Thirty Thankful Things

It is still November for a few more hours. All month I have been seeing people's blog posts and facebook updates about the things they are thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving. Well, Thanksgiving Day has come and gone (a blog post in itself) and I still haven't taken time to really think about things I am truly thankful for. I started to earlier tonight but was in a REALLY bad mood and was just going to scrap the whole thing. Then I remembered, "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you..." and thought perhaps I should still do it.

I am thankful for:
1. My family, especially when we are all in the same country.
2. My supportive, encouraging, good-listening Mom.
3. Abigail Jordan
3. That Abbey is smart and sweet and funny
4. Abbey's school and her wonderful teacher
5. Sister hugs
6. Being able to have kids
7. The opportunity to stay at home with my kids
8. Mommy friends
9. Military MOPS
10. The chance to serve on the steering team for MOPS
11. Chad and how we laugh together
12. Chad's job and how it enables him to do what he loves- play music
13. That his job also takes care of our family
14. Fun memories from Japan
15. Lessons learned from living in another country
16. Friends around the world and across the US
17. Staying connected to friends with e-mail and blogs and facebook
18. Friends from middle school, high school and youth group who have known me forever but still like me
19. Elliott Delaney
20. That Elliott is "Tenacious E"
21. Healthy children
22. Abbey's and Elliott's friends
23. Our house
24. Living in a safe, quiet neighborhood
25. Playing in the backyard
26. Children's music that is actually enjoyable
27. That my kids still want to play with me
28. That my husband would rather be home with us than anywhere else
29. Going to do fun things as a family but also doing nothing as a family
30. Being close enough to visit family

Okay, now it is really almost December. Hopefully I can keep some of these things in mind as Christmas gets closer and it is so easy to just think about things like rearranging all the ornaments on the Christmas tree after the kids go to bed... not that I would ever do that...