A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings

Before I begin my thanks for the week, I'd like to ask you to keep our host, Judy, & her family in your prayers. Her father passed away last week, so she is taking a blogging break to spend time w/ her family & mourn his passing.
Judy, our thoughts & prayers are w/ you & your family during this time of mourning.

My dear blogging friend, Judy, over at A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings, hosts this meme every Wednesday. Simply list five things (or a prayer or any thoughts) for which you are truly thankful this week. Voicing my thanks helps put my life in perspective & realize that, no matter how bad things might be, there is still MUCH good surrounding me.

1) I'm thankful for a great weekend filled w/ family! We spent Friday night w/ Casinodad's family at his sister's house, Sat. & Sun. evenings at my parents, & Monday here at home as a family. I am very proud of how well the munchkins handled being out late every night.

2) I'm thankful for the men & women (past & present) who have fought for the freedoms we are able to enjoy.

3) I'm thankful for the wonderful online retreat my dear blogging buddy, Colleen, has put together. She has a wonderful way of putting a new perspective on scripture passages & thoughts that we've heard for years. Go to Catholic Prayer Life, her personal website, to sign up for the retreat & find other sources of great inspiration.

4) I'm thankful for the faith-filled love & witness to marriage my parents have displayed. On June 25th, they celebrated 45 years of marriage. Their parish is throwing a party for them this coming Saturday (including an early diaconate anniversary for HandyGramps...he will celebrate 30 years in January). HelpfulGrammy thinks their parish is overdoing it a bit, but I told her absolutely not! In this day & age, where so many people take marriage so lightly & rush into divorce, getting to 45 years is a great accomplishment.

5) I'm thankful that, despite being tired & having trouble waking in the morning, I've been able to accomplish quite a bit this week (stay tuned to my Small Successes tomorrow!) My Facebook status for yesterday was:

It's been over 2 weeks since I got home from San Diego & I'm still not adjusted to Ohio time. My bum has been dragging worse than a sumo wrestler on a Radio Flyer! ...a Radio Flyer pulled by a 3 yo on a tricycle!