My thankful for list

1. A gracious God who gave His son as a perfect sacrifice on my behalf so that by faith in Him I would be a child of God and inherit the gift of eternal life and forgiveness from my sins.
2. Sanctification, the process of being made more and more into the image of Christ and less and less like the fallen sinful man I am.
3. My family both immediate and extended.
4. My friends who in many ways are like family too.
5. My husband who is a faithful man, a hard worker, and good dad, and who through the years has learned patience with me. It doesn't hurt that he is easy on the eyes too : 0 )
6. My three beautiful unique healthy daughters.
7. A roof over my head, a warm bed to sleep in, running water ( hot even ), food in my fridge and pantry, and all of the modern ammenities that we are all so spoiled with. I hear my dish washer swishing in the back ground. How cool to be able to sit here and make a post on my blog while my dishes are being washed and noone will have dish pan hands as a result!
8.Candles. I love candles. Apple scented and warm spicy food scents are my favorite!
9.My fur children, especially my dog Annabelle. She is my constant companion and friend. I love her big brown eyes.
10. My health. I woke up thanking God for the ability to get up out of my bed and to be able to just move and walk. Not everyone has that ability. It is a gift.
11. Exercise. It is hard and sometimes I don't want to do it but the result is so worth it. I feel so much better each and every day that I do work out.
12. Warm weather
13. Sun shine
14. Beaches
15. Tropical concoctions melting in my hand
16. rest/naps
17. cute clothes
18. coffee oh my I can't believe it took me till #18 to think of it. Not just regular coffee though, oh no! It must have "Coffee Mate French Vanilla" creamer in it. YUM!
19. Coffee dates with my husband. They are few and far between these days with his schedule but when they happen I am so thankful. All it is is a cup of coffee together sitting in our bed first thing in the morning.
20. Employment
21. Being able to look out my sliding door from my dining room at a horse and horse barn that is my neighbor's.
22. Seeing fruit trees out side by my barn and anticipating the beautiful Spring time blooms that will be there in a few weeks.
23. Chocolate
24. Bonfires, smores, sitting on hay
25. Cook outs and oh the wonderful cook out food! BBQ chicken, potato salad, corn on the cob, fresh fruit salad! YUM again!

A Reminder

So I am totally tempted to be so over all of this snow and to be sick and tired of it. Instead I will take the reminder that "Though my sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."Isaiah 1:18b
"Oh praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead".
I poured my cup of coffee this morning and brought it to my dining room table to sit where I could watch the fat fluffy snow flakes fall in my back yard. It really is beautiful. Thank you God for the beauty and the reminder.

Greetings from "Iceland"

Winter is hear with a furry! I know that most people out there are experiencing some sort of Winter weather. Today we have ice. No new snow yet, but rumor has it we could get 9 to 18 inches. It is cold out. It is grey out. But.... the ice on the trees is pretty to look at. I just hope none of the big branches break and do any damage to our roof or our barn.
My husband took the day off because he drives an hour to work and has to go through small towns and on back country roads. He agonized over the decision to call off this morning for almost 3 hours. I kind of did too, only from our bed. He did it up watching the news, and calling a guy that lives close to where he works to check on the weather there, and watching the weather outside the window and the cars driving by our house. You see where he works I think they want to play a real life game of fear factor. There are alwasy rumors flying around about the dreaded lay offs. So from one Friday to the next we really never know if he will have a job. God has been so gracious to us for a long time with my husband being employed. It has been over a full year since he was last laid off. We just never want to assume that another lay off won't happen. We have exeperienced a few so far. I do want to rest and have peace in God as our ultimate provider because He is. So that is a thing I struggle with internally alot. It is sin for me to not trust God at His word. Lord, please help me to trust and to be content with whatever circumstance you bring our way.
My girls are so tired of snow days. They don't really like to go out and play in the snow and the colder weather. I used to play in the snow all of the time, but we had a great sledding hill in our back yard. We live in Illinois and it is flat here. Cabin fever has struck our house, along with some real fever too. Today noone is sick yet. Two of my girls have had the fever, sore throat, cough, and body aches. The cough hangs on and on and on.
I think we are all looking forward to Spring. 48 days till the first day of Spring!
Happy February 1, 2011! We have successfully made it through January 2011 by the grace of God!