Thankful Thursday.

On Twitter (in Christian circles) Thursdays are Thankful Thursdays. I wish to participate. I need to count my blessings on such a day as this: sick at home, having to say goodbye to my best friend who is moving cross-country, dealing with an ill father, mourning a passed-on mother, PMS and PMDD, and my cat's illness, though she suddenly has improved and started eating again.

So that is what I will be thankful for first.

Lord, thank You for Callie eating again. She rests on my lap, almost so I can't type, but she is so slight nowadays, that I can wrap my arms around her tortoise-shell-colored fur and type alright, with her bouncing up and down every few keystrokes. Callie is my baby, that is to be sure. She curls her head in tight and digs her head under my hand and rests it there. I wonder, is it for warmth? Is she showing me that she loves me? I am so grateful for this cat whom I've had for nearly 11 years. Some pets (when you get really attached to them) are your family. My old cat was my sister because I grew up with her. Callie is my baby, in the truest way. She is the most loving, doting cat I've known. And the most beautiful.

Lord, thank You for coming into my life just two and a half months ago. I can't believe I lived a satisfactory life at all without You. How did I live? In depression, shame, fear, that's for sure. Now I walk in Your beauty, in my beauty, surrendering all those dark feelings to You and feeling my burden lighten. You are my Greatest Love and Best Friend.

Speaking of best friends, thank you, Lord, for Lauren. Though she moves cross-country in a few days and today is when we are saying our goodbyes, I treasure the ten years we have been attached at the hip. She has been my mother, my daughter, my sister, my guide, my mentor, my strength, my weakness, my conscience, and my love. I wish for her a beautiful new life in Texas. I'm grateful she is getting away from her toxic husband and raising her two young girls among family who love her with all their Southern might.

Lord, thank You for my husband. I've never known him the way that I do now with the help of You. You have brought us closer, so close that I could have never believed that such closeness was possible. Hubby is the best man I know and I mean that. He inspires me every day and I am all the better for being his wife.

Lord, thank You for my kids. This morning, I was on the couch with 4 and 7 year old, waiting for 12 year old to come upstairs and get ready to leave. The little ones were snuggling in my lap, giggling. I could smell her hair; I even treasured the little boy's stale breath against my cheek. The time lasted for only five minutes, but I took in every sensation.

Thank you, Lord, for the Christian blogs I am finding online with the help of BlogFrog and Twitter. It is exciting to connect with other women who find You as exciting as I do. Their words comfort and inspire me.

I am a blessed, blessed woman.

Bless you.