Thankful Thursday - The Small Details

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I know last week's Thankful Thursday was all about my Bruce. He is pretty great most days. (But don't tell him. He does have issues with his ego. I want to keep him as humble as possible.)

Today's post is about specific things that happened, or didn't happen, while Bruce was on his business trip for which I am thankful.

I am thankful that the Wii remote wasn't permanently broken when Spencer got so excited while playing that he threw it across the room. I'm also, in a small way, thankful that it happened, so that I had a very good reason to put the Wii in "time-out" while Bruce was gone, because the kids weren't playing nicely with it anyway. And the timing was also good, because it happened on Tuesday, so I got the rest of the week until Sunday night with no Wii-inspired fights.

I am also thankful that our puppy Dixie is better trained than we often give her credit for. Last Wednesday when I was feeding her, I noticed the cover of her shock collar (that zaps her if she gets too close to the boundary of the underground fence) was missing. "Oh well," I thought, "at least it's still working." On Thursday, as I was feeding her, I found a 9-Volt battery lying in the yard, with wires hanging off of it. Sure enough, it was from her collar, which was by then as dead as roadkill. "Oh well," I thought, "let's hope the weight of the collar is enough to convince her that she's still in danger of being shocked if she tries to make a break for it." And it was. For the other three days that Bruce was gone, our sweet puppy was unprotected from leaving the yard. But she's a good girl, and she stayed put. So much better for my nerves that way.

And one more. During my week of single-parenting, I'm thankful that my kids went to bed each night without a fuss. Some times, bedtime is a long endeavor. One or more kid will come downstairs more than once for one thing or another. It gets frustrating. But while I was on my own, in desperate need of the quiet in the evenings, my kiddos not only stayed in their rooms but also actually fell asleep earlier than usual, which they really needed in order to fight the emotions of Bruce being gone.

Have I ever told you how great my kids are? And my Mr. Fix it Husband? (The Wii and the dog's collar are as good as new now. I'm happier about the collar than the game, I admit.)

We're so blessed. Even in the small things. How great is that?

"From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another." John 1:16.