Thankful Monday... thankful thoughts for week 47, 48, 49, 50, and 51 and sneaking in some extra for weeks 43 and 44...

I knew that I had missed a couple of Thursdays (and not caught up when I next posted one), but you would not believe how long it took to figure out which ones!!! From now on it must be a rule that the title includes the week number in the title if I decide that I still want to keep numbering them, because it is too difficult to find a post with a "week...." in the title, which usually ends up being three months old, and then finding out where I am at, especially since I rarely post on Thursday... But I really would like to keep numbering them, because I do want to write down thankful thoughts for each week, and I'd never know where I was at if I didn't number them... sigh. :) Go ahead, just tell me that I wouldn't have this problem if I posted "Thankful *Thursday*" posts on (every) Thursday. Heeheehee :)...
Without farther rambling ;), eight weeks worth of thankful thoughts...

~That our house is on the market!
~That we had someone come look at the house the first weekend! I don't think it is going anywhere on their part, but it was encouraging, haha...
~And that we had someone else after that.
~And that we're scheduled to have more tomorrow.
~Garlic presses.
~Knitting needles coupled with garlic presses.
~And homeschool opera coupled with that. (I still have to giggle every time I think off the Sunday we came home starved and decided to combine these last three things... but that is something that you just can't describe. Heehee ;)...)
~God's beautiful designs.
~Heirlooms.
~Grains of sand.
~Tori's microscope.
~That we are done with Tori's claymation... relief! Haha :)...
~Bible covers... maybe more later :).
~Being able to custom make items.
~The Hour Glass cable...
~That I think I have mastered said Hour Glass cable.
~God's grace in always extending sanctification to us. Even if it isn't given in the way we would choose as best, can you imagine if we always stayed in our current state?
~Peter's haircut.
~That nobody was seriously injured in the multiple car accidents that happened to members of our church over the last few weeks.
~For Miss Brenda's generosity and visit a couple weeks ago :).
~That my blog background came back... I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure how. I'm also not complaining ;). I just pulled it up and was scrolling through, and then thought "Wait a minute! wasn't that still missing last time I looked?" Haha :)... It does appear to have changed, though. I'm still trying to decide if I'll just try to get used to that, or go through the work of changing it again...)
~The teaching of my parents.
~The way the Lord has been working in our lives.
~The Hidden Treasures auctions, and the families that they help bring precious children into :)."A Trio of Heroes" opens up for bidding on the first of April!
~And that Chad, mentioned on theblessingofverity.com, has a family!
~Peter-bug's new trick... (will this count as that cruising video you have been at me to post for months now, K? I'm sorry it took me so long to fulfill my promise, haha :)...)

 ~Homemade ice cream.
~New pizza recipes.
~Cauliflower.
~Leaf bugs.
~Laughing...
~While learning with the four year old,
~While working,
~Or just because :)...
~The Englishman, St. Patrick, and his ministry through Christ to Ireland, which is the true reason that March 17th is celebrated :)...
~Cinnamon rolls... with green icing, heehee. We don't do to much on St. Patrick's day, but we eat cinnamon rolls while we watch a cartoon about his ministry.

~My little bed-buddy, Emmi,
~and her love to have me "read just one chapter of the bible. Please? Just one?"
~The many games that Tori and I have had time for together lately :).
~Games like "Life",
~"Deal",
~And chess... which it had been far to long since we had played... heeheehee! I never thought to dust the came boards...

~Being able to try new things.
~Which happened to be muffins, a couple weeks ago :). Cocoa banana muffins (with oatmeal in them :) ) are pretty good :).
~Ideas from my Grandma (Mommy's Mom) for a make-ahead breakfast that is tasty and filling- breakfast burritos. Believe me or not, we hadn't tasted these until earlier this year!
~And ideas from Gramma (Daddy's Mom) for yummy muffins :).
~Peter's love for stuffed animals- it is sooo sweet! I have never seen another eleven month old that loved (all!) stuffed animals like he does!
~Llamas.
~Family mottos ;)...
~Letters to write (I have one I should finish up and send tomorrow :)... Fun!).
~Having made a good start on organizing letters that I have meant to get to for forever. I'm about half done :P...
~Plain pre-cut cards.
~Fun decorating them.
~Creative craft ideas.
~Having lots of little odds and ends of yarn... I have decided that I really want to make a project that I have know of for a while, but haven't known just how to do... I'm pretty sure I know how now, so I want to try to figure that out with spare bits of yarn this week if I have time, test it out before I decide if I really want to do what I really have been thinking of.
~Inexpensive "just for fun"gift ideas.
~Downloadable conference sessions :).
~Online sermons.
~That it is not our working, but Christ's, that saves us.
~Our weekly hymns.
~Thunderstorms.
~Electricity.
~Little things...
~Spoons,
~Pencils,
~Scrap paper,
~Frog pictures from Gramma,
~Abbi's love for them,
~Special colored washcloths that are used for certain things... blue, green, and purple... perfect. Now where is the ice cream?... (Figure that one out ;).)
~Extra straws for our special cups... the straws aren't exactly free from being breakable, haha, and Peter has a strong grip...
~Larger things....
~Christ's love for us.
~My family.
~God's plan for our family, even if it is hard to go without knowing what that exactly is at times. ~Heaters. Especiallythe last day of winter (yup, it took SC that long to figure out it was winter... heeheehee ;).). It was sixty-two degrees. In South Carolina. Inside. And I was the only one complaining. I must be whiny, and the rest of our family must be crazy. Heeheehee ;).
~That our computer is working this week- hey, I had an excuse for my tardiness week before last for Thankful Thursday. Our computer wasn't working all day Thursday, haha... (sound familiar, Joy? Heehee... sadly, this is the first time I've had a real excuse other than being out of town, though, so the rest of the time I've just been lazy...)
~That we were able to finish organizing all our CD's with pictures on them.
~Spring!
~Pansies.
~Daffodils.
~Bunnies.
~Gardening.
~Hoes.
~Watering cans.

~Daddy's being home a couple weeks ago... can you tell that that always thrills us :)?
~And that he was back this weekend, also!!!!!!
~Emmi's little voice pronouncing words we didn't know she knew.
~Coupled with her awesome face expressions... she's adorable!
~Sweet sisterhood.

~Cheese. Which we usually have more of than this... needless to say, we took a shopping trip the next day ;).

~Laundry helpers.

~That, although the washer and dryer have given us many problems over the past few months, the repairs have all been fairly easy and haven't taken too long to fix. We are beginning to joke that they know when Daddy is coming home, though, because they have broken down mostly the day Daddy gets back to SC, regardless of when that is :P...
~Oh, but they didn't break down this weekend!
That it does look like I might be making a good start to memorizing Romans 1-8 through reading it so many times :). I am so thankful that Katie took me on and decided to do this with me, and that she suggested memorizing it :).
~That I am also done writing out the first eight chapters, that was so fun!
~And that I didn't have to totally re-memorize Philippians 1:27-3:3. I was afraid I hadn't worked on solidifying that passage long enough, especially since I never meant to take a break from memorizing it :P. I'm happy that it did seem to stick, and I am looking forward to getting back into the habit :).
~Sneaking this in just for fun, because I heard that Daddy laughed at me because of how many times I mentioned a variation of chocolate in my thankful thoughts for Christmas... Chocolate.
~Caramel with chocolate.
~Chocolate sauce.
~Anything chocolate. (Shall I go on? ;)...)
~Ohhh, I know! Healthy, good for you coconut chocolate!
~Or a chocolate smoothie?
~Cucumbers. Eating something healthy before the chocolate makes it okay, right ;)? (Shhh... I know it doesn't, don't burst my bubble ;). Does it count that I love dark chocolate ;)?)
~Little brooms...
~...and dust pans.
~That are just the right size for this little helper :)...

~Memory games... played wrong, but, hey, Abbi got a kick out of it, haha! So did I ;)...
~Christ's resurrection.
~Biblical documentaries on aspects of Christ's resurrection.
~Fun examples of Christ's resurrection...

~Marshmallows. (You put the marshmallows inside the sweet roll, and it melts, signifying the empty tomb :).)
~"The Ben Carson Story". This was a wonderful movie on Dr. Ben Carson...
~Who happened to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast.
~With a Bible. There is a video online. It was wonderful :)!
~Also, if you want to hear a little background before you listen to those, and don't have the movie, you can listen to this...
~Peter's first independent steps this Monday afternoon... Stinker. He missed walking while Daddy was home by about twelve hours... And, of course, he hasn't even taken any since then... double stinker :P...
~Star-gazer lilies.

~Cameras (which I wished I had had last Wednesday...).
~Pleasant days.
~Parks.
~Slides.
~Strollers.
~Sticks :)...
~Rocks :) :)...
~Which bring such delight to little ones :).
~Creeks.
~"Poohsticks". It works better in water that actually runs though ;).
~Binoculars.
~Special vases.
~Lessons from flowers (you can see a review I wrote on a book with a lot of lessons from flowers here.)
~Opening blossoms.
~Miss Roberta's generosity in leaving us a meal the other day :).
~Nap times :)...
~Wood...
~Marbles...
~...and Andrew's "inventions" :)...

~Mechanical pencils, haha...
~Sewing coming up.
~A study on economics.
~Ducks. (There are some in the retention pond "next door", although they will probably move to the big  pond about a mile away once warmer weather hits and the retention pond dries up. But they are fun to have here for now :).)
~Poems.
~Tori's wonderful drawing :).

~Fresh bread (Thanks Tori :)!).
~History.
~Theology books.
~Being able to read the revised "Summer with the Moodys".
~Bethani's diligence at knitting a hat for Peter's birthday this afternoon. Five inches down, three more to go :)!

Taken this afternoon (Friday...), after she

 finished it in only two days :)!

~Little reminders from God to "take time"... To say a prayer, talk to a sibling,  help with a project, count my blessings, or any number of other things, I need to learn to slow down and enjoy my blessings.
~Thursdays.
~Life.
~Thankful thoughts.
~Abbi's grin.
~Peter's giggle, and
~Emmi's delight in his hugs.
~Tori's companionship.
~Andrew's detail in coloring, and
~Bethi's jokes.
~Hugs from Daddy, and
~Talks with Mommy.
~Joy.
~The color purple.
~Emmi's exclamation the other day that "Look Mommy! Two of my hairs went up when I bounced!" ( I told you her hair was short ;)...)
~Clementines.
 ~Lemons.

~Commentaries.
~Creative carrying systems, heeheehee...(he has the cup handle hooked to his shirt.)

~"Little Mother", reading to her babies...

~All that I have to be thankful for...
~And that I am caught up and finishing writing this post on Thursday!... Oh, wait. I am done writing it on Thursday... but it is 11:52 p.m. And I still have to edit it, add links, and pictures. Since there is still no way that you will read this on Thursday, as Friday comes in eight minutes... I'm going to go to bed and embellish it on Friday, when you may hopefully read it ;). I promise I was finished writing it on Thursday, though!

"Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, 

and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!"

                                                    ~Psalms 32:11

(And now here you really have it!)