Thankful Thursday, 07/30/15

So I've just realized it's been a good six weeks since I even considered doing a Thankful Thursday post -or any actual blogging, for that matter. That does not seem possible! I have several post ideas in mind, but we'll have to see if I can manage my time well enough to get around to them! First, though, I want to share some of the awesome things that we have been up to the past month, and then my thankful list for today :).

Early last month, we gave our room a complete redecorating, which included Mama spray painting furniture for hours (upon hours) for us. It turned out sooo cute, and I am so glad that that is finally done :).

And then, we had a WONDERFUL visit from some WONDERFUL people!!! Mama made a friend at her church when she was a teenager, and kept in touch with her off and on through the years. This friend has eight children, and the oldest, Katie, has been my best friend and accountability partner for several years. BUT, we had never actually met in person! It finally worked out that she was able to fly down here with her younger sister, Danielle, and we had such an awesome time! We were able to go to Jamestown and go blueberry picking while they were here, which was fun :). The little boys had never been blueberry picking before, but both of them were picking like old pros by the time we left- Josiah was adorable! The whole week was wonderful, and Katie and Danielle are so precious :). It was sad to send them back home, haha!

We were able to go to Yorktown a few days later. We got to see the Moore house, the battlegrounds, Bacon street... haha ;)... and we walked down to a Ben and Jerry's shop! It was a really nice day... my favorite part, though, may have been carrying Peter back to the car. Man, that little guy was chatty and goofy that evening, haha! It was hilarious!

Soon after that, we all packed up and headed down to SC :)! We got to see our family down there, and they had lots of fun planned into the week. Grandpa took us geocaching, Aunt Tessa and Aunt Amber took us to some art galleries, and Grandma got a kit to make beeswax candles that we enjoyed making up, and we also got to spend one night at Gramma's, as well :). We stopped in to see some dear friends on the way home... and, as has often happened before, their older girls "decided" to see if they could "trick Daddy into driving off with them". I followed along in good fun, because it's never worked before... When it appeared to be working, I started panicking, haha, and earned myself the title of traitor ;), before finding out that it had all been discussed between our parents beforehand, and they were actually coming home with us for a few days! We had a great time :). We  held a couple hymn-singings, which was delightful :). We also got to watch the new movie "Alone Yet Not Alone", and I've been singing that song ever since... I need to either quit it or learn the whole thing, haha! I'm starting to drive myself nuts singing only half of it ;).

It was wonderful to get to visit with so many of our loved ones :). Now we are getting back into the swing of school, and I am trying to knock some stuff off of my two-year-old to-do list :P... I FINALLY got a box of papers cleaned out yesterday! Now I have another one to do today... haha :). I save too much...

And that's the very short version of all that has been going on. If I had been a consistent blogger, you would have got more detail as it happened, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be one of my strong points when I have stuff that would make interesting blog posts, haha ;). But I think now I am going to share some of the things that I am thankful for this week, and then I'm going to go get busy :).

So, this week I am thankful for...

~The book of James, which we just finished up a study on.
~The smile of pleasure and satisfaction the older gentleman at church gave me as he handed me tomoatoes grown from his own garden :).
~People who are willing to put aside their time to give to others.
~Tori's encouragement to keep practicing at learning piano chords. Despite her laughing at me, she does seem to be tolerating my terribly faulty notes better than I had hoped when I first looked up to see her sorrowfully staring at me in disbelief the first day I sat down at the piano. It had been four years, I think, since I actually attempted any piano playing, hahaha...
~An encouraging phone call from a friend just when I needed it.
~Hugs.
~Making fresh bread.
~Randomly singing dramatic nothings with Tori... and then Bethi enters in with a totally exaggerated squawk for humorous affect, and nobody can sing anymore because we're laughing so hard, haha.
~Josiah's calling for me... melted my heart! He is such a precious little guy <3.
~Blueberry crisp.
~That it looks like the sun will be out today! It has been rainy here the past few days, and though I love a nice, quiet, drizzly day, several in a row makes my motivation go out the window -I can't function in the dark!
~Mornings complete with bible study, coffee, cleaning up, breakfast, blogging, practical conversations with Peter, and not knowing whether to laugh or think "that was obvious" at all of the puns Tori is reading off to me, haha. And Peter is sitting across from me at this moment with such cute bedhead, haha.

I hope each of you have a great day and a blessed week :)!!!