Still Thankful, Days 6-10

I love that November inspires people to express their thankfulness.  I am continually amazed by all the blessings in my life.  I pray that I will learn to live a life of gratitude all year--not just during the Thanksgiving season.  No pictures today, just my next 5 days of giving thanks.

6.  I am thankful for having enough--enough job to pay the bills, enough home to keep us warm and safe, enough food to keep us fed (and then some), enough of everything.  We live in an abundance of enough, and I sometimes wonder why we were given this life and others go without.  What makes us special?  Why are we so blessed?

7.  I'm thankful for my circle of friends.  They've laughed and cried with me.  They've taken my side, even when I wasn't right.  They've helped raise my kids on a daily basis.  They've helped me clean my house.  They know that if anything ever happens to me, they'd better hurry and get to my house and clean it before anyone else sees it.  They're my sisters, my family.  They know all my secrets, and they still love me.

8.  I'm thankful for my town and community.  I never dreamed growing up that I would live anywhere but Happy, TX.  If someone had told me 25 years ago that I would someday live within an hour of Houston, surrounded by pine trees, and work in a school with more kids than lived in our whole town, I'm sure I would have laughed.  Luckily God doesn't make mistakes, and we've ended up exactly where we are supposed to be.  Magnolia has been good to our family, and I am grateful to call it home.

9.  I'm thankful for parents who taught me right from wrong, the value of hard work, and that life is meant to be enjoyed.  I only got to keep my Daddy for 14 years, but what a man he was!  God gave me a Mama that continues to inspire me with her strength.  How many stay-at-home-moms could take over a 2,000 acre farm with a rag-tag workforce that consisted of my sister, my two cousins and me?  She definitely earned her retirement, although I'm not sure what everyone in town has to talk about now since we aren't breaking things on a daily basis anymore.

10.  I am thankful for God's plans for me and my family.  I don't know what they are, but I pray that I will learn to slow down and listen.  I am thankful that God hasn't given up on me, even though I keep trying to drive the boat, instead of trusting Him to prosper me.  It's not my timing or my planned path, but thank goodness everything happens the way He intends it.