Giving Thanks

-
"The whole of the life -- even the hard -- is made up of the minute parts, and if I miss the infinitesimals, I miss the whole. These are new language lessons, and I live them out. There is a way to live the big of giving thanks in all things. It is this: to give thanks in this one small thing. The moments will add up." - Ann Voskamp

DSC_4290

Because life is work, busy, stressful . . .

Because parenting is hard . . .

Because I want something fun to happen every weekend instead of the drudgery of cleaning house, doing laundry, helping Brian grade papers, watching Brian work too many hours, etc. etc. etc. . .

Because my heart is so full of discontent that I forget to say thanks for all the many blessings that come my way every day . . .

I'm listing a few of those infinitesimals from the weekend that - without an intentional decision to acknowledge - would pass me by without so much as a glancing notice much less the whispered thanks they deserve.

sunshine!
a clean house
fresh smelling laundry
long chat with Becky
Brian, Camden, and Rory getting to go on a fun church outing
Bonus - that meant a quiet Sunday afternoon for me
painting Rory's toes for her
seeing Camden dripping sweat from playing so hard outside in the sun
that so many of the kid's fall/winter clothes from last year still fit
homemade pizza on a Saturday night
working in the toddler nursery (trying very hard to remember Col. 3:23-24)
finishing up 4 layouts
waffles for breakfast
practicing catechisms with the kids in the car
Rory's excitement over her birthday this weekend
coming up with a workable solution for a father/daughter camping trip (in the back yard)
work opportunities that help pay for fun stuff we haven't been able to do the last couple of years
watching 19 Kids and Counting with Rory (she is obsessed with this show for some reason)
good coffee
being able to attend Sunday School for the first time in months
eating ice cream in bed with Brian while watching a little TV
finishing up a book
placing a Persnickety Prints order of all my layouts and pics from the last 3 months
listening to the new David Crowder CD over and over. loudly.
for Addison's excited "Lissa!" many times over yesterday morning
closing the door on this week and moving forward to the next

Comments

Christine @ 12,450miles said…
I love this post!! What a great way to rejoice, be thankful... and look forward.
7:11 AM
Vicky said…
I think I do the very same thing as you do- if I take the time to write it down, I regain my focus and feel better at the same time. I write as much for myself as I do for anyone else. This was beautiful and that quote is one of my faves. Blessings on your week!
10:47 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Scoop

-
Our meeting with Dr. W today was fine. Not encouraging, but fine. I don't know why I expected better news, but I think it's hard not to hope that the bad news you hear is somehow wrong; that they've somehow made a mistake. Basically, the cancer is still the same as prior to chemo. Possibly a little larger, but he said it was hard to tell. He was glad that it had not returned to my bowel or colon (because that was a large part of my initial surgery), and my chest and lungs are still clear (apparently, this is the next place the cancer would go). It does not change my stage of cancer (still 3c), and remission is still a possibility, but he said that it would be very tough to get there.  There are several more drugs that we can try, which is good, but unfortunately they each have a success rate of only 25%. It's a little too early to be considering clinical trials because hospitals who hold the trials like for the patients to have tried the more main-stream drugs firs
Read more

Late Night Ramblings

-
Image
1. Thanks to Andrea for driving me to chemo today. I'm always a little anxious on the way in and the very few times I've had to drive myself, it's been a little lonely coming home. But not today. 2. A fellow chemo patient today thought I was in my 20's. Score.  ("score" would be a term I'm borrowing from Becky ) 3. I did not wear a scarf today to chemo, and all the nurses and doctors did a double take since they didn't recognize me. So wierd. I recognize me with hair, bald, and with a little puppy fluff. 4. Dr. W. is adding Avastin , a new drug which will help prevent cancer cells from growing, to my current Gemzar routine. Good news is that it won't make me feel any worse. Bad news is that in a small percentage of patients it causes severe side effects involving blood clots, kidney failure, ulcers, and holes in your bowel. Good times. 5. I've been instructed to head directly to my primary care doctor for blood pressure medic
Read more

Scenes from the Soccer Field

-
Image
So I may not have apologized yesterday about the number of pictures, but I am definitely going to today. Because  coughcough thirty coughcough just might be excessive. And probably my family will be the only ones who look at all of them. But I don't care. :) By the way, we completely lost and did not even score a goal yet again. Rory tried really, really hard. This team was head and shoulders bigger than we are, way more coordinated than 4 year olds should be and their coach kept their A team in the entire game. Even after scoring some 15 goals. Oh, well. Rory still enjoyed herself. Which way is the goal again? Notice her position in this picture. Notice how she passed the girl next to her? No, I am not competitive at all. Not sure where the other team is. Oh, wait. There they are. See how much bigger they are? You'll notice she almost always runs with her mouth open. Either that or her tongue hang
Read more