Lots of thanksgiving...

I found out, via an article that someone posted on social media this morning, that I'm not a Christian because of who I voted for in the recent election. (How's that for bursting my bubble! LoL!)  As my husband and I watched the election results from a hotel room, so we could be near to the adult care home where my mother-in-law was nearing the end of her life, I naively thought the contention and strife of this election season would calm down once we had a new president elect.  Once I discovered that wasn't to be the case,  I should have just ignored social media, but felt compelled to both understand and to be understood by those who voted differently than me. I think it may have just made matters worse.  When my mother-in-law passed away there was another trip to my sister-in-law's to help make funeral plans, then there was the funeral, and in the midst of it all I caught a miserable case of the cold/flu.  So, other than a few posts I do for other websites, I've been mostly MIA here for a while.  

In spite of the, previously unknown to me if I hadn't read it on Facebook, precarious state of my soul, I have three weeks of gratitude journal posts to catch up on here.  These posts may be the most important thing I post on my blog, not for you, but for me.  In these seven years of gratitude journaling, life and death have happened, (two grandkids born, my mother's and my husband's mother's deaths).  There have been good times and difficult times, joys and sorrows.  Through it all, in counting my blessings and writing them down, I have seen God's daily faithfulness, His steadfast care of me, His great mercy.  Thanksgiving as a habitual lifestyle is life changing.

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Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)
#9110-#9178

10-31-16-

-the baby "dancing" on our youngest daughter's ultrasound

-colorful orange berries on green foliage

-a break in the rain for a dry walk

-the grandkids coming by for some trick or treat candy

-an answer to prayer

11-1-16-

-November-month of Thanksgiving!

-a refund on defective sheets from Costco

-the perfect warm and cozy sweater

-oh, so good split pea and ham soup

-our home group

11-2-16-

-feathery cirrus clouds

-sun glow through the trees

-on my walk, the old man at the park who sits in his scooter eating jalapeño flavored potato chips and drinking Mountain Dew and saying an excited "Hi!" to me when I walked by him on all four times around the loop

-the Cubbies won the world series, some happy news amid the election turmoil

11-3-16-

-early morning devotions and a walk before watching the grandgirls and their new pup for a few days

-going to the park with the three youngest grandkids

-the younger grandgirls and I meeting Papa at Hula Boy for dinner

11-4-16-

-a beautiful day for the grandgirls to go to the park again

-homemade bubble solution

-making homemade spaghetti and meatballs and homemade french bread together

-cuddling in bed and watching "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" with the grandgirls

11-5-16-

-the grandgirls playing nice together 

-making paper doll chains for the grandgirls to color

-our church leaders encouraging my husband re. his mom

11-6-16-

-a safe drive to meet my husband at his mom's

-youngest grandson being so good on the trip

-my hubs holding his mom's hand and stroking her face

-those who are carrying on for us at church while we are gone

11-7-16-

-an answered prayer

-the kind, caring hospice staff

-dinner at my sister-in-law's

11-8-16-

-a beautiful spring like day

-Election Day!

11-9-16-

-resting and having devotions at the hotel room while my hub's went to sit with his mom alone for a bit

-laughing with my sister-in-law even during this tough time

11-10-16-

-home

-this beautiful day and walk

-a great prayer meeting

11-11-16-

-breakfast out with a sweet family from church

-finding some great deals on Christmas gifts

-watching "The Crown" with my husband

11-12-16-

-encouragement

-a listening ear

-a quiet evening

11-13-16-

-my mother-in-law is experiencing the joy and wholeness of heaven after an eight year battle with Alzheimer's

-more baptisms at church

-lunch with our two youngest girls and their families

-driving back up to my sister-in-law's with my daughter

11-14-16-

-grieving, but not as those who have no hope

-dinner at my sister-in-law's with her family

11-15-16-

-the comfort of home

-quiet time in the Word

-our small group praying together

11-16-16-

-being able to stay home when I don't feel well

-writing time

-homemade chicken soup

11-17-16-

-God's daily provision

-the joy of being a part of a surprise blessing for someone else

-watching the first Christmas movie of the season

11-18-16-

-Friday!

-cup after cup of hot tea

-a dessert night with our church leaders

11-19-16-

-breakfast with my husband's siblings before the funeral

-those who drove a long ways to be at the service

-coming home and pulling out the Christmas decorations, because it was somehow comforting

11-20-16-

-our church-the comfort and blessing of being with our church family

-resting all afternoon

-the comfort of my husband next to me at night

still following,

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