A thankful day

It's the day AFTER Thanksgiving, but I'm still so thankful for so many things.  We had a huge turkey yesterday....thanks to a concern for not having turkey for our English Bible Fellowship dinner on Saturday.  One of the gals brought back, from the Dominican, a couple extras, in case they didn't show up on MFI.   But they did, so we purchased one of the "extras".  We had a small "family" dinner.  It was Vero, Abbie, Betty, Savanah, Don and I.  We got to the part where I said, "Okay, what are YOU thankful for?"  Abbie, bless her heart...said school, and anything and everything connected with school.  Then, Mom, Grandpa and Grandma got added in.  The rest of us put our "thankful" things in.  Then Vero said, "I'm just thankful for EVERYTHING!"  Betty asked, "Even the bad things?"  And Vero said, "Yes, because even then Jesus is with us."  What an honest way to thank God for all things, as it says in 1 Thess. 5: 16-18.  And we ARE thankful in all things.  

And yesterday we received our daily devotional from our friend Roy.  The thought he put forward in the first line really hits home.  It was: "Today, suppose, just suppose, that when you woke up this morning, the ONLY things you had are those things you thanked God for last night."  WOW... what a thought provoking thing that is.  I can honestly say Abbie would be blessed, she is so thankful for EVERYTHING, EVERY DAY!  But this also brought to mind the email that has been around a lot.  The one where the person went to heaven and was given a tour.  One area, angels were busily sorting and going through things.  These were the "requests" sent to God.  The next area the angels were busily sending the answers to the prayer requests.  The third area was one lone angel, sitting doing almost nothing.  This angel was handling the "Thank yous, sent back to God."  Where are WE with those things?  We do tend to send up a lot of "requests", but are we sending just as many "thank yous"???  I intend to start focusing on that more now.  And it's thanks to Roy.  He daily devotionals are always inspiring, but once in a while it really hits home.

Abbie is always a joy.  Her excitement about Thanksgiving was something else.  She had her turkey, with the thankful list on it's tail (hand prints).  I was reading it and said, "Abbie, you are thankful for your drums and guitar?  You don't HAVE either one."  She very calmly said, "No, but if I DID, I'd be thankful."  And the funny thing is, she doesn't even WANT either of them.  It's hard to comprehend the mind of a child.  

And then Savanah...she is growing by leaps and bounds.  She smiles a lot more and is "talking" now when you talk to her.  And she is eating a lot more.  But she is still such a good baby and is a joy to have around.

Abbie has been counting the days till Christmas.  She asked me to make a calendar, like I did last year, where she can mark the days off.  I said, "But I didn't do that until December, and it's November now."  Her response was, "But Grandma, I want to get started early this year."  So, she has the days counted off until Christmas.  And I marked on it when she has days off from school, when her program at school is, and anything else she is excited about.  She said she wants a "Jesus birthday cake again."  So, that is on the list of things to do.

Well, it's on to work and caring for baby.  I hope you think on those things concerning being thankful.  The Lord does walk with us daily and He is providing things we never even think about.  I know I'll be more "tuned into" those things from this point on.  And I do thank the Lord for YOU.  For your care and concern for us as we serve here in Haiti.  God bless and keep looking UP!!!