This afternoon the kids and I found ourselves locked out of our own house and the only other key is 12 hours north of here and the car in the driveway had a flat and I didn't have my cellphone on me. Instead of getting down about the situation, it got me thinking of all the things I am thankful for...

- An understanding of sin... The boys and I have been talking a lot about sin and I realized that understanding sin, accepting the fact that one was born into this world with sin, is a much more complicated concept to grasp than I once thought.

- An amazing counterpart... While I am thankful for my husband in millions of ways, one thing I have really been struck by lately is how wonderfully his personality completes mine as well as counteracts mine, in a good way. I am very thankful God picked him out for me.

- 3 kids who love each other... Though lately it seems like I have mostly been working with them on not fighting with each other, the rewards have been they do truly love each other and work so well together. Like when at a puppet show today Zeke was sitting next to Max as close as could be with his arm around his brother because if they sat that close they could both see the show. It was so sweet.

- Friends physically nearby... When we found ourselves locked out of the house today, my first thought was, "If we could just get to Wendy's house." (What about our technical neighbors? Not home yet.) But it was comforting to me, who was starting to freak out, to know that we did have good friends nearby and if they were home, they would, as they did, loving welcome us, let us play there while we waited for a locksmith. (Also, if the RAV and its flat tire wouldn't have worked, we could easily walk to their house.) They even invited us just to stay for 3 days until Josh's return! How nice! At church they have been talking a lot about living near each other to show community among the saints in our neighborhoods and this was a wonderful example in my heart of just that.

- Girl Scout Cookies sold at the gas station... We had to go in the gas station to get change to fill the flat on the RAV and while in there saw that they were selling Girl Scout Cookies. I love Girl Scout cookies. I haven't had them in years upon years. They are and were sooooo delicious!

- LAN lines... I never thought I would be thankful for LAN lines but with my husband out on an island kissing Canada the only reason I have been able to enjoy a short conversation with him each day is because of the LAN line. Yeah!

- Facebook... I don't know about your family, but lately our whole extended family has been getting on FB. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, etc, are all getting on there and it has been great to connect with them on a more frequent level. What fun!

- Pre-determined Dinner Menus... I generally make out a week's in advance menu for our dinners and when having finally gotten in the house today the last thing I wanted to do was think about what to make for dinner so looking at my menu and saying, "Ok, that is what I have on hand and what I am going to make" was about the nicest thing in the world. The only thing better would have been if I had pre-made frozen dishes like B&A.

- Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University... It has been over a year since we took this class and I tell you what, at the time, I DID NOT want to do it. Call it, um... pride? But, one year later, I would recommend this class to my older neighbor to Bill Gates to the random stranger at the library. SOOOO good. You can go to his website and find the next class being taught in your area, and I SOO recommend you doing it!

- Coming Home... I am so excited for where Josh is right now in northern MN and we miss him dearly here (I can't even recount how often that has been said amongst the 4 of us the l