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!)

Spring time...

I love spring time! I don't know that it is my favorite season... it is until another comes :). Fall and spring may be just a little tiny bit above summer and winter, but that may change once we live somewhere were the summer is cooler and the winter has some snow... and I never can really make up my mind anyway. But I do love spring regardless :). 

There are a (few ;)...) cool days. The grass starts turning green again (hey, I like mowing, too :). I'm just not sure if I will like it as much without Daddy to troubleshoot the mower, heehee :)...).  I love gardening. watering, and weeding. I love watching the flowers open, taking the little ones outside to play more often then in the winter months, finding the first butterfly of the year, and taking our first spring trip to the zoo, when we go all out and visit the Riverbanks gardens, too :) (that will be one of the things that we'll have to find a substitute for in Virginia!). I like drying flowers, to use for cards or trade with a friend :). I just really enjoy spring :).

We put in a new pansy garden down by the fence a couple weeks ago. Daddy told us to how to lay them out, and then let us older three girls go at it while he and Andrew grilled some hamburgers :). We had so much fun, and I think it looks pretty with the fence that we worked so long on last summer. That fence was on our list of improvements to make since we moved in three years ago. We finished it just in time to learn we were moving, haha :).

Tori and I put in the leftover pansy plants in the garden by the porch a few days later. Daddy had given us some pointers on how to lay this one out, but couldn't really tell us exactly how to place them, as there were some dead plants that needed to come out before we could really arrange it. I hope he likes it... (I hate making decisions about another person's property :P.)

We won't be doing too much gardening this year, since we're hoping we won't be here for much longer, but we'll still be able to do many of the other outdoors activities that we love so much, that we are greatly looking forward to doing soon... because it's spring :)! The pansies haven't died yet (oh, did I mention that was a worry of mine? Haha... can you tell I've never planted a garden from start to finish without Daddy before ;)?), new plants (okay... weeds) are coming up in the yard, the daffodils (one of my two favorite spring time flowers, the other being jasmine) bloomed a couple weeks ago, Tori saw a bunny the other day (so begins her summer ritual of calling me from the kitchen or library at about four o'clock in the afternoon "Bri! Get your shoes on! I see about four rabbits! You go out the back, I'll go out the front.". For background, Daddy told her if she ever caught a bunny, we could have a pet bunny. Heeheehee ;)...)...

They are easier to draw then get pictures of, haha.

Maybe I should gift wrap this for Tori ;).

Have a happy spring!

Would you believe it?!!! Thankful *Thursday*!

This week I'm thankful for...

~Nature!...
~Clouds.
~Sunrises and sunsets (I mean, the earth's revolving ;)...).
~Butterflies...

~...and dragonflies.
~Our butterfly bush :),
~Which attracted a Spinx moth! (Tori came in the other day "I saw a REALLY small hummingbird, about an inch long!" Daddy went out a couple days later and came back with a picture, it turned out to be the moth!)
~Hearing Abbi and Emmi cooing over Peter.
~Hearing Andrew proudly telling Peter that they are going to have some "brother time" :).
(And did I ever mention that Emmi (2) finally has enough hair to put up in the hair-do Bethi wore at five months, heehee :)?)

Interesting side note- when Bethi first wore her hair like this, 

Tori (4 then) was TERRIFIED!!! Bethi looked far to much 

like an Indian for Tori, which is really funny, because Tori 

didn't have a problem with Indians,  haha. But she was 

sure that looking like that was awful for Bethi!

~Sewing parties.
~Old samplers...
~...and new samplers.

 Mommy's sampler that she made when eight is on top. 

Tori and I are working on some like it now :).

~Read-aloud books.
~A piano instruction DVD that I am finally starting to use, haha :)...
~Learning new things with my siblings.
~Family devotions :)!!!
~Hearing Emmi *sing the catechism* out of a hymn book at church :).
~And the ability to bake... time to make some muffins for lunch!

"I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High."

~Psalm 7:17

Thankful Thursday...

This week, I'm thankful for....
~Apples.

~Birds.

~Trees.

~Dandelions (the white and yellow dandelions, contrary to the beliefs of a couple of girls I know, haha, are the same flowers... I think that everybody knows that now! In fact, I don't think they mentioned it until they had figured it out, but it was still funny ;)!)
~Horses. (We pass a couple on our way to church :).)
~Watermelons- our garden (I mean, our compost heap, lol...) grew some watermelons, free of work, for us this year ;). For a bit more of our "hands-off", accidental gardening skills ;), you can read this post from last year.
~Cantaloupe (read above statement ;)!).
~Gardens.
~Red tomatoes. I was amazed the other day at the grocery store. Even in a man-made building, the beauty God has made can still be displayed. Tori and I were talking about how beautiful the big pile of ripe, red tomatoes were, I thought it was neat :).
~Yellow flowers on
~Green vines.
~Reading new books I have wanted to read for years (and having them live up to my expectations!)
~Reading others thankful thoughts!
~Peach jam (made from free peaches!).
~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.

~Getting to babysit :).
~Cradles...
~...Turned horses.
~Bears.
~And little grinning girls who are just so cute, even when "riding" the cradle ;)!

(Give Thanks...)

17 to him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever; 18 and killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever; 19 Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever; 20 and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever; 21 and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever; 22 a heritage to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.

~Psalm 136:17-22

Artisphere!

On the 12th of May, my Aunts and Grandma came over- Grandma to visit with Mommy and spend some time with the little ones, and Aunt Tessa and Aunt Amber to take Tori and I to Greenville :)! They had asked Mommy if they could take us to the Artisphere up there, and then have lunch in the park, go to the gem store, and stop at Starbucks. (Three of us had dressed for the occasion with very "Artistic" skirts (reds, oranges, yellows, etc. ;)), that made quite the picture when all three were put together ;), and one of us, thankfully, dressed a bit less colorfully to blend us all together better, haha ;).)
Our drive up there was exciting- Aunt Amber was glad to hear that her cat was healthy, we talked and laughed a ton (it was so fun!), and we made a detour (to find some place to stop and get out of the car- there were extra cookies calling in the trunk, they just couldn't go to waste!).
We arrived at Greenville, parked, made our plans as to how to go about doing all that we wanted so that we would get back to the house by 5:30, and headed out. It was so fun! We got to see one artistic blowing glass, we got to use some beautiful kaleidoscopes (the real ones are much prettier than the little children's one we used to have!), we got to see woodwork, and lots of photography and hand drawn/painted/etc. pictures. One artist has worked at making pictures that move- you walk past the horse, and it will gallop, the sunflower can either have a butterfly or not, the scene can either be winter or summer. Several artists will take maps and draw on them, which was really interesting, and several more did something I'd never seen before (and don't remember what it was called...), but basically they took bits of colored paper and cut out shapes, then in a show case they would make the whole scene, never drawing, just building the whole scene out of little bits of paper, cut into grass, trees, flowers, whatever. I think it would be fun :)! We also got to see the "drumming statue". They had several people dressed and painted as statues (they looked extremely realistic), it was kind of neat, I don't know how many people must have jumped after sitting beside a "statue" though ;). The drumming "statue" would play on her drum if you put a dollar in her bucket.
We got one side of the street done before everybody got too hungry, and then headed back to the car to get lunch. We got back out of the parking garage, turned right around and went back up the seven levels because someone (name not given to protect the three who did not remember...) remembered the hot dogs- thankfully before we got all the way to the park!
The park was beautiful! We ate a delicious lunch by the brook, and the water sounded lovely! Tori had fun wading in the water :). There was a beautiful gate down one of the walks there, but we're not sure what the little room like thing behind it was used for, although some of us had some ideas :)...
There were ducks and swans in the water, and Aunt Amber took us on the bridge, which was fun, if you kept walking. The bridge does swing, but so slightly that you didn't notice it unless you stood still. When you were still it was a bit disturbing!
By this time it was about 3:00. We were running low on time, so we hurried down the other side of the street of the Artisphere, and then headed to the gem store. Tori had a blast!!! It was beautiful in there, and Tori is a rock lover by nature, so she could have spent all day in there! I think everybody bought some rock something except Aunt Tessa, who was, at that time, on the phone thanking Mommy for giving us more time, as it was already almost five and we hadn't started home ;)!
After buying our rock magnets, rock jewelry and... rocks ;), we ran through Mast's General store to pick up a paper telling about the little statue mice hidden all over main street, as Tori wanted to know the names of the mice we had found. Then we headed to the car, examined the view from that high up, wisely kept the keys with us instead of dropping them seven floors down onto the road ;), got in the car and headed to Starbucks, where we ordered our drinks, called to inform all at the house that we were on our way home and were not stopping again, after which we got in the car for the final time at about 5:30 ;). Aunt Tessa joked after she finished her drink that we should go get another, but she had said we were not stopping. Tori suggested going through the drive through, haha ;)!
We had such a wonderful time! Thanks, Aunt Tessa and Aunt Amber, for inviting us along!!!!
*(For those of you who love to have pictures of everything when there is a post about an outing - even your shoes ;)- especially when it shows God's "Things of Beauty"- I'm apologizing for not having any pictures on this post. I forgot my camera again. It was so pretty at the park, too... I'll remember to take it one of these times (watch, then I'll forget that I even have it, haha!).)
** And due to Tori's reaction as she walked into the room as I scrolled through this post, I think I would also apologize for being so long winded in the post, but that would make it longer, haha ;)! Sorry! And I didn't even go into too much detail you all... that was just the skeleton version with a few embellishments...