It came to her after she slid the turkey out of the oven, wiped her hands on her apron,
how there might be only so many more times like this
with just this music playing and these voices circling,
maybe only twenty more,
or, if grace carried and He tarried, maybe another twenty after that —
but who’s to say —
there might only be a handful more —
of the light like this and the plates like that and
the last supper always ends sooner than you think.
She thought that at the sink,
how she didn’t know what tomorrow could bring,
but now had arrived and unwrapped like a gift —
The embrace at the door,
the loud laughter in the twilight greying,
the clock ticking down after the still —
all unearned,
her here at all.
So after the turkey and Aunt Eileen’s pie, she’d written it down and taped it up,
to remember when everything would spin fast for the more —-
how they had already received Godsends,
how a Tree had hung with Love and redeemed everything and now felt like glory in her lungs,
how they had so much to be thankful for.
Print Your First Gift Right here … {and tape it up? So you can keep remembering to unwrap the gifts everyday}
~ written for you with love by Ann Voskamp
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Before you begin the feasting! Name one person you are thankful for this year: …
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ABOUT ANN VOSKAMP
Farmer's wife, mama to 6 & author of NYTimes Bestseller One Thousand Gifts, Ann blogs wild grace @ A Holy Experience. When...
{ 97 comments… read them below or add one }
My husband, Roger. Without him to see and love me every day I would be a very different person. Because of him, I have become a wife and mother. I have grown in so many ways due to his gentle and loving ways. Things I have never been used to. Even the tone of his voice teaches, shares, prescribes. He is my biggest and best gift ever from a God who has loved me from the begining where parents had failed. My husband. My friend. My own personal comedian. My sink cleaner and knight in denim armour.
Wow! What a moving, beautiful tribute, Wendy…. May you and your knight in denim armor be. blessed. today!
I am thankful for you, Ann…and for introducing me to all my blogging sisters I’ve met in this community. I found your blog and book first, then (in)courage, and my life is richer, and fuller, and so focused on Him because of all of you and how we reflect the light of Him to each other and to the world. What a blessing you all are to me!
And we, Jacque, are thankful for you — to see how you’ve grown in Christ, how God is using your ministry, how you radiate Christ and bless? You are just plain, deep down soul beautiful, sister…
You are crazy loved!
I am so thankful for my husband; so thankful …
Years ago I emailed you, Ann; we are the family in Tasmania, Australia who began counting gifts by writing them down on paper tacked to the wall – “joy on display for all to see” I wrote in my email. Back then, we had no idea what was coming. For 12 long months now my precious man has wrestled and battled and lived with depression and anxiety disorder, and he hasn’t. given. up. For me, and for our 8 beautiful children, he hasn’t. given. up. He has read One thousand Gifts and he is counting now more than ever; counting the myriad of ways God blesses us, counting the so many things we have to be thankful for.
I am so thankful for my man. So very thankful.
REBECCA! I remember!
I tell your story when I (knee-knocking) speak … and to know this part of the story with your husband. Oh sister. May Jesus continue to carry him through the valley, to keep sustaining you all with the riches of His grace, to push back all the dark, moment by moment, with His light.
Please know — I am praying with you right. now.
And will continue.
More love than these thin letters can carry to you…
Ann
My husband. For calling me after several years of a broken up friendship. And how that phone call led to a life of togetherness. And the grace that’s laced our story. Ultimately, Him, even more than him.
Amy — oh yes…. Him and him.
Bask in it today, my friend…. grace upon grace.
Sooooo thankful for my family and friends, and our Lord, and His sweet, sweet grace and mercy. Thank You Lord, for EVERYTHING!
Eph. 5:20, yes, Susan… just. that.
love to you, sister…
Also… Thank you Ann, for this… No words are adequate. Your raw honesty, your heart that reflects so many of us, but we don’t know how to say it, or even think it sometimes. We are drawn closer to our God, our Lord because of this, and are better able to walk this life out in LOVE. His love! THANK YOU, and happy Thanksgiving to the Voskamp family!
Oh Susan, trust me… we are unspeakably ministered to by each of your ministries, daily by this community and your God-stories and Jesus-faith and Spirit-walk.
Right there in the trenches with you, eyes on Jesus!
So very thankful for my loving husband, Brian!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Shout-out for Brian! :)
I am thankful for my dad – he has had a hard fought year with cancer and other issues, but he is still with us. I’m thankful for the fight within in him to endure treatment and his witness for Jesus through it all.
Also, because I can’t think of one without the other, for my mom who has been by his side constantly. She is a amazing.
I am thankful for my husband — eight years ago I was undergoing radiation at Thanksgiving, I was thinking yesterday how he kept our family supported — me especially — during that difficult time.
Thankful for my husband. He introduced me to Jesus, loved me through my struggles, is an amazing father to our three children. He helps me daily to become a better woman, a better wife and a better mother. He is still the answer to my prayer when I thought no one was listen. Thank you God for sending Ken to me.
Definitely my husband, although my daughter is in that category of “cannot leave out.” We waited so long for her.
My husband, for putting up with me and loving me.
My inlaws for coming to visit and helping with thanksgiving dinner prep
My kids for making me laugh, even when they sometimes make me cry… :)
My parents for giving me a “goodly heritage”
My sisters for the memories
For the incourage and Allume communities, blessing me every day!
I am thankful for my husband. It has been an really tough year and he has grown so much! He has endured and walked in a valley! It has been grueling and emotional but with Jesus he is changed and developed! It’s all GOOD!!
I am so thankful for my loving, amazing husband, and for our first little one growing inside of me.
It just leaves me without words and all I can say is, thank You..
Chris, my husband, who has overcome addiction this year and is living free in Christ.
My sister-in-law, Tammy, has been a blessing to our family and is experiencing difficult week.
So thankful for God’s strength and joy! Table is ready for guests including all the food I could prepare ahead. Even took the garbage out! Small nap now before getting ready for church! A blessed Thanksgiving to all! :)
Blessed thanksgiving to you, beautiful Bernice!
Happy Thanksgiving to you Ann and your family, this year I am thankful for God being in my life. I know it sounds churchy, but my husband has been out of work for eleven months now and if I didn’t have God to go to in these hard times. I don’t know where I’d be now. I couldn’t imagine walking this road alone. Thank you Ann for all of your posts. I read them daily and it’s always a fresh breath of air.
My stepdaughter, A. She has challenged me in ways unbelievable to me this year and continues to do so. I get angry and depressed and rageful and desperate. However, it has been in those times of trying to love her despite her rude rebellion, despite her unhealthy cries for attention, despite her annoying apathy…. it is in those times that I try to practice grace and I have learned more about the Father’s love for me. I am grateful for A.
For a precious friend, a sister in Christ, who loves me across many many miles, and keeps me looking at Jesus; a real gift of encouragement as I am in a far country.
To have true friends – what a gift!
My friend Stacey – a friend I can trust with my joys and my hardships. Someone who always has my back.
My friend Cherie – the one with the most beautiful heart of anyone I’ve ever met. A jewel, precious in the eyes of the Lord.
My friend Christy – my friend since childhood, who has become family to me over the years.
My friend Katharine – who faces life with courage and authenticity.
My sisters, my mother, my cousin Jennifer – they are true friends indeed.
And my best friend, my husband Shane, who is my closest companion, confidant, cheerleader and ally.
I am blessed beyond measure.
I am thankful for my husband. He has battled mental illness most of his life, this year has been more difficult than most. He is still here blessing, teaching and caring for us every day.
I am also thankful for you three extraordinary children and my grandson. They have loved me and shaped me in so very many ways. I would not be the same person without them.
these teenaged-daughter-FRIENDS of mine, now 3….more yet to come….. but time, it just seems to pass so very quickly, and somewhere along the way, mothering, mentoring, and marking off the years with cakes became blended and blurred~ and now, right next to me, these Beautiful young ladies, who i am positively honored to do everyday life with…. knowing that even this will change all too soon….. But God has calmed the panic in my heart of the “letting go” by giving me a taste NOW of what is to come & i can’t wait to see them fully becoming who they have been designed by Him to be! I am so very humbled and grateful! one blessed momma am I :)
My sister Mendy. She keeps our family together – even though she is the youngest. I love her!
I am thankful for my sister Monique. She has experienced a lot of devastating things that would make some people give up. Instead of crying tears of sorrow, she is dancing for joy knowing that GOD is in control of the situations.
Thankfully, I am thankful for more than just one person! I am thankful for my husband of 20 years. I continue to pray for his conversion, salvation. I am thankful for my older son, the prodigal. He is doing well. I pray for his spiritual return. I am thankful for my younger son, who is watching his father and brother and starting to follow in their footsteps….BUT they are all alive and well, so there’s still time. Happy Thanksgiving.
My God. When my husband (whom I love dearly!) is working away from home too much, my scattered kids are enveloped in wedding plans and babies cries, and I’ve not a new friend to ask for prayer (I’ve lived here 2 months and haven’t met a kindred spirit prayer partner yet!) – I know I’m not completely alone. He hears my sobs of “simply Jesus” prayers, and sends His Holy Spirit to calm me to sleep. He is holding my fragile heart in His tender hands, knowing one of my daughters has been an hour away all week long, and they have chosen to not come see us, and my husband leaves for 2 more weeks tomorrow… Yes – it’s a season I am learning to lean hard on Him…I’m thankful, grateful, for His faithfulness to walk by my side through it…
Oh, i KNOW that closeness to Him, brought disguised as a gift in life being much too hard to bear. I am praying for you today, Marina. All day….that you feel Him close. Know that.
Praying for a kindred prayer soul to come your way soon. May God richly bless you with a wonderful friend.
God bless ;)
The One with the still, small voice. That He is present in the night.
What a tremendous reminder if redemption, and a stunning printable!
Thankful today for so much–my husband, who loves me in every way, in spite of my flaws. I’m just so abundantly blessed.
So Thankful for my Aunt Barbara, she is in His Presence now. She fought hard as every type of disease attempted to ravage her body. None touched her soul, The Joy of The Lord was truly her strength.
When you see that in a valient warrior, you desire to Know the One who sustains. She is a gift to our family as she imparted the legacy of Jesus to each one who believed. I know she is pain free & gloriously transformed, He promised, it’s His Way.
A Blessed Thanksgiving to all
Until HE shouts
Celeste
I am thankful for the woman who bought our house so we can move to Colorado next month!
So Thankful for my Aunt Barbara, she is in His Presence now. She fought hard as every type of disease attempted to ravage her body. None touched her soul, The Joy of The Lord was truly her strength.
When you see that in a valient warrior, you desire to Know the One who sustains. She is a gift to our family as she imparted the legacy of Jesus to each one who believed. I know she is pain free & gloriously transformed, He promised, it’s His Way.
A Blessed Thanksgiving to all
Until HE shouts
Celeste
I am so very thankful for my husband of 43 years…not just for showing us, his wife and sons how much he love us and takes care of us but for how he loves and cares for family and friends…He has such a big heart for serving others like they are family…like they are special and worth his time…I am so very thankful that we have lived this life together…
I’m thankful for my youngest son Jesse. He has such a servant’s heart and cares about us all so much. Thank-you, Lord, for Jesse!
For the boy who liked me, then young man who pursued me, now young adult who still loves me… And the promise of always loving. I am still learning what it is to trust him, to know him, to love him, to help like Eve was supposed to and not to fear… And I’m trying to learn all these things. But in the meantime… I know I have his faithfulness, by the grace of God. Thankful for that.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies, they never come to an end.
They are new every morning, new every morning,
Great is Thy faithfulness, oh Lord!
Great is Thy faithfulness……
Happy Thanksgiving to you all !!
I’m thankful for you, Ann Voskamp, you and your megawatt smile and words that light up hearts and souls in the name of Jesus. I love you!
And I’m thankful for my man David who is working hard on the turkey and ham so I don’t have to, and for my 3 kids who are healthy and at home with us.
for my dearest friend Judy…who has walked with me along the RIVER of HEALING (in Ezekiel 47) even as I have been surrounded by sickness and death these last 7 years (my husband’s battle with cancer, the deaths of parents of friends). When I call her (she lives across the country in California, me in Pennsylvania) and ask her to tell me one of her stories from her day, she always has a story of GRACE, of kindness, of healing. She is like the angel who asked Ezekiel “Are you watching, Daugher of Man?” She encourages me to turn around and LOOK at the miracle of beauty and growth that has happened only by Yahweh’s hand in my life. And we joyful laugh together in SURPRISE to behold all the gifts He has so kindly given us!
I continually grow daily in my thankfulness for my sweet man, my husband, my best friend. I am thankful for our love story that took nearly 50 years for Divine Appointment to bring us together as one. That God sent him back to Texas and to my church at just the time He knew I needed a godly friend and my children would need a godly man to fill the voids. I am so thankful he pursued me, despite all the baggage and the brokenness. I am so very thankful that he loves God more than me! And today, I now have someone to walk through this journey of finding God’s grace —- even as we now face a son who has walked most of his 28 years with the Lord has declared he is homosexual. We are thankful for our prodigal and thankful for our God is the God of all comfort and meets us where we are. So on this day set aside for giving thanks, I say thank you to you, Ann. For your words which encourage us and serve as daily reminders from the Word, that we give thanks in all things!
(sorry for being so wordy!!)
Thankful for my husband…a boy…then a man who has always been Christ’s love with skin… so very blessed…
And you dear Ann…for taking me on this wild ride of Thanksliving….all the joy and freedom it brings…love and blessings to you dear sister~
My husband. After 16 years of marriage, I couldn’t love him more than I do right now and I am incredibly grateful for the way he has always been Christ with skin on to me.
I am thankful for my neighbor, Bill. The waters have been rough in my personal life the last two years, and managing a house and yard by oneself adds to the stress in a big way.
Neither the church body, nor my family has come to help me with some of the physical activities necessary to keep things cut back and looking nice. Bill, however, has cut back blackberry bushes me. He’s given advice on how to keep my pool clean and how to prune back large bushes. He has brought me brush-killer spray and a dog bowl for my dog. He even paid to have a tree of mine cut back.
He has been Jesus to me in a very real way, and I am grateful.
For you, Ann, and the grace you share in your words of thanks every day…… pointing straight to Him always…………….. :)
my husband. he has worked so very hard this year and it has been the hardest year (summer alone) in the 5 years that we have been together. he continues to push through even though he thinks he is doing a bad job.
I’m going to say it today because I never do and I am learning from the grace poured into being by all my beautiful sisters here over and over. I am thankful for me. I am thankful that I get to live and breathe and be…be broken and beautiful and loved and redeemed…be someone’s wife and some people’s mother….be the grief survivor and the grace beggar…be a life-giver and thanks-giver and a life-lover beside some of the most beautiful women….hold the hands of the poor and walk in their shoes….and hope, always hope, that someone will see a bit of Love in me. It is a blessing to be me, and I am grateful.
Thankful for my 98 year-old mother, grace-lined wrinkles, fervant in spirit though hospitalized at this moment, but making the effort to get strong, to walk, to do her physical therapy, to come home again to the farm.
Jesus.
I am thankful for my Mom. We lost her to cancer 2 1/2 years ago, but she left a legacy of love & Jesus-life. I’m thankful that she is now healed & whole with Him.
My family– 4 beautiful, healthy kids. My mom who just got out of the hospital. My husband who sacrifices so much for his ministry to a lost neighborhood and broken church. I am so blessed, and in spite of the most difficult year of my life, I am learning this thanksgiving, this counting joy. Slowly, but I am learning.
My Daddy, with whom I get to spend this one last Thanksgiving. And if He gives us one more we’ll thank Him for that one too, but we can only thank Him for the grace upon grace we have received from His hand. Looking forward to more reverses the grace-thanks of today. So, I won’t look ahead, but be filled with joy for today.
My daughters soon-to-be-fiance Brian. God has given her a man who truly is exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could have asked or imagined!
My wonderful son Alex- he brings me joy every day without even knowing it!
As I read these posts, I am so happy to see so many women thankful for their husbands. I am also SO thankful for my Bill, who is spending his first Thanksgiving with the Lord today. So thankful for the wonderful, amazing husband and father he was. We met at age 15 and were blessed with 43 years here together. And I am so thankful for the son and daughter, grandson and granddaughter who are here with me now because of him. And I am most thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose blood shed on the cross fit Bill to be in Paradise with Him. And me, too, one day.
My family is complete. Both of my daughters are home. I share time and space with these uniquely gifted personalities. Gifts from God. Immeasurable Grace. Both saved. Both praising their Savior. Women of the Word. “How can I say “Thanks!”? ” ‘I have no greater joy than to know my children walk with the Lord’
I’m thankful today for my sweet girls and my amazing husband, I’m thankful, too, for friends placed along the path that remind us of the unexpected gifts in this life. On this day of celebrating gratitude, I give thanks to the Joy Giver for the sweet one who always chose it. In our home, we’re thankful for hearts that hold the memories. Thank you, Ann, for your ministry. Lifting you up daily.
I’m grateful for my husband Ken and his mellow, go-with-the-flow personality. After our Turkey Trot race this morning we found out our Thanksgiving get-together with relatives was cancelled due to sickness at the host’s house. Ken was perfectly happy with our makeshift plans. We went out to eat with two of our kids (the third is in South Korea.) Then we stopped at my parents’ graves. Then we drove through a local arboretum.
I’m thankful today for my sweet girls and my amazing husband, I’m thankful, too, for friends placed along the path that remind us of the unexpected gifts in this life. On this day of celebrating gratitude, I give thanks to the Joy Giver for the sweet one who always chose it. In our home, we’re thankful for hearts that hold the memories.
It looks like my husband may lose his job only two months after we left all family, friends, and everything we knew to follow where we thought God was leading. The job is not what the employer said it was. My husband is qualified to do what they had advertised, but not what they now want. They say this is ‘making excuses’ despite his putting in unpaid extra hours ever since he arrived, to try to get up to speed. No allowances for having a disabled child, who had lots of problems the first six weeks.
Yet I am so thankful for my husband, for his courage, for his steadfastness. He’s my hero. I am thankful for my disabled child. He is unique and I learn from him every day. I am thankful that I have one child who is like a little ray of sunshine, always smiley. I am thankful that our last child is gentle and sensitive, maybe a little too sensitive (but I know where she gets that from). I am thankful that she understands when things are rough and will try to be helpful. I am thankful that, even though I have made so many mistakes, they *know* that I love them. And I’m honest about my mistakes. I am thankful that God is watching over us. I can’t help but look around at what we have and think that even if we lose some of it, we’ll still have everything that matters. I am thankful that despite everything, God is feeding me grace, feeding me strength, so I can feed my family. Amen.
It may sound strange, but I am so thankful for drawing. For without it, I might not see the incredible intricacies of beauty in the faces of my family and friends, in the everyday domestic life, in work and in small town living. God draws me to Himself in the very act of drawing. I’m thankful for His love language to me. May you be blessed Ann, for your transparent life of wrestling to see His beauty! http://drawn2life.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/draw-near/
I’m so very grateful to my mother, who’s so patient and understanding and who loves me the way I am, without ever judging me, without ever seeing all the bad things or the mistakes or the defects. Her love, for me, is so much like the love of our Father! She always manages to see the good in me and to pull me out of the darkness and to stir me in the right direction, when I’m lost and I forget that I must turn to Him at all times. So, yeah, I’m very, very grateful to my mother, an angel on Earth. <3
I’m thankful to be with family this year to celebrate Thanksgiving. I serve in Kenya and most of my Thanksgivings are spent there. This furlough time I am able to spend the holidays with my family and am so grateful for this time!
I am very thankful for my dear hubby and sons as we celebrate Thanksgiving in our new house that was handpicked for us by God. We are so filled with gratefulness at how His hand has woven our lives.
I must say my husband my caretaker my sweet one who is so handsome and loves me disabled in my brain. He points me to Jesus. And for Dr Zolan. He was my neurologist who taught me so much about living with this.
Ann, I am thankful for you. In this year of struggles, when so much has fallen apart, I have read your words, and been inspired, and I have kept counting. When everything was dark and miserable, and I couldn’t see any way back, I kept counting. Now that we are finding our way back, and moving towards each other again, instead of away, I am still counting. Thank you, for your words, and your prayers, and your inspiration. Happy Thanksgiving.
Lane-The cotton topped seven year old in my life who’s love language is physical touch and quality time and to which it seems I never give enough. He never says it, but I think it. I am thankful for him and his unconditional love. The joy he receives from the touches and the time and how he teaches me to just take some moments to stop and hold him and breathe deep. For this boy I am thankful!
I am thankful for my husband who is my “gentle giant”. He has been my support through some hard physical difficulties in the last two years. I am thankful for my son with Down Syndrome who reminds me every day to be content with what I have. He is a pillar of patience and love. And to my older son who has been a support for me too in the years of physical difficulties. Most of all to my God – who is GOOD ALL THE TIME!
My husband who loves me like Jesus.
I am thankful for my husband, Don. He is always there, through thick or thin, ready to do my bidding. Whether I am a crab, or cheerful, he bears it in love. Some days, I want to pinch him to be sure he’s human. He loves me “in sickness and in health.” His love language is “acts of service!” This he performs, day after day, year after year, rarely complaining. He is my hero, and I am heartFULLy thankful for him and our Lord, who blessed me with him!
I am incredibly thankful for my daughter Emma. She is the most amazing little person I know. Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift . :)
I am also thankful for my dear friend Richard who introduced me to your book, Ann. Counting gifts is changing my life one gift at a time.
I am thankful for my husband who has been with me for 53 years going on 54. He has been with me this year when I was going thru breast cancer and the radiation treatment and now the follow up of hormone blockers. He has been there and a whole host of friends who were always praying for me.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
Becky
I am thankful for our littlest baby, just 8-months-old this weekend. (Well, for all of our 3 children, obviously, but we said a special prayer of thanks for him today.) It is his first Thanksgiving Day today, but we are feeling so incredibly blessed to hold him in our arms. He just had his second heart surgery a couple weeks ago, and more to come in the future, surely. So, very precious.
Blessings,
Michele
I have too many blessings to count . . . . God forgive me for not being thankful enough! God forgive me for my prayerlessness. Have mercy on me once again, and help me to be a better wife, a better mother, a better daughter, and a better sister!
i am thankful for all the blessings- Jesus, family, health, a home…and choosing to give thanks in the hard things- an estranged daughter, fading elderly parents, tough ministry situations, financial concerns. i can’t wait for the day when i can look into HIS eyes and say, ‘thank you for all of it- so much, so very very much…’
I am so thankful for my husband who when we said our vows, “In sicknesses and health” he meant it. It has been a season of illness for me and he supports me in anyway I need. Medicine is expensive but we’re trusting God for extra provision. My family of five kids have also been by my side. And I’m reading your book and learning how to open my eyes to see God’s glory and give thanks. I’m on #100 of my thanksgiving list. Always striving to see beyond the physical challenges to the spiritual gifts surrounding me!
I am thankful for the desire to read God’s Word and talk with Him like I used to instead of rushing through it.
I am thankful for a Messianic Zeide. He was a Rabbinical Student until he met and married my Catholic Bubbe. When I was saved at age 6 he used his Rabbinacal textbooks to explain things to me. I could always go to him or call him and he would give me the answer from the Torah when the answer was a Biblical question or from his Rabbinical Textbooks when the answer required a more in depth answer. I lost him when I was 9 but the 3 years he taught me as a Rabbi would be taught were written on my heart forever.
I am so very thankful for my sister-in-law who has done everything in her power to help my husband, oldest son and I. Our youngest son died while serving in the Army 4 months ago. There are no words to describe the devestation we are going through. Our faith is strong, but the human heart bleeds hard. My husband’s dear sister has been there every step of the way. She provided what we needed emotionally, physically and was such a spiritual woman of our Lord and continues to be so. Thank you dear sister. And once again dear Ann, you are a true example of a witness for Jesus, always able to back up what you say with His Word. Well done.
Thank you to your family for an unspeakably painful gift – your sorrow for our freedom. May the God of all comfort hold you.
Tom. My husband. So faithful and hard working. Love you!!
I am thankful for many many people. First for my understanding husband. He is there with me every step of the way dealing with my aging parents. He is kind, helpful, and loving when I get frustrated with life and work.
Thankful for my sister Debbie who is able to come down and help with dad. She is very analytical and patient, something I’m not. She takes care of the details and I do the best to fill in the rest of the time.
Also thankful for my church community. They are such caring, loving people. The pastor and his wife went 40 miles round trip to visit my dad one day. He was dealing with skin cancer. Other church people have sent cards & a fruit basket to him. They are just the most caring group of people I know…Blue Springs Christian Church Elizabethton, TN! :))
For my beautiful daughter Phyllis
As I read through all of these posts this Saturday after Thanksgiving, I have a hard time naming just one person I am thankful for. My parents, who taught me the power of praying in Jesus’ name, and the legacy they were both blessed with in having parents of strong faith, though they all had their own ways of demonstrating that faith. My husband, who loves me in spite of my foibles. Our daughters, the inspiration for all of my scrapbook ideas! And friends beyond measure…who lift me up in prayer, who encourage me, and are so tremendously appreciated, whether I always say it or not.
and last but most certainly not least, the dear souls (like you, Ann!) who share what God lays on their hearts as on-line encouragers…
The echoes of the “Old One Hundred” that my father’s family always sang as grace still ring in my heart and memory: “Praise HIM from whom all Blessings flow…”
I know I’m a couple of days late…just catching up. I am thankful for the gift of my youngest child who had emergency brain surgery over a year ago. She, daily, reminds of the grace given to each of us. Her life is a living testament to the great God we serve. Also, thankful for Lisa Leonard. She has been an amazing example to me of a mum living with a child with a disability. And, it is through her that I found the (in)courage community which has lifted and encouraged me these past couple of months.
Any chance you could e-mail this to me? For some reason, it’s not downloading and printing. I’d love to have this!
Thanks
I’m thankful for my family. This time last year I was anxiously awaiting Baby 3. The pregnancy had been full of scares…a cyst on the brain, extra fluid causing early contractions. But we brought our sweet babe home Christmas Eve and he is the healthiest, happiest baby! Nothing is a given, and I’m thankful for each day with him, our other two precious kiddos, my sweet husband by my side, and most of all my Savior!
Amazingly blessed for my husband. It’s hard to put into words what we’ve been through together. Our entire city flooded during college years, we moved away from family, he joined the air force, brought home fallen and wounded soldiers, while coming home to me being fallen and wounded having lost babies. We now have 3 beautiful boys adopted internationally. One just came home after 4 1/2 years of fighting to bring him home! We found out about him in 2008 at 2 months old. We never gave up, fought, prayed, and prayed some more. It’s a miracle he came home this past August 2012. Our little guy is celebrating his 1st Christmas this year at the age of 5. His eyes were so very bright when we put up our tree. Amazing Grace!!! My husband is my hero…always holding me up when I didn’t think I could take one more step. Love your blog Ann. My hero even reads it with me. :)
I am thankful to my husband. I have been ill for almost 3years & he is my caregiver.
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