Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful...

... that God answers prayer.     Donald's brother, Larry, is better and will be traveling home soon.    My friend, Julie, is home from the hospital and taking short walks.     Dennis is home from the hospital and thinks the bandages on his head make him look like a ninja.    In true little boy fashion, he seems oblivious to all that he has been through.

... for Happy Hour at Sonic.     Not just the fact that we can get a Cherry Limeade, but for sitting in the car and chatting with the boys.

... for a husband who makes sure that my van always has gas in the gas tank.      Saturday morning when he could have been sleeping late he got up and went and filled up my tank before we left to go see my family.     I love how thoughtful he is.

... catching up with friends I haven't seen  in years -- on Facebook, in person or on email.     I have gotten several friend requests lately from friends that I haven't seen in years.     So much fun to find friends again.

... for makeup.    Have mercy what I look like without it!

... for my washer and dryer.     When hubs and I first got married we didn't have a washer and dryer in our apartment.     Going to the laundromat was romantic for a little while.   We would put our clothes in the washer and go jump in the swimming pool.     Such newlyweds we were.     However, when the fall hit and they pool closed it wasn't as much fun so we bought a washer and dryer.     Ahhhh.... such luxury.   I have never taken for granted again how wonderful it is to have a washer and dryer.

... for my Daddy's shoulder.    It is amazing how good it feels to just lay your head on your Daddy's shoulder.  

... for the men and women who are serving in Iraq today.     No one can forget what 9/11 means.    I remember that morning vividly.    I had gotten Big Guy dressed for preschool and had turned the television on to see Matt Lauer say that he thought a plane had hit the World Trade Center.      I hurried Little Guy outside to my friend because she was driving him to school.     I came back in and picked up Little Guy who was two weeks old.    He was hungry for his morning bottle so I sat down in the floor to feed him.     I didn't move from that spot the entire morning.     I held Little Guy the entire morning.      I kept looking from the television screen to his innocent little sleeping face.       I called hubs and he said that his entire office was in the conference room watching.    I asked him to come home.       I remember the horror, the pain, the grief and the nightmare of that day.      I remember trying to explain it to my then four year old.        I pray that we never forget.

... for Andy.    He has served his Country and recently was wounded in that service.     Andy was shot in the back of the neck by a sniper in what we now know to have been the most costly battle that the US forces have seen in Afghanistan in the entire length of Operation Enduring Freedom.  The round severed a portion of his spinal cord and has, to this point, left him with several injuries and without the use of his legs.  
Andy was med-evac'd from Afghanistan to Ramstien in Germany and then spent 32 days at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC.   As of 9.20, he is receiving a specialized course of rehabilitation treatment at James Andrew Haley Veteran Hospital in Tampa, Florida. (Note the name of the hospital--Andy's full name is James Andrew too.)   He is expected to be there for 4 to 6 weeks.     How do you say thank you for someone who is willing to give on that level?