What I Give Thanks For in 2010:

I missed the “post something you are thankful for on Facebook every day in November leading up to Thanksgiving” boat that everybody seems to be aboard this year.  So, in lieu of that, I present a list of (at least) 25 things for which I give thanks, one for every day I should have been posting to FB.  I know, it won’t develop a daily habit of thankfulness, but I prefer my moments of self-reflection in large, separate doses anyway…

• First and foremost, as always, I am thankful for a God that loves me enough to send his unique son to die and suffer for my sins in my stead.
• I am thankful that God has consistently seen to my provision, even when I did not see His hand in it.
• I am thankful that God provides for me daily to teach me to rely on Him rather than my own wisdom and preparedness.
• I am thankful that I have a God-fearing wife.
• I am thankful that I found someone to share my life with that loves me enough to endure my idiosyncrasies, help me in my brokenness, and fight for our marriage.
• I am thankful for shepherds and ministers who are committed to equipping our church body for that fight.
• I am thankful for shepherds and ministers who are not afraid to tackle to difficult topics, that know it is worth ruffling a few feathers if it can save even one marriage, one life, or one soul.
• I am thankful that I have found in our life group Christian brothers and sisters with which I feel my family is accepted, mentored, held accountable, and spiritually fed and challenged.
• I am thankful that I have found a group of Christian men to be my “band of brothers,” and that my actual brother can be a part of that.
• I am thankful that God is using numerous circumstances in my life to teach me about the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
• I am thankful that I am, finally, beginning to learn what it really means to be a Christian – to not just follow rules, but to truly walk with God.
• I am thankful for Christian mentors that show me through their example what it means to give up control and live a God-led life.
• I am thankful that my son decided to give his life to Christ this year.
• I am thankful for my two vibrant, beautiful, intelligent, and challenging children.
• I am thankful that God chose to open our hearts and bless us with another pregnancy - with all the hopes, fears, excitement, and promise that entails.
• I am thankful that the most serious health issue we have had to face with our children has been epilepsy, and that God has shown me through that experience how much of a blessing that truly is.
• I am thankful that God has given me opportunity to use my experiences with my son’s epilepsy to minister to other fathers dealing with similar circumstances.
• I am thankful to be part of an extended family that stands by and supports one another.
• I am thankful that I live close enough to my family that my children can grow up with their grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins -at least on one side- being a part of their day-to-day lives, and develop the strong sense of family that I was blessed to grow up with.
• I am thankful that God has worked in my sister-in-law’s business to allow my wife to work for her part time and be a stay-at-home mom, more or less.
• I am thankful that my wife working for my sister-in-law has given her a chance to develop a closer relationship with both my sister-in-law, and our niece and nephews.
• I am thankful that when I tell my son that he cannot see a movie, play a game, read a book, listen to a song, or be exposed to some other form of media because of its content, he accepts that my decision is based on my love for him and concern for his spiritual well-being.
• I am thankful that there are Christian artists to provide me with an alternative to popular music, and Christian radio stations so that I can be encouraged by my entertainment and not constantly exposed to the negative messages in mainstream media.
• I am thankful for organizations like Focus on the Family that provide me with information and tools to evaluate media from a Christian worldview.
• I am thankful that my son has a love of reading, and sets an example for his sister that reading is something to be enjoyed.
• I am thankful that I work for an ethical company that values its employees.
• I am thankful that most of the biggest problems in my life involve inconveniences regarding items most people in world would consider luxuries, if they can conceive of them at all.
• I am thankful that I live in an age of such technological wonders that virtually any information I could need or want is readily available to me at any time (say, to check Webster.com and make sure I’m not misusing a word in the course of being overly verbose).
• I am thankful for all the old friends that I have been able to re-connect with on some level in recent years due to social networking. 
• I am thankful that I live in a country where I can worship God without fear of persecution, where I can disagree with my government without fear of retribution, and where I can change that government if I so choose.

Here's hoping you all have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Drumroll Please... (20 Weeks)

Well, I know what you are all here for, and it isn't to read my rambling.  As I'm sure anyone keeping up with this blog knows, we had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound today - which, although the purpose is really to check out the baby's anatomy and make sure everything is coming along nicely, everybody thinks is just to find out which options package you ended up with.  Although the little bugger gave us the darnedest time being modest, we did finally get his legs uncrossed so we could get a look at his bits and pieces.  Yes, you read that right: we are being blessed with another Bailey boy.  In addition to the "money shot," which I won't be posting here (at least not yet), we got some nice - as far as sonograms go - profile pictures.  I've also got the latest baby bump pic, since we are due for a new one.

I have no idea why the scans came out kind of purple; I'm still learning how to use my new scanner.

At least this set looks a little bit more like a baby than the last one...

And last but not least, the exterior view.  This is really dark for some reason...

Unless something changes between now and the time I sign the SSN paperwork, he shall be dubbed Judah Jeremiah Lee - Judah for it's biblical-history significance, and because it's an unusual, old Jewish name; Jeremiah for my wife's late brother, Jeremy, and also because it's old and Jewish; and Lee because it's my dad's middle name and a family name on my mother-in-law's side.  People keep asking me how I feel or if I'm happy about having another boy.  Honestly, I kept vacillating about which I'd prefer to have.  In some ways I was hoping for another girl, but I also thought that I'd prefer to have a boy if we were having any more after this, so that there would be an older brother closer to their age.  Ultimately I decided I'd trust God's judgment and just be content with however things turned out.  I've been doing a lot more of that lately, but that's a blog for another time...

In other news:  Nada!  Excluding today, we have had a blissfully uneventful couple of weeks.  Of course, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, and Christmas hot on its heels, I don't think that trend will hold out.  Plus, we now have to start planning the nursery and getting ready to move the kids into one bedroom.  And I still need to get some estimates on rebuilding our bathroom and get that underway.  And figure out how to get the squirrels out of our attic.  And...*whimper*

Of Glasses, Halloween, and Tanks....

Well, I promised that I would get a picture of Ren's new glasses, so here it is.  We still never got around to taking a pic specifically for that purpose, but we did go get family pictures for the year taken Friday.  So instead of a snapshot, you get professional pictures!  How cool is that?

Halloween was fun this year, if not a little crazy.  We got together with our church life group plus some of my parents' life group, so there was quite a crowd.  All the kids went trick or treating together, which made our group about twice the regular size.  It was fun, but exhausting as always.

Group shot of our life group; Tyler and I are the only party poopers with no variety of costume on.

The only other news is that I decided to switch out the gravel in my fish tank for sand.  This was facilitated by the fact that we purchased an aquarium which will eventually house the gerbils that we promised to buy the kids as a consolation for having to share a room once the baby gets here.  So I took the opportunity while I had a spare aquarium to empty out the fish tank and swap my substrate.  I think I can officially say that once was enough for that experience, but I am pleased with the result.  I don't think the fish really care.

My more "natural looking" fish tank.  I can almost guarantee I'm still going to get ribbed about the fake rock cave by the peeps on the fish forum.  Oh, and the hose full of old gravel are only temporary.