Thankfulness

We have been enjoying some mild (50s/60s at night and 70s/80s during the day) so we decided to head out to the park one morning to enjoy some outside time. Isaiah was so proud of himself for swinging on the big kid swing without falling off. Savannah who loves to swing was doing a great job of encouraging him.

 We then headed to the blankets to read and play. Ellie is loving playing and crawling outside so she had fun. Savannah has been an all-star reader lately and both she and Isaiah will sit for a while and read/listen to Savannah, it is such a sweet thing to watch. We have been reading several read alouds the past few weeks and Savannah has been reading chapters of the Little House on the Prairie books and the Boxcar Children to me with no help at all and no problem with any words. I actually have to slow her down often because she gets so excited and reads fast without pausing for punctuation. Yesterday I decided to take the morning to really clean the house since Ellie is crawling all over now and Savannah sat down and read for 3+ hours. We are so thankful for our decision to homeschool this year to give her the freedom to learn at her own pace and to spend the day reading all day if that is what she wants to do. It's so fun to learn your childs learning styles, likes and dislikes and cater how we teach to that. We are so incredibly proud of her!

 Daddy asked Isaiah if he was going to walk to Tahlequah (Where the Red Fern Grows). He didn't quite get the reference! I think it was the overalls and bare feet, they are adorable.

 A sweet pictures of our 3 loves!

Ms. Ellie busy crawling. This morning I left her in her room and came back a few minutes later and she was gone. I found her in the bathroom heading for the toilet (why do all kids automatically head for the toilet?). I will try to take a video of her crawling and add it soon. We took her to the Dr. for her 6 month appt. this week and she is almost 18 pounds! She has been eating more solid food in the last 2 weeks and likes most of what we give her now. She is still waking up at night (the other night it was 4 times) but I am learning to rely on the Lord for my strength during those days where I haven't had continuous sleep! She is getting rest and is happy during the day so for that I am thankful.

We have really had a great few weeks with the kids, they have had sweet, loving hearts to each other and us and are just really a joy. About a month and a half ago we had a few rough weeks with lots of temper tantrums, negative heart issues and strained family times dealing with bad attitudes. I have been really praying for their hearts and praying for our time to be enriching and to point them back to Lord and His Glory and Goodness. I am extremely thankful for God's grace and mercy to give us such sweet time with the kids.We love them so much and are so thankful for them each day. I have found that enjoying the moments with them in everything we do is such a powerful way of making me be thankful and grateful for them and not taking my time with them for granted. We are in a great, thankful place right now and for that I am grateful today!

Recently I have been thinking about gratefulness so much more than normal because we have known 2 people who have been shot and killed in the past 6 weeks and a sweet little 2 year old girl that attends our church has cancer and her family has been adjusting to their new normal of chemo and hospitals. I was able to serve one of the families who had a loved one murdered and the family of the girl with cancer by taking them food earlier this week. Let me tell you it knocked me down to my knees in prayer to the Lord. The hope and trust they have in the Lord is unwavering and they are thankful and grateful in their circumstances. I can only choose the same in our sweet blessed time as a family. What are you thankful for today? I am thankful for forgiveness from my sins, grace that has saved me and mercy that is new each morning.