God's gifts from Grandma's surprise

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be;
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

We sang this classic hymn in church this morning, and I was reminded how fitting it is in light of striving to be full of gratitude.  God is our fount of every blessing, and I'm a debtor only to His grace, so prone to wander.  Counting His blessings reminds me again of my need for Him, His grace to me.

And so, starting from last weekend, His moments of grace...

- Taking the kids to a craft fair, and having a wonderful time playing at the wooden toys booth

- Abel trying out sit ups on the kitchen floor (of course, while everyone was trying to get around him)

- Taking Adrianna to a birthday party and helping with "make overs"

- Scott and Adrianna helping me make gluten-free pasta

- Finding Abel reading

- Finding Adrianna making a bat sign

- Walking at dusk... what brilliant colors!

- Scott putting up our new Ikea wall sconces

- Adrianna's pretend invitation she made at school

- Making a thankful tree with Abel

...And him being thankful for bacon and eggs

...And him thanking God for "Abel's thankful tree -- over there!"

- Abel chowing down on romaine lettuce

- Scott helping Adrianna make her thankful tree

- Abel showing Scott his tree

- Making a hand  print pasta turkey with Abel

- Abel walking Rusty... they just seemed to understand each other

- Abel making his first card for Grandma's birthday

- Adrianna making her own card by herself

- Having Grandma over for a "breakfast for dinner" celebration

...And Adrianna sharing all of her home-made presents with her

- Surprising Julie with Scott's brother's family coming for a visit (a secret kept for weeks!)

...And reliving all the ways we kept it a secret

- Finding the bears Abel tucked  into bed

- Adrianna and Scott having fun with the Google turkey game

 - Adrianna and Natalie crafting together

- Adrianna sharing the scarf she spent weeks knitting with Natalie

- A sweet moment with Grandpa and Steven

- A goofy moment with Kevin and me

- The girls always dressing up

- Finding the boys reading together

- Another tractor hay ride

 ...And laughing at that funny dog on the hay

- Kevin helping Adrianna with Skip Bo

- And Grandpa teaching her Set Cubes

- Natalie and Adrianna helping me make an apple crisp, because somehow Natalie decided that she really wanted to make one

 - Making our second annual family Thanksgiving lists on Thanksgiving morning
...And the gift of finding how much more a habit gratitude is for me this year

- Taking a few minutes where all of us just stopped and enjoyed watching the family picture display

- Enjoying a quick game of MadLibs

- Finding a sweet moment with Mark and Natalie

- And another with Abel and Grandpa Steve

- Adrianna getting a bonus ATV ride with Grandpa while the others took their naps

- Grandma reading Peter Rabbit to the girls while the Thanksgiving dinner came together

- And Kevin reading to the boys

- Getting the kids to all sit to Thanksgiving meal
... And finding it humorous when Abel wanted to be done before the adults even got their food

- Enjoying the bounty of many hands and many hours in the kitchen

- Abel finding the Cetaphil jar, and greasing his own head

- Another moment with Grandpa

- And one with Mark helping Adrianna wash her hands

- Adrianna making "pens" for her petting zoo stamp animals

- Adrianna using room time to check her behavior, and making a swing set with Tinker Toys

- Abel discovering his love for Clifford

- The girls and Abel making a caterpillar (?) and chanting, "Don't copy us!" before squealing and running off

- Taking a day to head to the big city, but using it to do fun shopping and not just errands
... And meeting up with my in-laws there
...And treating Adrianna to goat cheese samples (and purchases, thanks to Grandma Julie!) all around Farmer's Market
- Going to the flea market, and having a great time on the wooden rockers

 - Making gluten-free crackers to use with all the new goat cheese, so that we could have a cracker and cheese dinner

- Finding a secret note on my grocery list

- The blessing of God's provision: a refrigerator full of food

- The continued battle with Adrianna's allergic reactions leading to emotional outbursts and irrational behavior (hard thanks)

- Doing number practice with Adrianna 

- Steve coming to assist Scott in hanging our curtains (Ruthie broke our blinds)

... And Steve asking, "What's she doing?" when I took his picture, and Scott instantly replaying, "Her thankful list!"

- Making a grocery cart with Tinker Toys

- Abel's Tinker Toy band

- Adrianna adding paint to her bird house for the third time

- Abel playing nicely with Adrianna's Barbie computer while I made dinner

- Finding a dessert Adrianna could have at a store, and Adrianna commenting, "These strawberries squeezes are awesome."

- Abel's comment to me: "Momma, finda Lightning 'Queen. Right back, K?"


And previous blessings not yet recorded...
- Abel saying, "Jesus died on the cross for Abel," every time he sees a cross
- Abel telling me, "Momma, I play Pokey, Pokey, Pokey," when he heard we were going to music time
- Adrianna using her camera to take pictures of a baby visiting our house
- Looking out my in-laws' window just in time to see a train of Grandpa, the two goats, and Abel heading for the goat pen