100th Post!

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100:4-5

I can't believe we've made it to 100 posts...and you're still reading! In honor of this 100th post and the ever exciting approaching Thanksgiving, I'm going to list things I'm thankful for. I’ve just been adding to this list as Thanksgiving approaches, so there may be more items added each day. Please don't feel like you have to read through this whole list, it's mostly for reminding me how blessed I am. So here 'tis, the serious, the not so serious, the good, bad and ugly.

1. Mercy. How could I not be? Jumping right in, but facts are facts. I am a sinner, with sinful thoughts and actions and a sinful nature. I am eternally thankful for the gift of mercy from our amazing Father. It is the most selfless, most priceless gift and He gave it to me, and every other soul on this earth. Thank you God for loving me that much.

2. Ross Emory. An amazing blessing that I thank God for sending me. He's my best friend and my favorite person by far to hang out with. He's smart, talented, witty, handsome (yes, I really do think he looks like the new James Bond...he's going to kill me for putting that), and the best husband I could have ever wished for.

3. Luke Sawyer. That smile does me in every time, but I just love this little guy more than I could have ever imagined. He's sweet hugs and voice I can't get enough of. When he wants me to sit with him and just talk, I hang onto those moments, because I know they won't always be there. We have such fun and I so look forward to watching him grow.

4. Our parents. Ross and I both agree that we were so blessed with our upbringing. Both our parents did such a great job to instill values, morals and the truth of God into our lives. We are so thankful for that. Plus, we really enjoy hanging out with them. It's great as adults getting to be "friends" with your parents now and also seeing them as grandparents has been so fun. Oh, what they let that little guy get away with, but I know he's captured their hearts just like he has ours. We love you mom's and dad's!

5. The Bros: Well, this is more obligatory...oh just kidding. I'm not even sure if our brothers read this, but despite sibling abuse as children, our realtionships with the bros is something to cherish. I have no doubt they would both be there for us in a heartbeat if we asked them to be and they both love "little foot" as much as anybody. They are both great guys, with a strong work ethic, but really fun personalities.

6. Granny's, Mimi, Jinger, Nanny, Pop, Poppy, Bacca, PawPaw's: Again, Ross and I have both been blessed with wonderful grandparents. Did they spoil us? Of course, but we would love them just as much if they didn't. I have such fond memories of getting to spend the night at my grandparents houses (when they both lived in Midland) and what fun we had. Special Mickey Mouse pancakes and getting my nails painted. Now, I'm so blessed to have great realtionships with them and even though two of my grandfather's have passed away, I have wonderful, wonderful memories of them that I plan to share with Luke when he's old enough. And they truly are the "greatest" of great-grandparents!!

7. The Fam: what great aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins we have. We always have a blast together and I only wish we could see each other more. We have been blessed by their lives and stories and look forward to many more together.

8. Childhood friends: This is special to me (and Ross). We both have lifelong friendships with friends from way back when...and I mean way back. I met Heather and Holly in 2nd grade and it was a match made in Glenwood Dr. Heaven. :) It's so funny how through the different phases of life, we've always remained close, even a grade apart. I know I must have been annoying tagging along some of those years, but they stuck with me. And now, to share in our kids being so close in age (oh, but if we lived closer)...true blessing. I just love those girls, they really are my sisters. And Ross meeting Marc on his first day of school in Midland and deciding they should be friends...what a story. They too have stood the test of time, distance and different phases of life, but still remain the greatest of friends and still like to cook up all kinds of schemes. Niki, I don't know how you kept those two out of trouble. I'm so glad Marc and Trisha finally made it to Dallas though as it has been such a blessing having them close and becoming such great friends with Trisha...AND we get to meet their sweet baby girl soon...so excited!! Then there's Melissa (summer camp 6th grade) and Amy (pretty much friends from birth) who I love to keep in touch with. Ross still keeps in touch with Jesse and Stephen...and when they get together, there's usually something brewing.

9. Newer Friends, but oh so great friends: When we moved to D-town I really didn't know how we would find close friends. We were newly married, which was great, but still wanted couple friends to hang out with. Well, God gave us just that. We joined the Heights and got plugged into a small group. To this day we are still in the same small group with two of those couples the Widmers (fellow Ags at that) and Reddings (Raiders...I don't know how it works, but it does). :) God sure has blessed us with our friendships with them. On top of that, we've made even more amazing friends in our "new" small group and ABF. Lifelong friends at that. It really has done our marriage good to have these friends and we are so thankful for that answered prayer.

10. Jobs: simple, but true, we are both blessed with employment, that pays...his a teensy bit more than mine. We both love our jobs and love the people we work with (especially my "little people" they are so good for the soul. We are so thankful that we get to enjoy "what we do."

11. The good ole' USA. I am SOOOO very thankful that I live here. I just got an email the other day describing how Christian missionaries were being murdered, children and women too. I'm so thankful Luke is able to learn about God and not be persecuted for it (at least not at this point in time). Sure there are things I don't like about our country, but I can tell you with 100% certainty I would not want to live anywhere else...plus I really like being a Texan too!

12. Our health. I know that this is a blessing that can change in a milli-second, but right now, I am thankful for our families health mentally and physically. My prayer is that I don't take advantage of that, and that I use it for good to honor Him.

13. Our home: I know a lot of people do not have a place to call home and if they do it might not consists of walls, roofs, doors, windows. Not to mention central air/heat, hot running water, backyards and so many other luxuries. I'm thankful that I feel safe here and that Luke is able to have fun in our home and enjoy it. I know it's as temporary as the next moment, but I do love our sanction and thank the Lord he has provided it for us.

14. Timber and Jackson: aka the Camry and 4Runner. The pre-mentioned H&H and I have always named our vehicles, thus are the names of our cars. Heather's really cracks me up...her Camry is named Beyonce. :) Anyways, I'm thankful for currently running and paid for cars that get us to and from most comfortably. They allow us to go to work everyday and visit our out of town family and friends. And I'm including a thankful for gas prices going down too in this one.

15. Insurance: I know this may seem boring, but I tell you, I'm so thankful for this. Yes, it's expensive, but not near as expensive as medical bills. I would love to see our nation get on national healthcare, but I have no idea how that would even begin. Maybe our next leader can work on that, and couple other 100 things.

16. Fall: My favorite season. Love the leaves changing colors, love the cooler weather that allows you to start wearing love sleeves and possibly, maybe a fleece, love hot chocolate and love that Christmas is coming soon!!!

17. Christmas! My favorite holiday! I love Christmas Eve the most, going to the Christmas Eve services and worshiping our Father for sending his precious son. I love buying and getting gifts, just because I love to show people how much I love them in this way and see their reactions. Love Christmas lights too...with a fire in the background.

18. My Point of Grace Christmas CD: It needed it's own line item. Ross gave this to me our first Christmas dating and I don't know how it still works. I'll probably start listening to it the week before Thanksgiving. Now I'm getting all tingly thinking about Christmas.

19. Countdown to Christmas: seeing a theme? This is not shameless plugging, because I am on the decorating committee. I truly love it! Our church hosts this event in early November and it's such fun getting to go to dinner with your girlfriends, shop at cute little booths and then hear a great speaker remind us to enjoy the season, remember why we celebrate it and to make it as stress free as possible. Why not I ask you?

20. Christmas Movies: Well, I am on a roll. But I am thankful for them. Again, reminder, not all of these are serious things, but I am thankful for them none the less. My favorite: White Christmas. The funniest: Christmas Vacation. I really love them all though.

21. My bed. It's the best. Ross says it's the best thing we ever bought....and I agree. It's huge and tall and not too firm, not too soft. The only problem is, every morning I really, really don't want to get out of it.

22. Chick Fil A: for Polynesian sauce, diet d.p.'s that always taste good, cookies and cream milkshakes and somewhere I can take Luke and he has a blast for fairly cheap.

23. Sharpies: I love them for labeling, for writing and that they come in all different colors now. It's always great to have a Sharpie nearby.

24. For Taylor Jay. I really didn't mean to put her down on the list so low. So the rule is the list isn't in order of importance, because this would be around #10 I think. She's so faithful, so sweet and such the best napping partner...ask anyone who's taken a nap with her. Plus I love her sweet face and dark brown eyes, she's my girl!

25. Lakes: Boy do I love going to the lake. I grew up going every summer and just remember at the end of each day being sunburned, exhausted, freshly showered, and freshly fed and it being the best feeling in the world. As I get older, I've gotten spoiled with the concept of lake houses and really "roughing it." I love the dusk when the sun glimmers on the water and it all starts to calm down. My wish (big wish) would be for Ross and I to have a house one day of our own to share with our kids...I can dream right?

26. Books: I love a good book, I really do. It amazes me how creative and diligent people are to write books, but I'm so glad they do. I love romance, mystery and the Harry Potter series. At this moment my favorite all time book is "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers...if you haven't read it, do and that's all I'm going to say.

27. Chai Tea Latte: or whoever invented it. It's a new found fav and I'm thankful to have this special treat now that the weather's getting cooler.

28. Our ABF: Ross and I have both said on several occassions how much we enjoy all of the couples in our ABF. Some we have known for "years" - which means approximately 5 years, but others we have only met in the past year or two and have been as equally as blessed by knowing them. There is so much wisdom in our group, spunk, humor and humbleness...it's a true blessing to be a part of it.

29. The front step outside: This little step has become a favorite blessing of mine because everyday Luke will go outside with me to get the mail and while I look through everything he gets to run around in the front yard. After a moment though, he will come sit next to me on the step and just talk and talk and talk. And laugh. I love it! I cherish it!

30. Texas A&M: I know this may seem cliché, but I’m so thankful that I was even able to attend college, much less such a great one. I fell in love with A&M instantly. With the historic buildings and lush green, and then with the people. There is so much friendliness and comoradity, instantly. Even though when I went there were around 45,000 other students, it still had it’s times of feeling like just a small town. I loved the midnight yell practices, and Saturday football games. I love that my bus route was “Reville” and that wearing overalls was pretty much expected. And it’s where Ross and I fell in love…sigh! I would totally live there if I could.

31. Chocolate: chocolate milk, hot chocolate, chocolate candy…love it!

32. Fleece: It’s just so soft and comfy…a classic in my book.

33. Christmas shopping: Lord, help me though if I don’t stop buying stuff for myself instead of getting my shopping done for others…yikes!

34. Library: See above thankfulness of books, now I just get to read them for free. Plus, the Allen library has a fantastic kids section with lots of books on CD. Check out Miss Jo.

35. Mexican Food: I can’t get enough of it, but my absolute favorite place to go is Lupe Tortilla in Houston. They have the best fajitas hands down…better than Rosa’s and that’s no lie.

36. Running water and plumbing: I’ve been reading a favorite blog of mine and her family just got back from a missions trip and while reading their stories, I am SO very thankful that we live in a place with plumbing and cleanliness…what a huge convenience and luxury.

37. Sunsets: It reminds me so much of how awesome and wonderful and glorious our God is, everyday. I love their beauty and how big they are…especially in West Texas.

38. Hot showers: If you've ever taken a cold one, you know, a hot shower is a luxury never to be overlooked.

39. Socks: As the weather is getting colder and colder, I am so thankful for all clothes…I have way too many…more than I absolutely need! But I am thankful for socks, to keep those tootsies warm, especially at night!

40. Mia Jo: Our friends, Marc and Trisha, just had a beautiful baby girl a few days ago. She is beautiful…and such a miracle of a blessing to them and everyone who knows her. God is so good and we are so thankful for our friends and their sweet baby girl!

41. The CDC: I am thankful for a job where I get to see the sweetest smiling faces everyday, and this includes my co-workers too! It really is an amazing environment to work in and you would think that working with pre-schoolers people would be pulling their hair out right and left, but everyone just takes what they get with a laugh (99% of the time) and moves along. Our directors are very involved and look out for their teachers, which is so helpful. Plus, I get to have Luke there with me and he loves his class and teachers…it’s such a blessing!

And another great blessing is this week I have off from school to finish this!! More to come I’m sure as the thanksgivings keep rolling in!