thankful thursday

Today I am thankful that Anna didn't get up until after 7 . . . you see, her pattern lately had been to get up when the first number on the clock still glowed 5 in the darkness. I did not appreciate this new pattern a bit! Kirb leaves for work just after 5 and though I usually try to get up shortly after 6, I don't get much done when I have a 2-year-old early morning companion. The point of getting up early is to get some stuff done before the kiddos start rollin' out of bed. I tried to convince her it was still nighttime, tried to have her cuddle in bed with me . . . tried a lot of things, but to no avail. Once she got up, she was up and ready to go! Hopefully this 7:15-ish wake-up time will become a pattern and wasn't a fluke!

I am also so very, very thankful lately for my amazing husband who has been picking up a great deal of slack that I've left laying around the house while I crawl under the covers and nap and try to get over this really nasty chest cold I've had for just about 3 weeks now. He's been extra great! I do ok during the day, but by the time he gets home from work I'm usually completely spent and pretty much worthless! Thanks, babe! I'd be in a heap of trouble without you! {And really, if you know him -- and us -- well at all, you already know he does the lion's share of the work around here normally, so these days, he pretty much does it ALL!}

I am thankful, too, for our new school year resolution to have devotions together every night as a family after dinner and read from the Word. Joe isn't quite on board, but the rest of the kids are really excited and into it. I was inspired to really get this underway more regularly and "formally" {although that's not quite the right word} after reading this great, inspiring post on my very favorite of all blogs. Check it out! {then, maybe even give it a try}.

Today, I'm also thankful for the little things. Like the fact that today is picture day and this year I had the option of making ONE online payment . . . which meant I didn't have to write out 4 checks. Sometimes the little things can make a bigger difference than you'd think!

I'm thankful that when I got up at 4:30 this morning, to go to the bathroom in the dark and saw a man walk by my kitchen window and freaked out a tad, that it was just the man delivering the newspaper and not someone with bad intentions, like I immediately suspected it was! {imaginations are in high gear at 4:30 a.m. in a dark house where everyone else is asleep!}