Thankful!

Thanksgiving is approaching QUICKLY and I just wanted to write a little post to say that I am so thankful for so many things...I probably won't even remember all that I would like to say, but I will give it a try.

I'm so thankful for Joe.
He is a faithful, loyal provider for us and he is such a great, caring and forgiving husband to me and such a wonderful daddy to our girl. I'm SO blessed to be married to this man.

I'm thankful for our families.
I just love my brother and all of my brothers and sisters in law. God gives us such a gift in providing us with family to call our own. And to have all of our parents to be able to spend time with and love on our girl....wow, such a gift.

I'm thankful for friends! College friends, friends from even farther back than that, friends from blogs, friends from church, friends from the community and work. Have loved being able to get together more with friends because of being at home - and also having playdates with Lucy's little friends and their Mommies :) such fun!

I'm thankful for Pinterest and blogs where I can get new recipes, cleaning and organizing ideas (I need a lot of help in that department...), where I can read fun tips and hilarious experiences and encouraging stories and testimonies of God's faithfulness.

I'm thankful for our little house. Having a place to call our own in this season has been such a blessing to us. It's teeny and we love every little square inch!

I'm thankful for all the little things, like occasional starbuck stops, for walks into town, for pumpkins to decorate the house, for living close enough to both of our parents so that our little LJ can know them and love them already, for halloween candy and warm meals at home with my love. I just want to treasure all these days and all the little things that fill them.

I'm thankful for our church! It's such an amazing body of believers who encourage and challenge me constantly. It is such a unique place and we are just so thankful for a place we can go to freely worship our Lord and for the people of God who are our family.

I'm so thankful for our little baby. Having a miscarriage got us to a place of greatly desiring to be parents sooner than we had imagined and then trying to get pregnant for 10 months increased that desire all the more and after those hardships to be given Lucy, is just an indescribable joy to Joe and I. I am trying to cherish every single day and moment with her as it all is going so fast already. But just thanking our Lord for this good and perfect gift from above.

Most importantly I am SO thankful for Jesus. For His death on the cross for all of my sins: past, present and future. I'm thankful that I am able to see how sinful I am, especially lately, so that it is utterly clear in my mind that there is no amount of good that I can do to earn God's favor, to be worthy of spending an eternity with Him or to gain salvation. It is only through Jesus that I can be saved from my sin and be given new life. Praise God, there is no greater gift than this!

"Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling"