10 Things of Thankful . . .

are sometimes very hard to find, let alone think about.
When life starts handing you the pits, instead of the cherries, all the stuff that can weigh you down can get in front of what's still good in your life. 
But, if you just take a few minutes, and try to think of the pluses, instead of the minuses, it's amazing how many things you can come up with.
So here are my cherries:

I'm thankful that God had such a sense of humour that he made me. I know he has a sense of humour, because I do, too, under all the pits :)

Start as you mean to go on? :)

I'm thankful that I was given the gift of carrying a child for 9 months under my heart. Having been told I'd never have children, this was such a gift for me that I still thank God every day for my beautiful, amazing girl :)

Hubby, & Brex at 1 hour old :)

I'm thankful for a husband who is so unselfish that he always puts myself and our child before himself. My hubby is an amazing man, and we will be married for 30 years in October - and I love him even more than I did at the beginning and, even better, he loves me like that, too :)

True Love :)

I'm thankful for a warm, dry house. We lived in so many places that were falling down around our ears - houses that weren't that old, but so badly built that we had to battle mould or drafts all the time. We now live in a 300 year old house that is as warm, and snug, as we need, and wanted :)

Fred, guarding the house :)

I'm thankful for the gift of love that our dog, a Jack Russell Terrier called Fred Barker, gives unstintingly to us. He will be 19 next march. He is as deaf as a post, and is so arthritic he has a job stepping over the tiny lip on his bed but, the minute he sees either of us, his tail wags, and he gives us that amazing doggy smile we fell in love with when we first rescued him 18 years ago. 

Fred, aged 10.

I'm thankful for our cat, Kushka, who was rescued as a tiny kitten. We took her into our home, and our hearts, when she was barely 6 weeks old, and had to keep feeding her replacement milk for a month as she had been in such a bad way. She'll be 5 next birthday, and she is my constant companion, lying as close beside me as she can - she has always seemed to be aware that sitting on me would only bring pain. She purrs like an engine when pain takes me over, as if she is trying her best to soothe me, and she has always been there for me, no matter what.

Kushka, breaking in the new cover I crocheted :)

I'm thankful for the gift of crochet. I hadn't crocheted before I started to learn last July, and had got into a bad place in my head when I'd had to give up knitting and cross-stitch, as my hands couldn't cope with either any more, so to find that I was able to hold a crochet hook enough to use it, was a fantastic thing to happen to me :)

My Spring Fling cushion cover.

I'm thankful for the internet, as it took me out of myself, and brought a world full of the most amazing people into my life, and into my heart. After I got housebound, the world became a very drab place, as I had come from a large family, so was used to company, and noise, and all the other things that come with family life. I had always loved visiting all of our many friends homes, and going places and seeing people whenever I chose to, so to be housebound was a kind of torture for me but, once I had the internet in my home, it opened up a world of possibilities I couldn't have imagined - and also enabled me to keep in touch with my daughter, wherever in the world she goes :)

Brex, in an Amazonian village, in Peru :)

I'm thankful for the bounty of things that surround me, for internet shopping, for a free health system that is very much needed for me now, for the chance to be able to do what I can to stay focussed on the future, so that I can stay true to myself, and true to God.

Me, on our 29th wedding anniversary :)

I'm thankful for the chance to have lived this life that I have - whether good or bad! To have been born in a time, and a place, where women are able to make whatever life they dream of, and for the chance to be able to have my voice heard all around the world.