Thanks Giving With a Grateful Heart

First of all, I am thankful for all of you who have stopped by with words of encouragement and advice. I am taking it all seriously. I am also thankful that I was able to help "nudge" a couple of you to join me in getting back on track with something you're dealing with.

My "thanks" list is long, and I have decided to limit it to one topic: my very large family, immediate and extended.

• DC - my sweet husband. We are celebrating our 34th Thanksgiving together - the first one being when we were engaged and getting married in about a month. He is kind, patient, handsome, loving, generous with his compliments and with special gifts. He didn't know what he was getting into when he married me! But he has gone with the flow in so many ways. We look forward to growing old together and all that entails. We have some good role models there.
• Kristen - beautiful, smart, a born mommy who wishes she could be at home all the time, overcomer of anorexia and other huge challenges and working on others, growing in the Lord.
• Mike, Kristen's husband - loving daddy, really great drummer in our new Praise Band at church (something I didn't know he could do so well), handsome, kind, learning about God's ways and His goodness.
• Kevin - survivor. If Satan had his way, he would not be alive today. We are looking forward to our first really good Thanksgiving with him in several years. He is handsome, strong, smart, clean and sober, serving the God who saved his life. He is great with kids and I pray that he will be a daddy one day, when God knows it is right.
• Angela - Kevin's wife - beautiful Kenyan young woman who has adapted to America amazingly, courageous and loyal in the face of great odds in her new marriage, organized, smart, excellent cook.
• Care Bear - funny, brilliant, creative, artistic. She makes me laugh every day. She loves life. She has her "moments" - don't we all??
• Feisty - she fits her blog name, but she is also petite, thoughtful, sweet, a perfectionist, a peacemaker. What would we do without Feisty?
• Anakin - handsome with dark eyes and hair, very bright, very very active, artistic, sensitive to God, struggling with issues of torn loyalty.
• Mom and Dad - great role models for a long and successful marriage (60 years), amazing parents who began so young and reared 5 children to love and serve the Lord, made living in the parsonage a privilege instead of a burden, still serving Him every day in their retirement.
• Mom C - the dearest MIL one could ask for, living with the loss of her sweetheart after 65 years and doing amazingly well, a servant heart (which I wrote about in an earlier post), pastor's wife for many years, raised her eldest son to be my wonderful husband. Dad C is in heaven since September 30 and I know he is having a wonderful time meeting all of his heroes of the faith.
• Siblings - my sis and I are only 11 months and two weeks apart in age - we are "twins" for two weeks every year and have enjoyed that all of our lives (except I always knew what I was going to get for my birthday, because everyone got us the same things), wonderful mother and grandma, teacher of ESL, generous, my best friend throughout our many moves as kids, and still today just 4 miles away and in the same church. Three great brothers who always hoped to outgrow me in height - they all did. They are all brilliant in their own fields - one in music, one in theology in England, and one in public relations. I could go on and on, but there is not room.
• Five wonderful sisters-in-law, all talented in their own ways; three brothers-in-law who have special spots in my heart. Our two families have become one in so many ways - we have celebrated many holidays with a mixture of both sides that the lines of family are very blurred, which has been a very nice way to live.
• Nieces and nephews - 17 of them and one in heaven - I don't see them enough, but they have all brought joy to my life. All but 6 of them are married and have adorable children, which leads me to --
• 22 great (or grand) nieces and nephews, with another one on the way. I said 14 in my last post, but that was only my side of the family. We are blessed with the most beautiful babies!
• My church family - what would I do without them? I have mentioned before that we were married, dedicated our children, saw our children married, and dedicated our grandchildren all in the same body of believers. (My dad actually built the sanctuary when he was the pastor here). We have been with this extended family through some very lean, tough times, and through some very wonderful times. They have stuck with us through our tough times and have literally prayed us through. We are so blessed.

Blessings on my new friends - all of you. You have added a dimension to my life that I never dreamed possible only 5 months ago.