1,000 Gifts

My friend Ann V. is making a list of 1,000 thanksgivings this month! She is encouraging those of us on the Christian Women Online blogroll to celebrate this month of thankfulness with her by creating our own lists of gifts.

I had intended to begin on Thursday--since I've been trying to focus on being thankful on Thursday--but got sidetracked this week.

Maybe it's because Blondechick 13.9 and I have been getting ready for her Big Birthday Bash and Sleepover, which was--is--tonight! (Her birthday is still 1.5 weeks away.)

The boys have gone home and the girl-talk has begun.

As the moments slip down the hour glass of time, I am scratching down the gifts--just as they happen, as they arrive, as they are unwrapped--that He has given that make my life grace, the daily graces that He gives in an infinite number of ways, that stir me. (Read Ann's whole post here.)

So I will begin with those gifts that happened, that arrived, that were unwrapped this evening:

1) A beautiful, golden-haired daughter who loves the Lord and is fun to be with.

2) Her group of friends--girls and guys-- who also love the Lord and having fun.

3) Their energy!

4) Their laughter.

5) The way they good-naturedly include my younger kids in their fun.

6) Bitty Bantam showing off his belly button to everyone.

7) Chicklet4 in her ballerina tutu flitting like a butterfly from one teenage girl's lap to the next.

8) Bantam7 and Bantam11 hanging out with the big boys.

9) The tall, handsome, quiet teenage boy who asked me twice if I needed any help.

10) The same boy joining Bantam15 for a 3-mile run earlier today.

11) The giggling girls who helped decorate, set the table and make the brunch casserole for tomorrow morning.

12) Photo Booth on the Mac computer (hours of fun-house entertainment for all ages).

13) Free buns and trays of muffins (which we received earlier this week as part of a "food rescue" to salvage expiring food from a major grocery store).

14) The huge stew-pot that easily held 8 pounds of ground turkey BBQ.

15) Leftovers.

16) Paper plates.

17) My great-aunt's lovely cut-glass dishes in which we served make-your-own sundaes.

18) Moose Track's ice cream!

19) A warm, dry roof over all our heads on this rainy, cold night.

20) An old furnace that still works.

21) A house that has been filled with happy loudness all day (it was my Friday to take my friend's six children).

22) A living room filled with toasty sleeping bags, fluffy pillows, and whispering girls.

23) A house that is...nearly...quiet...at times.