Well, that time of year has rolled around again, and I daresay has gotten here even quicker than the last!  I suppose this is one more sign that I am getting just a bit older.  And with that thought I will begin my incomplete inventory of things, in no special order, for which I am giving thanks this year…

- That I am one year older

- That no one in my household or immediate family was hospitalized for more tha  12 hours this year

- For Grace Church of Clarksburg… I can’t believe we are coming up on one year together!  This really has become the dearest place on earth for me, even though we meet in a rented elementary school.  Isn’t God good?

- For being able to celebrate the high school graduation of my daughter Hannah!

- For complete healing for my son Joseph when he had to have surgery as well as   for healing four of my children following the extraction of 13 wisdom teethcollectively this summer and thereby finance the oral surgeon’s trip to the Riviera or where ever he chose to go… (Anyone who spends their days doing this kind of work deserves a great vacation!)

- For the opportunity to travel to Golden, CO for a film shoot with Craft Daily and to spend some special time with my best friend & hubby driving through the Rocky Mountains this summer

- Making memories while driving with a carload of friends & family to the White Mountains, tent camping in a storm, packing wet gear and then attending the CGOA Conference in Manchester, NH

- For electricity that I mindlessly use in all things that include cooking, cleaning, and just about everything else… Thanks and glory be to God for bringing me into the world during the 20th century and not one century before! 

- For a car that usually starts when I want it to, and for being able to afford the fuel that makes it run… One quick flashback to my childhood days reminds me that this was not always the case for me, and is not an automatic “given” for many folks today.

- For affordable yarn and kind publishers who said, “Yes” to publishing some of my designs, especially for F + W Media taking a chance on my and my first book…

- For the internet which allows me to communicate with some of the most amazing people on the planet who are called “crocheters…”  Words will never be adequate for me to express thanks for the countless times your words of encouragement about a design or stitch helped to lift my spirits and keep me going.  I hope to never grow tired or become too busy to return the blessing right back to you!

- For the blessing of living in one of the freest parts of the entire world, one where 4 of my children are now able to join me in voting (2 for the first time this year) to help choose our leaders and representatives…  So many in the world today will NEVER know this kind of privilege or freedom.

- That my greatest problem that I will ever have in this life has already been taken care of by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when He died in my place for my sin on the Cross at Calvary.