Thankful Thursday:

The days and weeks and months continue to be busy – but good.

This week I’m thankful…

…for safe travels
Daniel’s Grandpa died a couple weeks ago and his funeral and burial were on Thursday and Friday of last week. Then my sister-in-law had a baby shower in Lincoln on Saturday – which meant we did a whole lot of traveling over the course of three days (something around a thousand miles.) In all our travels, our vehicle worked, we stayed well, and Tirzah Mae didn’t even complain too loudly about being stuck in her car seat!

…for precious last memories
By the time I met Daniel, his grandpa was already frail and housebound. Grandpa’s memory was failing and he repeated himself frequently. I can tell funny little anecdotes of the times we’ve visited, but the funny is tinged with quite a lot of sadness. But it just so happens that we visited Jack just one week before he died. No one had any idea how soon Jack would leave us – but I’m so glad we had that last visit. One day, I can tell Jack’s great-grandchildren about the last time Daniel and I visited him before he died. Jack asked the old familiar questions about jobs and families – but the overarching theme of his conversation was thankfulness. He was thankful for his wife and all the hard work she did bringing children into the world and raising them. He was thankful for his children, that God had given him five. “Are you going to have more?” he asked me, forgetting that I’d already told him we were expecting. “They’re worth a million bucks” he said. Precious memories I can pass on to our children.

…for ending and beginning with Betsy
Sure, we’ll probably do a thing or two more before we actually sell her, but we’ve got enough done with Betsy (our old house) that we’re ready to put her on the market. It’s a tremendous relief to me.

…for providential timing
Tirzah Mae rarely sits in her booster seat unless I’m sitting beside her eating – but it just so happens that she was still sitting in her chair from dinner (or already in her chair before second breakfast) when I dropped a glass bowl and a ceramic bowl on the floor (on two separate occasions). Since she was in her chair, I could clean up the shattered remnants of the bowls without worrying about her safety.

…for the one after whom all families are named
I’m moving along to memorize a second of Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians – this one in Ephesians 3. Paul writes

“For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named…”
~Ephesians 3:14-15 (ESV)

It’s encouraging to remember that God is the author of every family. May our small family reflect Him more and more.