2019 Year In Review, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

***********************************

   

Because of last week’s very special ten things, this week i am doing my postponed Year In Review.  There are a lot of things for which i am thankful from 2019, but these are a few that stick out.

In January, Young Jacob changed the battery for us in the Jalopy, and then changed it again when that battery was shown to be bad from the factory, saving us money.

For February, i was reminded again to be thankful we live in a free country.  A couple from China who were students at a university here began attending church and decided they wanted to be baptized before going back home.  The wife very timidly asked if their names would be turned over to the government.  It was a piercing wake-up, knowing how relieved she was that no one would be informed, and their names wouldn’t even be mentioned in our church bulletin so they could keep it totally quiet.

At the very end of February, #1 Son suddenly had a seizure and dislocated and injured his shoulder.  In early March, he had surgery, and we were thankful it went well as did the physical therapy, so by the end of the month his arm was almost totally back to normal.

In April, it was #2 Son’s turn to add drama to our lives.  He had an abscess in his throat so bad that he ended up in the ER to get it drained.  We were grateful for great medical care and that he fully recovered. 

May is the month for Generator Mike to come, and he got the generator set in spite of the fact that it is old.  He showed me how to flip the switch that will no longer flip on its own and keep it going for a while longer.

There’s a big thankful in June of every year called vacation.  That’s all there is to say about that.

Our Creative Arts Director at church got the bright idea to have an art class in July, and it was so much fun!  We’ve done a few more, and i am going to lobby for one a month this year if i can get it to happen.

A local laundromat opened their doors to let us start a laundromat library at their location.  Now parents can take books from the basket to read to their children while waiting for the clothes to wash and dry, instead of just letting them watch a screen.

There’s a wonderful new project in NOLA called Hotel Hope, a shelter for homeless mothers and children.  Uncle P held a comedy night fundraiser in September, and it was one of the most fun nights out i’d had in quite a while.

October brought a bit of a health scare as suddenly i am having some blood pressure trouble.  The doctor, after trying a couple of different meds, got it under control.

Every year around November, our church holds a women’s retreat, and i’ve never been able to go.  This past year, someone anonymously paid for me to go, and it was a huge blessing.

The biggest December thankful was, of course, the miracle of the Christmas cars i wrote about last week.

It’s not everything, it may not even be all of the most important things, but it’s a year’s worth of memories that prove there’s always something to be thankful for.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Kristi and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.    

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

***********************************

Today is:

Day of the Fallen against the Colonial Repression -- Angola

Day To Mourn Racism -- anniversary of the day ethnic discrimination was outlawed worldwide in 1969

Dimpled Chad Day -- if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Eagle Days -- Little Platte Park, Smithville Lake, MO, US (learning about bald eagles in the environmental learning center, as well as eagle viewing over the lake and children's activities; through tomorrow)

Eleventh Day of Christmas

Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1st US-born Saint; Patron of Apostleship of the Sea, people ridiculed for their piety, widows; Shreveport, LA; against in-law problems, the death of children, the death of parents)

Festival of Fufluns -- Etruscan (god of wine, also of spring and rebirth; date approximate)

Get Out Your Boxer Shorts Day -- internet generated, and why, i do not know

Independence Day -- Myanmar(1948)

Martyrs' Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo

National Spaghetti Day

Ogoni Day -- Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People of the Niger River

Pennsylvania Farm Show -- Harrisburg, PA, US (the largest indoor agricultural show in the US, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture; through next Saturday

Perchtenlauf -- Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein, Austria (A festival with scary masks and music to frighten away winter.)

Pop Music Chart Day -- Billboard magazine published the first one today in 1936

St. Pharaildis' Day (Patron of difficult marriages, victims of abuse, widows; Bruay, France; Ghent, Belgium; against childhood diseases)

Trivia Day -- celebration of those who have a doctorate in uselessology, sponsored by PunsCorp

World Braille Day -- birth anniversary of Louis Braille

World Hypnotism Day -- to remove myth and misconception, and promote the truths and benefits of hypnotism     

Anniversaries Today:

Utah becomes the 45th US state, 1896

Birthdays Today:

Julia Ormond, 1965

Dave Roley, 1962

Michael Stipe, 1960

Matt Frewer, 1958

Ann Magnuson, 1956

Grace Bumbry, 1937

Dyan Cannon, 1937

Floyd Patterson, 1935

Don Shula, 1930

Barbara Rush, 1927

Jesse White, 1917

Jane Wyman, 1914

Sterling Holloway, 1905

Charles "Tom Thumb" Stratton, 1838

Louis Braille, 1809

Jakob Grimm, 1785

Benjamin Rush, 1746

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Night Court"(TV), 1984

"Blondie"(TV), 1957

The Pop Music Charts in Billboard Magazine, 1936

"Academic Festival Overture"(Johannes Brahms Op. 80), 1881

Today in History:

Titus Labienus is defeated by Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina, BC 46

Columbus leaves the "New World" on return from his first voyage, 1493

Spanish viceroy Alva banishes Zutphen City's only physician, Joost Sweiter, "because he is a Jew", 1570

Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire, 1698

Andre Méchain discovers M80, the globular cluster in Scorpio, 1781

Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government, 1847

4 wheeled roller skates patented by James Plimpton of NY, 1863

The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City, 1865

Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule, 1878

The last known sighting of an eastern cougar, in Ontario, 1884

Dr W W Grant of Iowa, performs the first appendectomy (on Mary Gartside, 22), 1885

Thomas Stevens is the first man to bicycle around the world (SF-SF); his itinerary accounts "DISTANCE ACTUALLY WHEELED, ABOUT 13,500 MILES", 1887

The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter, 1912

The first elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho, 1915

Sputnik 1 reenters the atmosphere and burns up, 1958

Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon, 1959

Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, 1972

Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first American-born saint, 1975

Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC, 2004

The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history, 2007

The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building is officially opened, 2010

Eleven-year-old Kathryn Gray, of Canada, becomes the youngest person in the world to discover a supernova, 2011

The world's largest ever blue star sapphire at 1404.49 carats, found in a Sri Lankan mine in August 2015, is finally certified by Colombo's Gemology Institute, 2016