Count Your Blessings - Friday and Saturday

Hello! I posted all of the things I could find pictures for the last few days, so now I'm going to mention some things we don't have pictures for (well, we may, but I didn't want to spend hours hunting through files to find them....)

There's so many people that I'm thankful for - there's no way I can mention them all - besides all the relatives, there's our church family, and other friends all over (North Dakota, Illinois...) and people who have influenced our lives in some way or another. Seeing as how I'm getting married, I thought I'd take time to say a special thanks though to a couple families -

The Garlicks! After Amos and I graduated from highschool, we spent about 5 months working for them in TX at La Espada Ministries. I learned so much during those months - about perseverance and steadfastness, about having a vision for winning the lost to Christ, about personal dedication to Christ, about learning to love work, about God's constant presence with us and so many other things. We were able to travel across the country, to visit many places, to meet many wonderful people, and learn a lot of new skills. It was also during this time that I was thinking through much of my worldview, so I'm thankful to them for providing a godly environment and for opportunities they gave us and for being an example! So thank you and I miss you!

Then there's the Berntsons . Working with CEF for the last 8 years or so has influenced my life in so many ways that it's hard to define, but Doug and Ruth taught me to love children (and other people) and to be concerned about their salvation, to be flexible, to put the Gospel into words that anyone can understand and to tell stories, to let myself be stretched and to meet new people, to be deferent and that God gives strength. They've helped me on my journey to living a victorious Christian life and I'm very thankful to you and to God for you!

I'm thankful for salvation! How do you put that into words!? A home in heaven, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, peace, a Father above, and spiritual riches.

I'm thankful for my Grandparents and the influence and encouragement they've been to me. My heritage - that my great-great-great grandparents decided to move to America!

For America! Our history, our freedoms, those who died to make us free and those who are still fighting for us.

For telephones, for electricity, for hot running water...

That it's only 6 weeks 'till the wedding :)

I could go on and on, but I'll stop here and let you all continue the list in your own mind -