Thankful Thursday, Weeks 88-90...ish...

 (In no way do I state that this post is in order or complete, haha. I have badly slipped in writing these posts in the past three months, obviously... I hate that some things that would have been such a joy to read through in a few years were lost, but I'm still thankful for all that follows... and so much more :)!)

~The surprise visit from Daddy's family last December, that never was blogged about, but was greatly enjoyed :D!
~Fun projects worked on with my family in preparation for Christmas.
~A house full of baking, one of my favorite things about Christmas!

~Little girls who think that candy canes in their hot cocoa are straws :)...

~Oh, and that the little nut wasn't hurt when she dared gravity last December...

~Abbi's froggies :)....

~Our Christmas spent enjoying together time, celebrating Christ's birth, and geo-caching.
~Oh, and our new GPS ;).
~Peter, the fourth Chipmunk, heeheehee :).
~Homemade graham crackers and marshmallows.

~Warm fires.
~Family traditions.
~ Sticky sweets :).

 ~Daddy and Mommy's God-honoring marriage :). They celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary this month :)...
~This post, by Bria Crawford at "Integrity of the Home", I found it very encouraging :).
~AND, the latest Hidden Treasures auction...  it made the title of "largest auction" by almost 100 items :)!!! So wonderful :)!
~Abbi's new haircut that she is so proud of, haha :). Love her :)...

 ~Peter toddling around with his "boy mainkie" :).

                                     

~That we had an offer made on our house... now, if it would just go through!
~Snowflakes melting into a perfect snowflake shaped droplet on my hand.
~Snow ice cream.
~The sight of snowflakes falling outside the window.
~Peter's delight in making snowmen. That was so sweet :)... I didn't think that an eighteen month old could get so into it :)! He helped roll the biggest ball for the biggest snowman (Oh, he was so cute trying to moving that heavy thing while not getting too much snow on himself ;)!), and then he asked to make another :)... Than Emmi wanted another to make a whole family :).

~The promise that we will be washed whiter than snow by the Lord.
~Baby yarn to work on little Seaweed's blanket :). (Speed is needed... I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... can anyone give me suggestions on non-repetitive children's reading material? Haha ;). Tori says "How to make a children's book in ten seconds: throw random words down. Repeat random words x 10. Publish.". Haha! ;) ). I've knit about fourteen inches ... actually, this may go faster than I thought. Kind of scares me. Haha!
~New knitting needles.
~And tips from other knitters :). Do you know how many kinks circular needles are in after coming out of the package? Soak in hot water before knitting, and /or bend in various ways for a couple minutes - tada! Nice and flexibly again :)! By the way, the combination of a snow day and the aforementioned yarn and needles make for a very pleasant day to knit :).
~"The American Heritage" dvd set. These are sooo interesting :)!
~Being able to study and dig into the book of Mark with my sister and some friends. Our first month was such a blessing, and now we're in the second :)! I wish I had made memorizing more of a priority this month, but even so, it has been wonderful :).
~Matthew Henry's commentary on the bible. 
~Study resources and tips of all kinds :).
~The beautiful journal I received for my birthday, that I am copying Mark into :). It makes it that much more enjoyable :)...
~The debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham earlier this month. I have heard several stories about how the Lord is using this to make him know!
~That Barton has a family :).
~Some beads I found mixed in with some stuff I was organizing... I wanted some purple ones to make a hairpin, since quite a few of my outfits happen to have purple on them, and I almost picked some up at Hobby Lobby while we were there a several weeks ago, but I decided to wait. I was cleaning about a week later, and found a necklace that I forgot I had, haha. It was one that "clasped" closed with magnets, unfortunately not very strong magnets, because the first time I wore it, it fell undone. I didn't want to wear it until I got a real clasp on it, but I never remembered to pick one up, so it has sat in a corner for a couple years waiting for me to figure out how to fix, not only the clasp, but the fact that it was unsymmetrical after a fourth of the beads broke when it hit the floor (wearing it lop-sided would have driven me insane, haha ;).). After I found it, I realized that it would make a great hairpin, and I was able to get a bracelet to go with it, too.
~Pink roses.
~Dark green leaves.
~The scent of flowers.
~Our parent's guidance as we follow the Lord's will for our lives.
~Mommy's blog. She was going through doing some "clean up" on it this week... and oh! some of the stories we had forgotten, haha! It was hilarious, all of us laughing at our lives like we had never lived the stories, haha :).
~That Penny and Julia are home.
~Menus.
~A full pantry.
~Newly organized bookshelves, and all the others projects Mommy has been doing lately to make this house even more of a home.
~God's grace in giving us the ability to create :).
~Dough hooks. Now I can't wait for our replacement hook to get here... since the metal one we owned shattered while kneading bread dough (?!!!).
~Raindrops falling into the "creek" in our back yard.
~Getting to do the little girl's hair :).
~And their love to let me do so :)...
~That Mommy was able to get her area rug for her room :).
~And paint-free door knobs, heehee!
~A cup full of sharpened pencils with new erasers.
~Finishing a project this week that I have been working on for... too long.... Haha ;).
~Matching my sisters :).
~Sisters who routinely write in my blog posts... if you ever see anything random in them , it may not be mine. It may be the work of Tori or Bethi that I missed while editing. (Yes Tori, I am thankful for Rainbows and Cats. But I have not been around either for several months, so there is no reason that that should make it into this post. Heehee :).)
~Doing completely random, fun things with my siblings.
~Sharing Sarah Maxwell's Moody books with Bethi, Andrew, and especially Abbi and Emmi, who don't remember them. Even if we are all eager to finish the seventh one... because Abbi and Emmi have to hear that one before they can listen to the 8th, haha :). Mommy and Tori are trying to wait patiently for us to finish, haha! I'm a bit ready to be done myself, heehee.
~A box full of cards.
~The hymn "Take My Life and Let it Be".
~A box full of goodies from Gramma for the whole family.
~The fun of wondering whether little Seaweed is a little sister or brother :).
~Looking forward to finding out fairly soon! Six more weeks at the *longest*, surely!
~Blessings uncountable!

"Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,

and give thanks to his holy name!"

                                           ~Psalm 97:12