Thankful Thursday
Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being... The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD. (from Psalm 146)

1. I'm extremely thankful for getting to worship two times at Steve Wilkins' church last Sunday, and for the after-worship supper/hymn sing. In the evening service, Pastor Wilkins preached on the importance of the Church calendar, stressing that how we mark time will shape us - and we will mark the passage of time one way or another. If we don't live by the Church's year, then we'll live by the State's.

2. Last Thursday, I meant to post in this spot that I was thankful for opportunities to grow in patience, opportunities to grow in kindness, and opportunities to grow in gentleness. You see, I was having a difficult time getting all the sewing done, even with all the help from my daughter and our guest. I didn't finish everything for the ball that I had meant to, but in spite of that, everyone had something nice to wear. I did get the ball gown for my eldest finished, though we didn't have time to sew in the twenty-odd hooks and eyes that were supposed to close the thing up, so I just sewed her up in it. It worked fine and we have pictures. Maybe I'll post some later, after the shell-shock wears off. The ball was great fun and I'm thankful for everything surrounding it - the people we met, the excitement of the whole event including all the last-minute sewing, the music... Oh, did I mention that I danced with Steve Wilkins?

3. Tomorrow we have to take Miss Kelly M. back home. No, I'm not thankful for that, but I am thankful for the time she's been able to visit with us, I'm thankful for her friendship and her example of ladylike behavior to my daughters (and to myself - who am I kidding?), and that while we're in Oklahoma, we'll get to attend the graduation of our other "Kelly-friend," Miss Kelly G, who is graduating from Oklahoma University this Saturday.

And a bonus thankful thing - in light of all the recent activity, I'm thankful that we will still have a whole week of Advent left after we get home from Oklahoma, and that we'll have twelve days of Christmas after that!