I am thankful for my car! My sweet hubby researched it, found it, negotiated it, and brought it home for the girls and me to drive around it.
After not having a car of my own for awhile, I extra appreciate having this awesome ride. We all can fit in this car (3rd row seat) and we love riding in style!
I am so thankful for the gift of music. I am thankful I get to use my voice to worship the Lord. It is such a blessing for me to sing along with the saints at our house church. I spent a lot of years working on my voice for selfish reasons. God used that and now I get to lead worship for His glory.
I am thankful for our pets, Oreo and Socks. Kind of 🙂 Oreo hisses at me less often these days. Socks seems to appreciate the extra pets I’ve given her. Both of our cats are so shy, but they love Giana. She is the one who gives them treats!
I am also thankful for the fact that we had the fish and Hawk for so much of the year. I am also thankful we had such a smooth transition with both of them. The fish, to their new home and doting owner. Â Hawk, well, we got to say goodbye to him on our bed, his favorite napping place, as the vet helped him go peacefully.
Our church, The Rock, is a huge thing to be thankful for. Ever since the day I saw the billboard that said “Want God, Not Religion?” I knew I found my church home. I walked in the first time and loved it. I loved the music, the people I met, the message. That was more than six years ago and I have never stopped attending the Friday night services.
When I told my co-worker about the church I went to instead of going to happy hour on Fridays, he was interested and asked if he could check it out with me. Rafael did check it out and the rest is history!
I am thankful for my brother, Michael. I am such an old lady compared to him – I was 12 1/2 when he was born, which means I was starting high school when he was starting kindergarten, and I left for college before he was even done with elementary school. It’s hard to think about how much of his life I have missed. He has been through a lot in his life that he is still working through. I am confident he will come out on top.
Michael is mechanical smart. He can do awesome things that it would take other people many years of training to learn. He found a great activity to channel his energy into – racing! He’s so humble that he hates bragging about this, so I will: He was NATIONAL runner-up for rookie of the year in the sport compact division. For real! I got to see him get his first win of the season and I was so proud. He went on to get so many more that he’s got more trophies than he knows what to do with! I am thankful for him and looking forward to see how he uses his gifts and talents in a positive way.
I am so thankful for our date night group! Every Wednesday, we share babysitting duties with four other couples. Our kids range in age from 3 months up to 6 years. The kids do great together and love playing at each others houses. Each week someone when couple takes a turn watching all the other couples children. For two and a half hours, the other couples are free to go out on a date, reconnect, or just hang out. At 8 o’clock they come pick up the kids and date night is over.
This has been such a blessing to us, both to have trusted babysitters and to have a reason to go out and have a date once a week. I’m so thankful for this group and I highly recommend forming a group of your own if you don’t have one already!
We had all the kids tonight. On the floor? Every. Single. Toy. I love it!
I am so thankful for my sweet sister Jennifer! She is one of the most genuinely nice people on the planet. She is generous, empathetic, and very pretty to boot!
Jennifer is a pretty hard name for little ones to say, so her nickname is just Aunt. The one…the only….AUNT! Giana gets so excited when we talk about aunt (along with aunt’s best friends, Uncle Mike and Champion!).
The girls absolutely cherish their time with aunt. She treats them with so much love. I am thankful for my time with her for my time with her too!
I’m very thankful for my sister Beth. Since we are close in age, we didn’t always get along when we competed against each other in high school. But throughout the years, and throughout having kids, we have bonded over many things. Especially those kids! I’m very thankful for how generous Beth is. She works very hard to find beautiful clothes for her children for reasonable prices – something I do not always have the patience to do! She generously shares of those clothes with me and my girls, giving us totes upon totes of wonderful outfits for my daughters.
I really don’t have words to say how much I appreciate her generosity. As you can tell from the picture, Giana loves it too! She puts together all sorts of outfits with Lily’s fashion 🙂 Beth and I don’t get to hang out as much as we would like, but we always have a wonderful time when we’re together so that’s lots of – very loud – laughter!
I am thankful for my small group through The Rock church. I look forward to seeing them every Sunday night. We share joy, tears, prayers, hopes, disappointments and excitement. I have been with many of the same people since I moved to Minneapolis and started going to The Rock six years ago. In fact, the couple leading our group this year were both at the very first small group I ever attended! Our small group is truly 0ur family here.
Our small group this year is reading through the Francis Chan book Crazy Love. I recently read this book for the first time with Cass, and now I’m getting even more out of it the second time around. It is so good to hear the perspectives of others and how God is working in their lives. We share verses and specific examples with each other.
In all honesty, I usually leave small group very humbled by the people I get to share life with. I am in awe of the way some are able to quickly recall specific Bible verses; the way others are stirred to prayer; and the way many share their testimonies with clear conviction. But mostly, I leave small group thankful, because I know that God is using those people in my life to help me in my relationship with the Lord. Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”
I am thankful for my friend, Beth, and her family tonight. Beth is my good friend from high school. We were co-captains together in high school, and Beth saved my butt once or twice when I needed her. She helped me out again when I needed a place to stay after my first year of college. She took me in and drove me around.
Throughout the years we have known each other, Beth has always been there for me. She is honestly the most loyal friend I have ever known. She makes sure we stay in touch, even when life gets in the way. She remembers everything for us, from special occasions to obscure events that make me laugh when she reminds me. Beth is the best kind of friend any girl can ask for.
Even better, now that we are old and turning gray, our families have fun together too. Our husbands talk guns and beer. Our kids can play and play and play. Giana had fun playing dolls with Cadie, playing trucks with Jason, and hugging Nathan every chance she got! I love camping with the Wolfs and watching our kids grow up together. I am so thankful for this life-long friend!
