thankful

I am so blessed and so thankful for so many things in my life.  Thankful for my God who sustains me and provides for me and loves me.  Thankful for my family.  thankful for my friends.  Thankful for my girlfriends that I call sisters....Kelley, Sandra, Tracy, Sherry, Brenda, Ellen, Angie, Heidi....I could just squeeze each one them to pieces.  So very thankful for my grandbabies and for the one on the way.  Cannot wait to hold and squeeze and kiss that little man.  Today I am putting up some Christmas trees and I am taking a break right now.  Reflecting on all the changes the past year has brought.  Looking forward to some new changes that are on the horizon.  I have an anxious heart as of late.  Not in a scared or bad way.  Just a little unnerved.  I do not like change.  I am getting set in my ways and there has been a little shake up in my world.  For a very long time I have prayed that the Lord would send a special man my way.  Now my criteria is a very long list and I have made this request complicated for the Lord.  I suppose in my way this keeps the Lord from fulfilling this prayer.  But....the Lord can do anything.  He just keeps showing this stubborn, hard-headed woman that over and over and over.  I am blonde...remember?  So I even prayed that I would just be swept off my feet.  Well, a man has landed on my doorstep.  Actually I ran into him at the bank.  And guess what???  He is carrying a broom....and he is ever so slowly sweeping me away.  I am so frightened I can hardly stand it.  I suppose that when you close your heart off and lock the door to it and bury the key deep, deep, deep...well you think that no one will ever go to the trouble to find it.  Oh, I was so wrong...and it is thrilling and scary and exciting and terrifying all at the same time.  I asked the Lord to take all those silly, romantic notions away.  Far, far away.  But you see, the Lord...he is so funny.  He didn't take them away.  He just hid them from this independent, self sufficient girl who does not know anything at all about anything at all.  So as I carefully step into this new land like a thinly ice covered pond I am smiling a different smile.  Thinking some thoughts I thought I had forgotten to think.  I feel like a teenager that is dressed up in some old lady costume.  Letting my guard down is risky.  scary stuff for silly girls like me.  I do not like to be vulnerable or fragile.  But I am.  Oh, this heart of mine is so fragile. Taking it very slow.  One tiny step at a time towards some very unfamiliar territory.  But I do know that My Lord is going before me and He is my shield, my protector....and I am so thankful.

Some family photos from yesterday.


Mr. Brooks trying out the tractor.  Solemn Sam should be his name.

These two are just the most precious pair.

Megan is just glowing with baby love.  She is just so lovely.

Aaron, Brittany and feisty little Kyra.    What a sweet family.

These five...no words for the love.  It just crushes me to the core at how thankful I am for them.

Two of my dearest treasures.  My daughters.  Lovely women inside and out.