Thankful Thursday Thirteen

Rather than sitting quietly and having disciplined daily prayer time, I'm more of a scattered pattern pray-er. I'll shoot up a prayer here and in an hour I'll shoot up another prayer there. I shoot a few more up later in the day here, there and yonder. My prayers are probably about 50/50 - "Thank you God" and "Please Gimme Gimme." I don't think my Gimme's are too bad - not like I'm asking for riches or fame, just continued health and safety for my husband, my kids, and myself and of course a quick sale of this house because I dislike being in limbo. Today I thought I'd join so many other bloggers and start my own Thankful Thursday list because I really do have so much that I am thankful to God for.

I thank God for:

1. healthy, happy, strong, loving children
2. a husband who loves me, supports me, shows me daily how much I mean to him and how much he needs me, who is smart, loving, funny, sexy, and my best friend - I thank God for crossing our paths and leading me to him
3. parents who have always been loving, encouraging and supportive, who have been a wonderful example for me to watch and learn from (as parents, as husband/wife)
4. a wonderful sister who I'm so grateful to also call my friend, always there for me, understanding, loving, encouraging, supportive
5. wonderful in-laws - my mother-in-law who is so loving, giving, and always so happy to see you; my father-in-law and step-mother-in-law who are the most wonderful spiritual examples and teachers (I want to have their faith and love for God), and they're so much fun to be around
6. my grandparents who are so sweet and loving, full of stories and memories, never a cross word, always so thoughtful, a wonderful example of a long-lasting, loving marriage of 60-some-odd years, still so sweet sitting together on the couch side-by-side (close together too, not far apart), taking care of each other in love
7. my health and the health of my family (physically, mentally, spiritually)
8. my God, who, as hard as it is to imagine, loves me even more than I love my own children (and I could just eat them up!), who has blessed me over and over and over again
9. my faith in God, which as much as it needs to grow, has helped me through tough times - thankfully my faith turned me toward God when we lost our daughter Jessica, rather than allowing me to turn away in pain
10. our financial position - God has blessed us financially and is allowing us the freedom to try to sell our house for a larger one closer to John's work, to make the necessary repairs and upgrades to this one, to replace the broken digital camera without hesitation when it breaks so that we don't have to miss any priceless moments, to feel free from stress, strain, worry over bills or debts
11. the extra $10 that I found in my pocket today after praying that God would send me some extra cash, to send one of those little paychecks from the church or something since I used all my cash yard saling last weekend and can't dip into my checking account right now
12. I'm thankful for how much Jared and Abigail LOVE Rachel. It totally stresses me out when all three are trying to play in the same room because Jared and Abigail are constantly smothering Rachel and fighting with each other over who gets to play with her. I usually have to pick Rachel up to "save" her from her brother and sister. But it's just so wonderful that the stress is because they ADORE her so much. They want to play with her, make her smile and laugh, feed her, "help" her (more like drag her).
13. those sweet times when I can just sit back and watch the "show" and listen as the imagination flows from Jared and Abigail as they play together.

I could go on all night but I'll leave it at thirteen (only because it starts with 'th') :)