A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings

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 dear college friends & the closeness we still share over 15 years later. We three couples try to get together at least 3 times a year (Memorial Day, Labor Day, & New Year's Eve), alternating homes each time. We'd love to get together more often, but two of the guys are band directors & VERY busy during the last half of summer & all of fall. It's always fun to catch up & enjoy each other's company. Plus, all of our kids are around the same ages & they LOVE to play together!

2) I'm thankful for this wonderful, crisp weather we've had lately. I just love having the house opened up & inhaling the freshness of fall. (Not too fond of all the allergies, though!)

3) I'm thankful for Goodwill stores! I took The Prophet on Sun. afternoon because he really needs some pants for fall & winter. I spent $19.04 total for the following items: 3 pairs of pants for him, 2 shirts (one for each of the other boys), a top & dress for The Princess, two tops for me, a darling skirt for me, a veggie peeler, & three books (Animal Farm, Cyrano de Bergerac, & a book on visitations from Mary). Plus, The Prophet found a large plastic tub of mostly Legos for $1.29, which would probably retail for at least $50. How awesome is all that?

4) I'm VERY thankful for all the help from HelpfulGrammy lately. She is definitely living up to her name here on my blog.

5) I'm thankful for a peaceful Sunday this past weekend. As much as I hate to admit it, Sundays for some reason tend to be quite stressful, esp. in the mornings before church. That is usually the day the munchkins sleep in (even though they're up way too early the rest of the week), so we end up rushing around to get to Mass on time & everyone is stressed & arguing w/ each other. This past Sunday was great...everyone was up on time, they got ready when asked, & everyone was happy. And a big plus...both older boys told me at Mass that they felt God calling them during the first reading (Ezekiel 33:7-9) to share God w/ their friends. That afternoon, The Prophet even went to talk to one of the neighbor boys.