Of my great grandparents 16 children, 13 made it to adulthood:

The 5 sisters (in 1948)

And the 8 brothers, with their parents.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. My old stove, which was replaced in June, has been sitting in the garage all summer. It still worked so I thought someone might want it. By September, we were all tired of crawling over it to get to the chippies, so I made arrangements for it to be picked up and hauled away. It's been parked, lonely and abandoned, at the end of my driveway for three weeks. Like I'm some sort of Surrey woman with broken appliances and deliquint sons littering my yard. I'm so thankful it's gone. They remembered to pick it up yesterday. Yay oh yay. (The chippies have been slowly disappearing as well. "Have you sold some?" I asked. "Not really.." "Where are they?"

I now have a well insulated crawl space.)

2. I poked my head into Clint's room before going to bed to say "good night" and there he was. Reading his Bible. The children's Bible I bought him years ago. With pictures of lambs. And long-haired Moses.

3. I'm so thankful I didn't have 16 children.

Shalom,