I'm Proud and Thankful for 2009

1.  Firstly, I am thankful and extremely sobered by the fact that I am alive, as is my dear little boy Joseph Samuel.  But for modern medicine, we would both have certainly died.  Many women and babies died in childbirth in the past because of problems like placenta praevia, as do many women and babies in third world countries today.  Thankyou God, from the bottom of my heart, that the doctors were able to make a potentially tragic circumstance into a quiet, low-key medical miracle.  Thankyou very much.  I love him so much, and I can't stop rubbing his round fuzzy little head.

How could I not give a small donation to provide a birth attendant in a third world village?  I plan to make this donation each year on Joseph's birthday to show my gratitude.  (Want to check that link out?)

2. I am thankful for my wonderful husband, who, at the end of the year, still loves me.  I am thankful for his skills in assembling a play kitchen for Anna-Lucia. There were what seemed like hundreds of little pieces to fit together, not to mention the screws and things ...  Wow.

3. I am thankful for Nathaniel and Anna-Lucia, and proud of the fact that I have kept them alive, healthy and happy this year.  They are the dearest little delights who ever sought to kill each other routinely before 7:00am each morning.  I am proud that I made it through a year of kindy without ever forgetting to pick Nat up once, and for finally managing to give him the Kindy Birthday he's always wanted.  I am proud that when we moved away from Mr de E's Aunty's awesome Family Day Care arrangement, that with my mother's help, I was able to have Anna-Lucia at home full-time and still manage.

4. I love my extended family, and thankful that Crazy Sister and her family will live closer next year. Tune in to my Post-Christmas "I Am Thankful" post in 2010 to see if I'm still thankful! Aarrr, kidding! I really am most excited to have them closer.

5. Around the House:
(a) I am proud that after many months, I tidied my drawer of containers.  Now I have containers stacked with their lids beside them, and I also have precious little of anything round.  Children's cups now have their own spot, and are restrained from taking over the world.

(b) I am also proud of the curtains I bought for the PlayRoom, even though the PlayRoom is still a work in progress.  I will be monstrously proud of Mr de Elba and myself when it is completely finished!  Again, tune in to the Thankful Post of 2010.  It may just take that long.

(c) I am proud of my Wee Bro for starting me off on the transformation of the Overgrown Corner With Wasps into The Sandpit, and of my own work to finish the job.

I am sure that many more items for this list will come to me over the days. But for now, that will do.

So when I shout "Happy New Year" it will not be with the thought that the new year may bring nothing but sunshine and rainbows. It will be with thankfulness for 2009 in mind, remembering the things I was proud of and thankful for in the year.

For some Thankful Reading, check out the thankful lists by Scurrette, Crazy Sister and Femina.  In turn, I am thankful and  proud to call them my friends.