Thanksgiving 2010

This beautiful turkey, in his full glory, is courtesy of Tamara Gooch, AMAZING photographer and person.  Click here: for more of her western horse and wildlife photography.

Dear Lord, here is just a small beginning of a list of things I want to thank You for today: 

1. Your great Love for us
2. Jesus
3. Your Holy Spirit
4. Your Living Word
5. Your Salvation
6. Your mercy and your grace
7. giving us life and breath and Your Spirit
8. Your faithfulness
9. my Dad
10. my stepmother/spiritual mother
11. my children
12. my grandchildren
13. the perfect spouses for my kids
14. my half sisters and their kids and spouses
15. Your salvation and love and light You have given them all
16. for using my children as vessels of Your glory
17. allowing me to live long enough to see my kids grow up and to know my grandkids
18. the good friends you have given me throughout my life
19. the special friends I still have and their eternal salvations
20. for the awesome (and weird) bodies You housed us in and the 5 senses You gave us
21. the beautiful earth You put us on
22. for the sky; the moon and stars and clouds; the warmth of the sun, and rainbows
23. hearing and answering all of our prayers
24. for keeping me and all of my family and friends safe, even through all of our mistakes
25. giving me my heart's desire: allowing me to have and ride my beautiful horses
26. giving me dogs, cats, bird, hamsters, bunnies, goats, chickens, horned toads, dragons, and all the domestic and wild animals we have had and touched and seen
27. trees, flowers, saguaros, pines, and creatures and horses and butterflies
28. oceans, streams, rivers, waterfalls, ponds, dew, rain, snow, icicles
29. Your colors and gifts of creative expression
30. for Your gift of music and dance and gifting my boys with musical talent
31. my home and barn and car and refrigerator and water
32. Your provision for our every need
33. Your days and Your nights and allowing me to see them and feel them
34. allowing me to have time off of work to enjoy your blessings
35. the good medical care You have provided me
36. red dirt, Your canyons, mountains, valleys, meadows, forests, rocks
37. road trips and allowing us to go on them
38. all Your treasures on this earth and giving us the joy of discovering them and experiencing them
39. musical instruments
40. fire and the smell of wood burning and camp fires
41. phones, cameras, and all technology
42. all of your beautiful wild creatures on and in and over the earth and in the waters