Thanksgiving-eve.

91. hot chocolate.
92. memories.
93. hope.
94. the power of prayer.
95. sprinkles.
96. holiday cheer.
97. indoor plumbing.
98. kisses in the morning before work.
99. long weekends.
100. my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with all of these things and countless more!

the great thing about spending 25 days or so making these thankful lists  every year is that the grateful attitude tends to carry on well past Thanksgiving and Christmas and even into the new year! being extra aware of all the blessings in our lives, and then immediately giving thanks for them to the One who pours them out so freely on us, is something that i wish i could remember to do year-round, rather than just in November.

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ."                                                I Corinthians 15:57

for the Lord is good.

81. i do NOT actually have a stray cat living in my fridge.
82. giveaways.
83. pictures.
84. my adorable new apron.
85. a wonderful friend who made me my adorable new apron.
86. crock pots. (this may or may not remain on the list depending on how dinner tonight turns out)
87. that my weekly excercise is so much fun i look forward to it.
88. deadlines.
89. a mom who is cool enough to text.
90. sweaters, and warm enough days in November to not really need them.

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks
to him and praise his name."                               Psalm 100:4

to the tune of 'The Death of the Son'.

71. finding a mechanic close to home.
72. my bad memory, which made watching the new Harry Potter movie way more exciting.
73. JK Rowling, who wrote a story that has captivated and entertained people of all ages for over a decade.
74. online shopping.
75. matinees.
76. nice people who do not get upset when you hit them in the back of the head with your straw wrapper because you missed your target.
77. Andes candies.
78. that i finally get to work on something other than the job from Hades.
79. 8 hour days.
80. leaving work while its still kind of light outside.


"I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; i will tell of all your
wonderful deeds."                                           Psalm 9:1

ten more.

61. Sophie
62. wednesday weeks.
63. sweatpants.
64. Sunday afternoon naps.
65. my best friend in the world.
66. successful grocery trips.
67. radio stations that are not playing Christmas music yet.
68. a new drivers license. (although i think i'm partial to my old pic)
69. recipes from Grandma.
70. phones.

"I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs i will
praise you"                                           Psalm 35:18

sending myself home for the holidays.

for the past few weeks, i have not exactly been on top of things. i oversleep my alarm in the mornings, at dinnertime i throw together an assortment of (hopefully) edible things to eat because i havent planned a meal in weeks and i let my husband do the grocery shopping this week, i still don't have all my thank you's written from my wedding (that was a month and a half ago), and Thanksgiving has snuck up on me this year. (i could have sworn i had another week!) but in an effort to regain my position of power over my own life, i have decided to put all of this behind me and i am moving on to make sure i am prepared for the next big thing: Christmas!

i have decided that i am going to use Shutterfly.com for our Christmas cards this year. after all, this will be the first year that i have EVER sent out my own cards, and since i just got married this past October and moved to a new state, i do not get to see enough of the people i love most, (and they definately do not get to see enough of me!) so i figure what better way to send a Christmas greeting than with my smiling face plastered all over it? AND if i use a wedding picture (which by the way is yet another un-done thing on my ever-growing to do list) then it might almost make up for the fact that i didnt get to make Shutterfly thank-you cards like i had originally been planning on.

i started looking through the many options of new holiday cards, and quickly found several that i liked. the colors are fun and bright, and they are full of messages of love and joy, which is exactly how i am feeling going into this holiday season - full of love for all the wonderful people in my life, and joyful that they are in my life.

i picked a couple designs that i like really well, and i have a few pictures in mind that i like a lot. so if this goes well, i might eventually get around to making a photo book of my favorite wedding memories (or maybe just as many as i can get to fit since all my memories are great!)

singing my thanks.

51. vacation hours automatically on my timesheet.
52. pillows.
53. alarm clocks.
54. hair dryers.
55. deodorant.
56. mornings that arent so cold yet that your hair freezes when its wet.
57. complete strangers who comment on how beautiful my ring is.
58. complete strangers who comment on how young i look.
59. pop tarts.
60. shoes.

"I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving."
                                                              Psalm 69:30

thanks in no particular order.

41. Hamburger Helper.
42. sunrises.
43. that it is still light out when i leave for work.
44. Broadway.
45. baseball.
46. warm, sunny November afternoons.
47. cousins.
48. real mail in our mailbox.
49. someone in my life who will do the grocery shopping for me.
50. bandaids.

"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name."
                                                                    I Chronicles 29:13

still thankful.

34. the Social Security Office. (YAY for officially changing my name!)
35. bible study. and i'm not just saying that cause my pastor found out about my blog and told me that he's going to start reading it. for serious. i love those guys.
36. coffee on chilly, tired mornings.
37. wear-your-jeans-and-go-out-to-lunch Fridays!
38. laughter.
39. reminders.
40. the fact that God does not see us as a conglomeration of all of our sins, He just sees the blood of Christ.

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'"          Hebrews 12: 28-29

barely thankful.

the grocery store and i do not get along. there is something about the grocery store that just knows how to get under my skin and make any good mood completely dissolve into frustration, anger, and hate, with a little bit of self-loathing thrown in there just for fun. i dont know how it does it. but it does. every time.

last night i was close to getting out intact - i picked up everything on my little list, with a couple extra things thrown in cause i was shopping hungry, (although YAY for me i managed to make it out without any ice cream or impulse buy candy cuz i knew we already had some at home!) and i only had to go the whole way back across the store once because i had forgotten something. i was feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

and then i got to the check-out.

i picked the line with only one person in it. sure, she had a lot of groceries, but she appeared to be over halfway done. it wasnt until after i had unloaded my cart onto the belt that she pulled out the coupons. i swear she had every. single. coupon. that was in that week's paper. and every. single. coupon. had to be verified by the cashier, and a few of them even needed managers approval. she used so many coupons, i think she got money back. honestly. i think i stood in that checkout line for a half an hour!

it was all downhill from there. the checkout lady overcharged me for my apples. an old lady in the parking lot yelled at me for sitting too long at a stop sign. i had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid rear ending a truck that just didnt understand the full value of a turning lane.

but despite all of that...

31. grocery stores. because i think if i want to have food, my only other option is to own a farm, and i'm thinking that there is a very good chance that i would be much worse at farming than i am at shopping.
32. good brakes and tires so i did NOT hit the idiot trucks on the road or die while swerving out of their way.
33. my sister who convinced me that chucking my groceries down the driveway would not be a productive means of making me feel better.

"give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"                                        I Thessalonians 5:18

overflowing.

21. God's grace.
22. anticipation.
23. birthday parties.
24. unlike my sister, i am thankful for daylight savings time and the much needed extra hour of sleep that it gave me this weekend.
25. Family.
26. God's sovereignty.
27. dogs. i am thankful that they exist, and that there are people who love them. i am thankful that i do not own one, but i am also thankful that i get to interact with other peoples dogs.
28. productive, yet still relaxing weekends.
29. frozen pizza, and the husband who makes it into a culinary masterpiece.
30. hot apple cider with a blanket, and how it sets you up perfectly to fall asleep during Sunday night football.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."   
                                                                           Colossians 2:6-7

for He is good.

11. my Mom, who taught me to be thankful.

12. tables with four legs. (and a Mom who understands)

13.  leaves to rake in our yard. (and my Mom who saved my poem about cornflake leaves from Kindergarten)

14. yard sales. (and my Mom who taught me to love them)

15. NOT falling off the roof.

16.washing machines. (just imagine how much further behind your laundry would be if you had to do it by hand!) (and did i mention my Mom who taught me how to use them?)

17. the jazzercise ladies.

18. landscape architects.

19. iTunes.

20. friends at work who make even the worst jobs bearable.

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!"                                                            Psalm 107:1

thankful - the 2010 edition.

I have a lot of things to be thankful for this year. I have been blessed with an abundance of excitement, and i have never been quite as aware of how very loved i am. God is great! Life is good! Be Thankful!

1. my husband!!!

2. our house, no matter how un-organized and messy it is.

3. jack o lanterns. 

   (and a husband and a free evening to

    carve them with)

4. girl scout cookies.

5. unpacking childhood memories packed in boxes.

   (and a husband to reminisce with)

6. trick or treaters.

7. free breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

8. halloween costumes.

9. battery chargers.
    (for when you go to take pictures of you, your husband, and your friends in 
     costume and realize your camera wont turn on!)
10. chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
    (and a husband who will run to the store to buy it for you!)

"Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"                                             Ephesians 5:20