Keep On Truckin’ – He Made This

image: made by Chris; from martha0stout’s phone

Well, it’s my eldest nephew’s birthday today, his Golden Birthday even. Here’s another of his lego constructs that it’s so much fun to watch him build.

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Twelve Years – Thankful Thursday

Tomorrow is my sister’s youngest son’s twelfth birthday. I’ve lived with him for all of his life (baring two months) and I’ve watched him grown and change and become the young man he is today—er tomorrow.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I’m glad that I’ve gotten to watch him grow up. He hasn’t been a perfect angel by any stretch of the imagination but somehow I think that’s better because he’s forced me to grow in ways that I hadn’t thought of until long after they’d happened.

I’m grateful for this young man in my life.

Please check the original Thankful Thursday. (Will update link when able.)

Almost a Decade – Thankful Thursday

Two days (and nine years) ago my sister had her first son. It was ten days after her own birthday and so she always refers to her eldest as her late birthday present. He’s good with his younger siblings and was upset on his only sister’s behalf when they learned that the twins were both boys (that girl has four brothers with no sisters on the horizon). He’s loyal and loving and a gentleman with their cat (and Sissy when they had her. Sissy was his first dog and she’s always glad when my nephew comes to visit, even if she’s still wary of the twins who love her ears and tail.)

So this week, I am grateful for my third nephew to join us almost a decade ago.

Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (Will update link when able.)

Little Witch – Thankful Thursday

Today, a very long time ago, a little witch was born. Some day she would marry a scruffy guy that fell in love with her eyes and the little baby that she had prior to even knowing the scruffy guy was alive. The scruffy guy had his work cut out for him, but he loved the little witch and her little boy and wanted to make them his own family.

Eventually, he succeeded and the not-so-little witch gained a scruffy husband and father for her little boy. They had two darling girls as well.

Today, I am grateful for my favorite aunt because I spent a good portion of my childhood convinced that she was a real live witch. I don’t know how my uncle convinced her to marry him, but I’m glad he did, because she is probably the coolest aunt I have ever had.

Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (Will update link when able.)

Awesome Sauce – Thankful Thursday

In about two days, it’ll be my third eldest sister’s birthday. She is the one who taught us how to break into the house whenever we lost our house keys (and because we didn’t have any of those automated systems when I was a kid) and also how to untie really complicated knots. She was an awesome older sister and now she’s an awesome (and exhausted, because five kids with four under the age of seven) mom.

So this week? I’m grateful for the awesomeness that is her.

Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (Will update link when able.)

Belated Wishes – Thankful Thursday

Today I am grateful for something that has already happened. This month my elder sister, the one I live with, and her eldest son (the one whose finally taller than me) were born. I am grateful for the two of them even if they are giant trolls.

Happy Belated Birthday you two!

Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (Link will be updated…eventually.)

Best Birthday Present Ever – Thankful Thursday

Today is my youngest brother’s birthday. For the first six years of my older brother’s life he was the only boy in the house (other than Dad). He had three older sisters and three younger sisters. When Mom found out that her eighth pregnancy was with a boy who was due in October, my older brother told everyone that his mom was getting him a little brother for his birthday.

My older brother’s birthday is tomorrow, by the way. The day that my younger brother came home from the hospital was in fact his birthday.

Best. Birthday. Present. Ever.

Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (Will update link when able. Likely not for a while, though.)

Happy Birthday, Dad

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord they God giveth thee. –Exodus 20:12

 

I would like to take today to honor my dad. Today is his birthday and he will be 69 which means that next year he will be the big 70. I had not realized until this moment that he was so close to being another decade older than the last time I checked. (In fact, I had to check his age against my mom’s. He is four years older than her and that is how I have always calculated their ages. I figure out how old one is in order to get the others. It always changes depending on who I need to check.)

My dad is not perfect. He never was and he likely never will be.

That’s just how the cookie crumbles.

But he has tried his best to raise me and to do what he believed was right for me even if I (very greatly) disagreed.

I would not be who I am today without him and for that I am grateful to him.

I love you, Dad, and I hope that this next year is full of wonderful memories just as others have in the past for even sorrow can bring you joy.

Fourteen Years! – Thankful Thursday

This week I am grateful for my eldest niece. It was her birthday on Monday. She is fourteen. It’s hard to believe sometimes that she’s gotten so big and so old! She’s as tall as I am now, though I knew that this day was coming since she was so tall at six years of age.

I’m grateful to have her in my life even when she’s driving me crazy!

Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (I will update the link when able.)

Teapot – Thankful Thursday

There will be times you just want to scream

Even when life just seems like a dream

At times you don’t know what to do

Please keep on trying

Often you’ll find yourself dying

To suppress the smile threat’ning to show.

 

Today I am thankful for my sister Sara. It’s her birthday today and Teapot was a nickname that she had through middle and high schools and all the way through university and her first teaching job.

Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (I will fix the link when able.)