I'm Thankful

I'm thankful for:

• God's grace to me, and His faithfulness. Why He's shown such favor to me I don't know. But I'm thankful for it.
• My kids. They exasperate me and challenge me to be less selfish. They mirror me and humble me. They hold me immediately accountable for my private, inner life. If they were any cuter, my head would pop.
• My husband. He's always wanting to be doing the right thing as well as it can be done. He's more and more often acting in love toward me at cost to himself, which is also very humbling. And he does the dishes. :)
• My church family. They continually encourage and challenge me with their examples and friendship and allow me to serve in ways that are meaningful to me. My Virginia experience would be 100% different without them.
• My extended family. I'm thankful that we can go make a tour of both of our families with joy instead of grumpiness. I'm thankful for our parents' generosity and care especially. I'm thankful they all try to encourage us in parenting rather than insinuate that they know precisely how we're messing up. Even if they do.
• Deepening relationships with siblings.
• My car that takes me away to a grocery store loaded with edible food that I can largely afford.
• My house that keeps me appropriately warm and dry at all times, gives me a place to host others, gives my kids a safe place to play, and does it all while looking nice and being comfortable. Wow.
• The internet. My sister lives in Hong Kong; Mark's sister lives in Russia--and I get to see them and speak to them both whenever I want. For free! Skype is amazing. And I love email.

I'm sure there is more, but it's getting late. I'm thankful also for sleep. What are you thankful for?