Thankful Thursday

As always, we have so much to be thankful for this week!

I catch myself thinking, "what did I do to deserve all of this? This is a little too good to be true." But, the simple answer is absolutely nothing! Because the Lord loves me, he has lavished me with his love and poured out blessings on my life. It sure helps my overachieving self to know that I can't earn God's love. It's a gift! All I have to do is confess that I am a sinner and ask Him to take up residency in my heart and give me the strength to live my life to please Him.

Cool thing is, he loves you the exact same way!

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The overarching theme this week that we are thankful for is our extended family.

We just got off of a visit with my Grandma and Grandpa which was very short, but very special. They made the trip down to meet their first great-grandaugher and to lavish their love on the rest of us!

Then on Saturday, Nana comes from Colorado to visit for a long weekend. The boys have been tearing off a link to their paper chain for the past 2 weeks and are just overflowing with excitement since they don't get to see her all that often.

And then in a few weeks the boys are going to be going on a camping trip, this time with Poppa Bear! Andy got his love for the outdoors from his Dad and of course is passing that down to our children. Annabelle and I will stay home this time while we let the boys do their thing. I'm sure there will be some great tales to tell after that trip.

Thinking of when families used to live so close to one another, we often pity ourselves that our closest family member lives 2 hours away. But, we are quickly reminded that in today's age, that's nothing. With phones, email, skype, planes trains and automobiles distance is no longer a major barrier. It sure could be worse.

So, we will still pray Charlie and my Mom move East very soon, but while they are far away we will skype like it's our job and be so ever thankful it's 2010 and not 1910!