Thinking about Thanking

Well I have been reading a lot lately about this odd phenomenon that the more we have, the more we tend to take it for granted. I'm afraid that's all too true of me. I remember coming home from a year abroad in Honduras and being SOOO grateful for hot running water in the bathroom and seats on the toilets and carpet in my workplace. Now I routinely take delicious hot showers and think rather gripe-y thoughts about how I need to clean the shower. There was a time that I cried in prayer asking God for a husband and a place to belong. Now I sometimes kiss my wonderful husband goodbye in the morning thinking about how long a day it'll be with our toddler before he's home again. Speaking of that toddler, I remember feeling his kicks from the womb and wishing for those 9 months to go by faster... now I sometimes wish for naptime to come sooner. So lets just say, these Thanksgiving reminders have been good for me to hear.

So here are some of the things I'm thankful for (though I imagine I'll miss some, I'm SOO blessed)

1. Access to grace through Christ's atoning death on the cross-- Oh how I need it!

2. A rich relationship with my Savior as He is teaching me and comforting me moment by moment

3. The strong, kind, intelligent, funny, interesting, initiative-taking, sometimes annoying man God gave me for a husband

4. That cute, smart, sometimes naughty, sometimes disarmingly sweet little 20 month old God gave us to train and be blessed by

5. The kicks that remind me there's another brand new person on the way to our family

6. My far-away but often-present-on-the-phone family who listens and cares and shares life

7. My closer yet sometimes more foreign, often available to help and love in-laws

8. Our cozy home with it's in-progress kitchen

9. So much technology that simplifies my life: phones, cars, heater in the house, washing machine, dishwasher, internet, elliptical for working out ... the list could go on

10. Health and youth

... Oh surely there are more, but I think this covers the big stuff I'm thankful for this year. How about you? What are you most glad God doesn't ask you to do without?

St. Louis Visit

So, due to Lucas working looong hours as an election judge and my parents buying a new house, David and I decided (well I decided for him) to go down to St. Louis for a night and visit. Then we (I) remembered that my cousin just had her baby girl and this was probably our only chance to see her as a newborn, so we made a side trip to meet the baby.

Here's David enjoying Grandma and Grandpa' s new kitchen. There house seems so big after their apartment. It has beautiful hardwood floors in part and is really nice! It'll be neat to see what it looks like once everything is unpacked and it is more throughly 'theirs' feeling. It was nice to see the 'before' and be asked my opinion on where to put things. Congratulations, Mom and Dad!
Over at my cousin's, David had fun playing with the new big brother (who is remarkably good at sharing!! -- I must teach David to do better at this kid-skill!)
Baby Chelsea was beautiful and sleepy. I love newborns! She slept on my lap for a while,
then woke up and became more interesting for David. He was very careful with her and waved at her. So cute! Wonder what he'll think when his little sister gets here?
Wishing lots of sleep to the new parents-of-two!

Our Little Mechanic

Here is our little mechanic after trick-or-treating. He had a great time walking up the steps to all the houses on our block and visiting our neighbors with Daddy. Then when they got back,

we looked over his loot. Here, David is enthralled with his new discovery of candy:

And then we had some fun playing with his matchbox car:

And speaking of food, here's a snapshot of a messy toddler on the road to feeding himself someday. He loves to 'use' the spoon after I've fed him almost all of his food: