Virginia.

And this week I am especially Thankful for...
~A loving Lord and Savior, who has brought me thus far and has promised to lead me on. Lord, thank you. May I never turn from you, and may many join in serving you!
~My dear family on this earth. Daddy, Mommy, Tori, Bethi, Andrew, Abbi, Emmi, and Peter, I love you guys soooo much!
~Jesus promise of a reunion in heaven with loved ones if we will believe on him. We can't wait to meet you, tiny Micah and Michel!
~The Pilgrims who gave all they had to come to a new land for spiritual freedom, not only for them, but for future generations. We can never be too grateful for this, especially as it is a virtue our country is trying to throw away.
~Our Founding Fathers, who fought hard under God to allow us to keep our liberty, and founded our independent nation under God. May God cause a revival in America, if so be his will...
~God's provision for our family this year, both while Daddy was out of work, and in bringing him a job. God has truly shown his hand in this situation, for which we thank him. Not only did he give this job in an amazing way, but he also gave us several months of family time to prepare for these months of frequent separation.
~That Daddy was able to make it home Saturday!
~Traditions...
We're trying to celebrate Thanksgiving, our first night of Advent, and do our Saint Nicholas day celebration while he is home. *He leaves tomorrow, at five o'clock in the morning*. So far everything has gone the way Mommy planned. We'll see if it works. Hahaha...
~Fun breakfasts.
~Meals together.
~Joy and laughter.
~Peter's delight at seeing Daddy again. Although we were all excited to see him, Peter's joy after being sooo cranky since his little teething issues started, if that is what it was, was especially precious :).
~Green bean casserole. I tried making this at Mommy's request Saturday night, and everybody loved it!
~The great time we had at the Lights Before Christmas at the zoo last night.
~Advent.
~Thanksgiving.
~Saint Nicholas Day.
~Laughter at one o'clock in the morning while fulfilling a yearly tradition...
~A kitchen full of people you love baking with you.
~Finding some odd finds while cleaning out drawers... look for a post about Tori's La-ma-fa-saw...
~And, though most of you will find this odd... the song "Feliz Navidad". Oh Gramma... ♫ ♪♫ Feliz Navidad ♫ ♪ ♫

"As your name, O God,

so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is filled with righteousness."

~Psalm 48:10