THANKSGIVING DAY 2016

Today I celebrate 40 years of special blessings! Did I say 40!! Yes! It is hard to believe that on this day 40 years ago my sweet Ken asked me to marry him. It had been a special day celebrating Thanksgiving with my family and having Ken with us, since I hadn't seen him for a whole month!! It had been a difficult month. We were in love and wanted to be together as much as we could, but alas some 600 miles separated us! That evening we went for a drive so we could talk about what we could do to solve this problem. He had been trying to find a job closer to me, but that wasn't working out. I didn't know what we were going to do! He asked me to come to Texas with him. I told him I didn't know what I would do for a job, and I wasn't going to "mooch" off of him or his family. He told me I would't have to if I was his wife, and of course I totally agreed!! That began my 40 years of special blessings! I am thankful to God who had this guy especially for me, and I for him. I am thankful for a pastor who loved his flock and loved God and listened to His leading and introduced us. I am thankful for a husband who loved God more than anything else and always put Him first. I am thankful for a man who loved his family and always took care them. I am thankful for a man who looked at life as an adventure and taught his family to find the adventure in every situation. I am thankful that God blessed us with three wonderful children and for the privilege of raising them to love and serve God. What a blessing they are! I am thankful for the churches God allowed us to pastor and minister in. I am thankful for the many friends and people who showed us their love in those congregations! I am thankful for our first two grandchildren that Ken got to be a short part of their lives. How he loved them, and what a great PaPa he was!! I am thankful for our five more grandchildren that have been born since he went Home, including two sets of twins! Thank you God for that double blessing! Thank you God for keeping your hand on our baby girls born prematurely just 7 weeks ago. Thank you that they are doing well. Thank you that they will be getting out of NICU and coming home soon. Thank you that you will continue to keep your hand on them and give them good health. I can't thank you enough for all seven of my precious babies and for the way you have kept your hand on each of them! I am thankful that I get to have a part in their lives, and that I get to love them with all my heart! I am thankful that You, God, have been my Comforter, my Counselor, my Source of Strength, my Everything, for the past five years when I have had to deal with this adventure of life without my soulmate. But thank you, God, that you have been my Best Friend over 50 years, and that I have had You to lean on during difficult times! Thank You for my dad, my mom and my stepfather, who loved me throughout their lives. Thank You that each of them came to know You and are spending eternity with You and each other. Thank You for a brother and his wife who love and serve You. Thank you for their family that have been a blessing in my life. Thank you for my in-laws, a father-in-law that I got to know and love before You took him Home to Heaven; a mother-in-law who has been more like a mother to me, and that I have been blessed with in so many ways, and that I love dearly. Thank you for my sister-in-law (my sister) and brother-in-law and their family that are so special to me - my family! Thank You, God, for my 40 years of very special blessings, for 40 years of love, for "now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor 13:13) !!!!!!!!!!! (From the wedding vows of Ken and Linda almost 40 years ago!)