Thankful Tuesday

Today I am thankful for:

1.  The Leonards
Bill, Leigh, Blake, and Ross are driving to their new home in Baltimore.  Each family member is friends with us and a blessing in a different way, and they will be missed.  Today I give thanks both for the family and the new roadtrip destination to go visit the Leonards.

2.  Jo
One of my dearest friends is ill.  We used to live next door to Jo Throckmorton and though we moved, we kept coming back to see her.  She is hands down, the most grateful person I have had the pleasure of knowing.  She's also the most gracious at dodging questions about her age.  Jo is elderly, blind, and widowed, but thanks God for everything she has daily.  Yesterday it was both humbling and eye-opening to me to see her at a rehabilitation hospital, frail in a wheelchair expressing gratitude.  I think we often think of elderly people are eternal because they've been around all our lives.  They aren't, though, and I'm going to conciously try to soak up all the Jo I can while I can.

3.  Cuteness
Today is Paul's first basketball game.  I believe that sums it up.

4.  Listening friends
Yesterday our friend Alli invited us over for a pool playdate.  The kids splashed on one end of the pool and Alli and I talked on the other.  Due to schedule, it's been a long time since I've done that with anyone.  I was grateful to go blah blah blah blah blah.  And she listened!

5.  Empathetic readers
My dear friend Stacy, who's put up with me for more than half my life now, is also one I'm thankful for.  I can e-mail her a long list of stuff at 5 a.m. and she will read it all and respond.  It's nice to have someone to send whatever's on my mind and have her reply in the same fashion, and not through a forward.

6.  Captain Midnight Sugar Dot Express
We still haven't found his original owner after a week of actively looking for them.  However, he's fun to play with and tolerates the kids quite well.  Adam's not really grateful for getting bitten the other night, but I'm pretty sure they've made up.  We'll put up new flyers this week, but we might just have a new family member.

7.  Costco coffee
You can get a 32 oz bag for $10, and it's just as good as Starbucks beans.  I love Costco!

8.  Easy-going kids
Paul is currently asleep on the floor.  Since we put him to bed last night, he's slept in his bed for a few hours, our bed for a few hours, the couch for a while, and now the floor.  He's sleeping soundly.  I love that the kids aren't picky. 

9. Mama Joy and Papa Charles
They'll be over here soon to watch the kids while I go to church to work for a few hours.  This young couple is our babysitters on call.  We don't have family members that are able to babysit like that, so we are blessed with wonderful friends.  Mama Joy always brings crafts to make with Claire and Papa Charles plays with Paul's trainset.  We are all grateful for their friendship.

10.  A Crystal-Clear Pool
I know I've mentioned the pool before, but today I am thankful for Adam's engineering of the perfect balance of chemicals.  Our water is beautiful and crystal clear.  From where I am sitting indoors, I can look out the window and see the bottom of the deep end.  It is gorgeous.  Besides being an ace at balancing a checkbook, my husband is awesome at balancing chemicals in the pool.  He puts the ph in phool.  (My apologies for the bad joke.)