On the night before Thanksgiving...

I'm thankful that it's 10:40 p.m. and the table is set (thanks to my dear little helpers!), the wildrice ready to plug in, the stuffing parts ready to mix together, and the turkey THAWED!  I guess I might not have to get up until 7 tomorrow!  I love this holiday.  It's about food and family and a day of being together.Who could ask for anything more?  I challenged myself to list 45 things I was thankful for on my 45th bday this year.  I made it to about 38 and then found the list getting so obscure that I needed to explain things.  For example, I'm thankful for my older sister who put up with my fits of crying and clinging to her at school every time I discovered a substitute teacher at the start of a day.  After all this time, I finally realize it was perhaps as tramatic for her as for me!But seriously, like David, I find myself realizing that the lines for me and my life have fallen in good places.As I stumble into bed, here's some of my favorite photos from this year...

Random things we're thankful for...

The liberty of homeschooling!
There are so many more opportunities to train our children according to their bent as we live out a life of learning! This summer we got to spend a day in living history just down the road at Hale Farm. Our family loves history, and we all looked forward to attending the annual Civil War Reinactment for the first time. Ben's interest in the uniforms of the re-enactor's touched one brigade's heart and they quickly let him dress up in their gear right down to the boots! (Thankfully, he discovered how uncomfortable a soldier's life could be)