Year-end Thankfulness

Good morning and welcome to the last Thankful Thursday of 2016.  Everyone has been grumbling about what an awful year this has been and I'll agree it's had its trials, but taking a look back at Thankful Thursday posts proves there was also a lot that was good.  It's like all those articles and books you see on positive thinking, gratitude, and the like say....When you focus on the negative, you condition your mind to only see the bad, but when you purposely focus on the positive you train your mind to seek the good.  Your outlook is really up to you.

This week I am thankful...

* for this little guy....

for having him living nearby and a part of our lives so often and being able to babysit when we're needed.

*  for the relaxing week my husband and I have been having while he's on vacation.  We haven't done anything huge or exciting, but it's a quiet time we've needed.

*  that expensive as it was, we have the insurance and the funds to cover the cost of hubby's visit to the dentist.  The poor guy has terrible, soft teeth and has needed MAJOR work done for years.  He finally went and in three weeks he will go back to have all of his upper teeth pulled and some of the lower teeth and AT THE SAME TIME (!) receive a full upper plate and a partial lower one.  Sheesh! They told him he will not be able to eat solid food for a couple of weeks, but I am so glad he's getting it done.  I sort of suspect that his teeth have been part of his problem with his health in other areas.

*  that our daughter finally has dental insurance and is going to see our dentist today.  Poor girl has her father's teeth and pregnancy was not good for them. She has battled a toothache the whole way through.

*  for a new pair of Keen hiking shoes.  I was looking for Merrell's but these were on sale and they have amazing arch support that will, hopefully, ease the foot pain I struggle with.  I'm hoping they might even enable me to do some walking.

*  for abundance.  I went from not having a printer at all to getting TWO for Christmas!

*  that my husband's work has mostly left him alone this week and he hasn't been tempted to go check on things.

*  that my husband hasn't been sad in this week in which we remembered the anniversaries of both his mother's and his brother's deaths.

*  that my good friend's husband came home from the hospital yesterday.  He went in for a heart cath before Christmas and ended up having emergency open heart surgery.  The doctor couldn't believe he was alive, saying there was no viable reason for him to be walking around.  (My friends are also people of great faith and a pastor and teacher....they know why he is still walking around.)  There have been a few rough patches and even one touch and go moment, but he came home yesterday.  It will be a long, hard recovery, but it is better than the alternative!

*  for new books!  I got the new Mary Higgins Clark and the new James Rollins for Christmas.

*  for a wonderful day with our family on Christmas Eve.

*  for all of you!

Please visit Rebecca Jo at Knit by God's Hand to join in Thankful Thursday.