86, 400 Seconds, 1440 Minutes, 24 Hours=One Thankful Thursday

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say "thank you?"
~William A. Ward

I'm CHOOSING to thank God today for all the wonderful gifts in my life.  I'm CHOOSING to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel the fullness of where I am right now, not missing even the smallest blessing that flows from His hand.  I'm CHOOSING to be JOYFUL on the JOURNEY!!!! 

We all have only 1 life to live.  Do the math!  How many seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years are behind you?  What's possibly ahead?  How will we invest them?  

91.  I am thankful for getting to hug the neck of my friend Beth and her three sweet daughters.  Oh, how cute she's looking preggo with her first little boy!!!!  The hug and a few minutes of face to face, in the same room, able to hug each other conversation will carry me for a few months at least.  :)

92.  I am thankful for friends around the country who are passionate about sharing the Gospel, reaching people for Christ, going into places that others aren't going, doing church in ways that others aren't doing it to reach those who aren't being reached.   I am thankful for Tiffany and Jeremy in Florida, Buck and Beth in Wisconsin, Shawn and Brooke in Missouri/Arkansas. . .  Thanking God for their passion, love, commitment, sacrifice, example, perseverance, faith, . . .

93.  I am thankful for VACATION!!!!  While I do like the routine, the consistency, the familiarity of our life, I'm always thankful for the interruption of a VACATION!!!  I am thankful for the time to enjoy making memories with my husband and daughters, to focus on nothing but their laughter, their smiles, their pure enjoyment of life. 

94.  I am thankful for our adoption caseworker, Kelli.  She is so kind and considerate as she walks us through each step of this roller coaster of a journey.  She's reassuring; she's committed to the Biblical concept of adoption; she's conscientious and does her job well.  We're thankful to have her in our life.

95.  I am thankful for a God who sees the bigger picture when I only see the here and now. 

96.  I'm thankful for friends who remind me that God is always working on our behalf and that the fulfillment of promises may not come quickly but they will come perfectly.

97.  I'm thankful for accountability.  I'm thankful for friends who love me enough to want to see me stay the course, finish well, and enjoy the journey along the way. 

98.  I am thankful for the promise of summer break!!  Our co-op is already finished and we only have a couple weeks of home instruction left.  WooHoo!!!!  Bring on the summer fun!!! 

99.  I am thankful for time spent with some wonderful ladies at Morning Pointe.  I'm thankful for seeing those ladies love on my girls and for seeing my girls love on those ladies.  WHAT A BLESSING!!!!!

100.  I'm thankful for a mom and dad who loves their family with such love and devotion that it amazes me.  I'm thankful that they would go to whatever lengths necessary to make sure we are okay.  I'm thankful that they taught me you don't have to "be rich" to "be rich".  I'm rich in soooo many ways because of the commitment they made to each other and to our family a long time ago and they have stayed that course!!!  Thanks be to God!!! Thanks to a great Mom and Dad!!!!

101.  I am so thankful for my six year old prayer warrior.  If she tells you she will pray for you, then you can know with certainty that you're name is being called out to the Father.  She humbles me as I listen to her prayer, reminding me that Christ really did say, "You have not because you ask not."  I am thankful for the compassion and concern I see in her life for those she knows are suffering. 

102.  I am thankful for how my ten year old got to witness firsthand this week that God sometimes just surprises us!!!  He will send us an unexpected blessing, something that He knows will thrill our heart.  He knows His children, He knows the desires of our hearts, and He wants to give us good gifts!!!  Thankful for sweet friends who allowed God to use them to bless her with what was probably the highlight of her year--a trip to hear her favorite Christian artist, Francesca Battistelli!!!!   She was oh so thankful!!!  She couldn't stop smiling--literally! 

Sometimes God really does just send us little blessings, doesn't He?  Sometimes???  I think He does this much more often than any of us realize.  Are we looking?