Giving Thanks

Truth be told I wasn't feeling very thankful this year until I got some great news about an aquaintance whose ex-husband had kidnapped her two kids the week before. How could I count my blessings when another mother was going through the worst kind of Hell? But this morning I found out they were recovered, safe and sound on Thanksgiving night.

So now that the constriction around my heart has been relieved I'm feeling very thankful, indeed to all the Gods for our law enforcement officers and every other man and woman in uniform (military or civilian) who put their own lives on the line to protect us. And my heart goes out to the family and friends of the four police officers brutally gunned down near Tacoma this weekend. The suspect is an ex-con who had been sentenced to 95 years for theft, robbery and burglary by the state of Arkansas and was then paroled after his sentence was commuted by then Gov. Mike Huckabee. It appears he was recently charged in Pierce County, WA for rape of a child and assault of a police officer and targetted these officers to protest his probable re-incarceration.

On a far, far less serious note - this year I'm also thankful for the Internet. Not just the medium (though to an information addict such as myself it's like heroin) but all the wonderful people who inhabit it. I can't begin to express how much my life has been touched and bettered because of online friends - new and old, and those I will probably never meet. Love, laughter, joy and pain shared. Knowledge and insight gained.

And of course, online shopping. I've got just about all of the Monkey's shopping done already, and received the first two packages at work today.

The tops from GreaterGood are beautiful. He'll love them. I hope he'll also like the Polka Bats and Octopus Slacks book by Calef Brown.

He's big into rhyming right now and getting him to sit still for more than a very short story is always a challenge. I tried getting him into Shel Silverstein and other children's poetry but he prefers richly colored illustrations.

Like Sylvia Long's Mother Goose that  I purchased long before I'd even thought of having kids:

And I know he'll love this boxed CD set of Mary Pope Osborn's Magic Treehouse books. Magic Tree House Collection: Books 1-8

We received one from Wendy's this summer as a kids meal prize (how much better then cheap plastic toys is that!!!) and it's been a favorite for every road trip ever since - long or short. But Daddy and I are getting a little tired of "Goodnight, Gorillas" so it's more of a present for us than him.