Gratefulness

I keep seeing all these posts on Facebook for what people are thankful for.  I love them!  I considered jumping on the bandwagon for about a second, until I realized that at that moment it was already several days into the month, and there would inevitably be days where I totally forgot to post anything and I would feel ridiculous.  So, as I have a few moments here and there, I'm doing it on the blog instead.

I am thankful for...

Salvation.  The freedom in Christ I receive but rarely take full advantage of, which comes from the gracious mercy that my loving Savior pours out new every morning.  Instead of living in the abundance of said mercies, I continue to nurture my sin nature (which should be long dead to me) and waste my time asking myself why I can't or don't or won't have or be __________.  Which leads me to...

Forgiveness.  I am so grateful for forgiveness.

Bradamuffin.  I'm so thankful for his wisdom and leadership and love.  I love the way he loves our girls.  I love the way he's always got a plan.  (And I love that he stays with me in spite of the awful nickname, haha.)

Addison.  Wow.  I knew that motherhood would be wonderful, but how wonderful was absolutely beyond my imagination.  And every day (well, most days), I enjoy it more and more as I get the privilege of seeing her grow and learn and love.  I am amazed at the gifts and traits I already see the Holy Spirit growing in our gal.  Is it my overactive imagination, or will her slightly stubborn streak one day turn into leadership like her daddy?  And when she loves on her friends in school who are sad, and asks girls in ballet to play, is she being an encourager like her mama?  The mind reels at the possibilities.  It may be my imagination, but I love it nonetheless.  I love hearing her sing and explain Jesus to her stuffed animals.  Mostly I'm thankful that I already see a loving spirit in her.  

yes, she is holding my well-worn copy of We Were Soldiers.  Kid after my own heart!

Audrey.  How does one mama get so lucky as to have two sweet-natured children?  When Audrey woke up this morning (NOT crying, after 8 1/2 hours, by the way), she smiled and cooed and giggled at me as I changed her diaper.  I could not help but wonder if it's by nature that both our girls are good-natured in the morning, or if it's sheer blessedness?  Seriously, while I may enjoy sleeping till 7:30 every once in a while, it's so wonderful to have everyone up and happy in the morning!  I always hear people say that the second child is crazier than the first...  The jury is still out on that one (Audrey is only 9 weeks old after all), but so far we've gotten another easy, sweet baby.  And, just like her sister, she is a nosy people-person.  (I wonder where she gets it???)

As I've mentioned on this blog before, I am overwhelmingly thankful for the legacy of faith our families and friends brought to Brad and I, and that we have the privilege of passing on to our gals.  The time some folks have spent on their knees for the two of us - and probably for our families because of us, haha - is evident and we remain abundantly blessed by others who pour out love on us like nothing else.

I am so thankful to be able to stay home with our girls.  This is something that Brad and I used to actually argue about when we were first married: I was certain that I would never want to quit my teaching job, and was convinced that it would never dawn on me to even want to stay home with kids.  Boy has that changed. To that point, I'm thankful for my last full time teaching job... It was so much more stressful, time-consuming, exhausting, and seemingly pointless than my previous two jobs.  I am now certain that the Lord used my two years there to bring me to the point of changing the desires of my heart.  His plan is always so much bigger and better than we can imagine for ourselves.

I'm grateful for what being a mom has taught me about our relationship with the Father.

I'm thankful for the holiday season.  From the first day of fall when I get out my pumpkins to the week after New Years when I grudgingly take down the tree, it's a constant reminder of the attitude of gratefulness I should be living out all year long.  I need reminders.  

By the way, I think it should be spelled "GREATfulness."  Mr. Webster (quite appropriately) never asked me though.