Thankful Thursday, Week 158

This past week has been such a blessing! There have been lots of big and little instances that I have just loved... things like....

~One of the ladies from church offering to pick me up to take me to a church event this last week. Daddy had the big van, so Mama couldn't go, but I was able to go thanks to this sweet lady's taking time out of her day to swing by the house before heading there, and I enjoyed the chance to help out and fellowship :). I am so thankful for our church and church family! Lots of blessings there, too :).
~The book "It's (not that) Complicated". I mention it to others a lot even now, but it had actually been years since I had read it! I decided about February that it would be a good idea to re-read it, and just days later I saw that the bloggers of "Joyfully His" were doing a series through the book (which has been great fun, and you might want to check out the posts even if you don't have the book, might I add). So I've been going back through the book as they post their thoughts on it, and it's been a great blessing!
~Romans 12. If you have been reading here for any length of time, you have probably heard me mention that Romans is my favorite book of the bible, and you've probably heard me mention Romans 12:12 a couple times as one of my favorite verses. I made it a goal to memorize chapter 12 this month, and I have quickly realized it is probably going to be known from here on out as my life chapter. Even reading through the book of Romans over fifty times now, I had just barely scratched the surface of Romans 12, as I quickly discovered as I started memorizing it! But it is so full of sentences that really make me stop and think about things like, "How could I "contribute to the needs of the saints"?", or "Am I really living, so far as depends on me, peaceably with all? Is my love genuine, and do I abhor what is evil while holding fast to what is good? And when I am doing these things, am I realizing that it is through the grace given by God to use?" It's just a very thought-provoking chapter to me!
~"Parties" held on my bed every night. I love sitting down with a host of little people to read books together... even if it's the same one that we read the night before.... and the night before that... and... haha :). Every once in a while I go through a phrase where I just feel like I "don't have time" to do this every night, but eventually something (usually Emmi, haha :)....) gets a hold of me, and I realize juts how much I miss it :).
~Getting Hidden Treasures auction items ready to be mailed with Abbi and Emmi and Bethi. They did most of the work themselves, including writing little thank you notes for the donors, and I was so excited to get the two little girls involved this time! It was sweet to have them working on that, and excited about it!
~Being able to help Daddy. This a blessing due to both being homeschooled, and his having the heart to train his children rather than take the "short way out".
~Running into our pastor's wife and another lady from our church at a conference we went to last week, which was a fun surprise :).
~Josiah's sweet little self enjoying the swing on Monday. He almost fell asleep I do believe, haha! He just sat there for the longest time... and he barely sits down to eat (seriously, the best way to get him to eat, say, oatmeal, is to let him walk around the room in between bites. It is so weird, hahaha!), let alone for no reason, so that is big ;).
~Pansies! Our past yards have been full of pansies for as long as I can remember, but this yard is not exactly one we can do much with, especially since we don't know how long we'll be here. But Mama found a pansy plant that she fell in love with several weeks ago, and it is now gracing our deck :). It feels like another bit of "normal" has been added back to daily life... It's amazing how something so small can seem so big when you didn't even realize you missed it!
~And, on that note, daffodils, and all the other sunshin-y things that come with spring :). I love fall best, but after winter, I get so excited about the sun coming out and brightening everything up, and the flowers coming up, and everything turning green :).
~Being able to read and write. As Tori was looking on Pinterest the other day I saw a quote, something to the effect of, 'A man needs to know only one thing: how to get to the local library.' But really, I've rekindled a drive to read this past month, haha, and I was so excited to pick up a pen and write for no reason the other day. And all this may partially explain my post the other day, heehee :)...
~Getting to run to Hobby Lobby with Mama yesterday morning. As a side note, who else has a strange obsession with paper? I used to be able pass it up with a "Oh, that's pretty!". Now... I quill. And every piece of paper can be the background of SOMETHING. Sometime. When I figure out what that something is. Hahaha!
 ~The little things that we so often overlook. A gift from a neighbor, a phone call from a friend, new skills that others are blessing us through, a bird right outside the window, dogwood trees in bloom, and words of encouragement from others... I am so blessed!