5 things I'm thankful for

Have you seen this on facebook?  Every day people post 5 things they are thankful for.  There are a few people in my feed doing it and I always love seeing the things they find extraordinary in the ordinary days.  I love the attitude of gratefulness for the smallest of things.  So I was inspired yesterday when I was driving down the road (NOT looking at facebook), to chronical these small victories that are consequential to my life.  Here they are in no particular order.  And if you've been around here long, you'll know how big these really are.

1. My freedom.  I live in America.  People fight to keep me safe.  They don't even know me!  And they do it anyway.  Man I'm lucky.  And so are you, American readers.  I'm thankful I can speak my mind without dying for my words.

2. The results are in.  "No genetic mutations were found"  I had to read it outloud about 12 times to let it sink in.  It was bitter sweet.  Because I am THANKFUL that I do not have the BRCA1 gene, like one of my sisters.  But then again, solidarity, man.  I would have been happy to walk along side her in her struggles.  So now, I walk alongside her and listen.... to anything she has to say.  And I love her and pray for her and thank God every day that my sister won't have these two types of cancer to deal with in the future. I'm thankful for my sister.  And I'm thankful for not carrying the "breast cancer gene".

3. My "accidental" new business.  See, the beauty here is that God knows my heart.  He knows that I love to create and share it with other people.  So He orchestrated this amazing thing called the Farm Girl Fair and now He has inspired us girls to start a new dream... called Gatherings.  We will mostly "gather" on the farm and for now, we will "gather" for short classes.  But in the big dream, we will host weekend-long "Gatherings" complete with many handmade crafts, meals over campfires, and even live music.  It's a big dream!  But I believe it can happen.  Because who knew how big Farm Girl Fair would be and yet..... it was awesome!  Do you want to attend our inaugural class?  Here are the deets.  I'm thankful for Gatherings by the creators of Farm Girl Fair.

4. I'm thankful for my husband.  He's this goofy, sports-loving, family man who loves me and our family with a love we don't even deserve.  He's committed, passionate, hard working, and occasionally funny.  ;)  He works really hard at his business and he's blessed the socks off our family with a new home this year.  He is a good man.  And he loves Jesus!  What more could I ask for?  I'm thankful for the Mister.

5. And last but not at all least, yesterday we visited the pediatric spine surgeon.  He is this great guy who is so unassuming and gentle in nature.  We have loved working with him.  In the way that you love having to go have someone tell you that your child has an abnormality in their back.  Anyway, we've been with him for 4 years now and for the last 9 months we've been stepping up our prayers in a mighty way.  We've been on our knees asking God to STOP the growth of her curvature.  She has two curves and they cause her a good amount of pain daily.  But if they didn't stop growing, she was close to surgery.  You know, no big deal, the kind of surgery where they slice open your back from top to bottom, RIP the muscles off your spine and fuse a metal rod to your spine.  Bleh, I threw up in my mouth a little telling you this.  Anyway, yesterday he told us the MOST AMAZING news.  Her curvature has STOPPED GROWING!  ThankyouJesus!!  Such great news.  She's still and never has been a candidate for a brace based on the placement of her curves.  And she's grown now as tall as she'll ever be.  But she's grown!  According to their measurement, she's 5' 8" now!  Woohoo!  I'm thankful for a daughter who will not be having surgery this year.

Yes, I'm thankful.  Very thankful.