Thankful for Friday!

Wow, another Friday already! Seems the weeks are speeding by faster and faster all of the time. Must mean I've been busy, you think? Oh my yes! It's been a good kind of busy however, so I can't complain much. :) Life around here just keeps going full speed, there have been days I feel like I am not able to keep up. In the midst of it all I am trying to be thankful, because all of this busyness is proof that we are blessed!

So, what am I thankful for this week?

* My wonderful and hard working man is still working...thank the Lord!
* Our computer is back up and running and the repair bill was less than we expected.
* My pantry is filling up...peaches, tomatoes, green beans, apple pie filling, pickles, chicken stock, pears and more apples. :)
* We harvested about 50 pounds of apples off of our best producing apple tree...it's about 5 years old and we get the best apples off of it. I wish I could remember what kind it was...we'd get a couple more trees! :)
* My wonderfully talented husband made a grape arbor for our one grape vine...we'll soon be adding more that a friend is giving us. :)
* We were blessed with a load of produce from some friends....60 pounds of pears, broccoli, squash, zucchini and corn! YUMMY! So fun, especially since our garden has done little to nothing. Theirs had done very little as well, but they live at a lower elevation and have a bit longer and better growing season than we do. Crazy how a 15 minute drive can totally change a gardens production ability!
* School has started and so far it's going well!
* Our yard is about 90% ready for fall and winter...weeding, harvesting of herbs is done and all of that fun stuff. :)
* My back and shoulders are about 75% healed from the above weeding and such! :)
* Our cockerels are half grown, more than, and will be ready for the freezer in another 6-8 weeks! :) Meat in our freezer! Yes!! :)
* We were able to sell one of last years goat kids, now a yearling, to a neighbor....solving a problem for both families. :) We needed to downsize and they needed a buddy goat.
* All of the corner posts for our new expanded pasture are set and ready for the rest of the fencing...now all we need is a bit more money for the rest of the t-posts. :) One step closer...can't wait! :)

There is more, I know, but I'd say that's a good list. :) I have been super busy with canning, school preparations, baby sitting, yard work, cleaning and just life here at home. With our crazy harvest this year....everything being super late and all ready at once, it seemed, I'm STILL canning. Normally I'm about finished by this point. Thankfully, so far I've managed to stay on top of it all...but my dining room may tell you differently. I have boxes of pears, apples and tomatoes everywhere...waiting to be canned into their jars and be placed on our pantry shelves. Even with all of the canning I've done so far, I have not come close to what I wanted to do this year. Thanks in part, to our garden and it's lack of produce. I'm OK with that though, I know that God has blessed our family and will continue to do so! I can only do so much, I am one person...how awesome is it that we can trust in an awesome God that can do so much more than we can...and WILL! If I were trying to do all of this on my own power, I can honestly say I'd most likely quit...there is just NO way!

Enjoy your weekend, be thankful for the blessings you've received. If you can't see any...perhaps you are not looking hard enough or in the right places. Blessings can come in the strangest of forms sometimes...like enough broccoli given to you to provide that one night's dinner with a vegetable dish! God is SO good to us!