A Day Full of Joy

So many things to be thankful for yesterday (in addition to L & K's big news.)  


Thankful for Face Time phone calls that allowed us to share the day with the rest of the family and catch their surprise at the news.  Not quite as good as being them being with us, but so much better than just a phone call.


Thankful for the everyday experiences I am allowed to witness in my grandchildren's lives.  Yesterday it was watching the faces of two boys light up with pride and joy at riding their two-wheelers without training wheels.  And that their great grandmother witnessed it too was icing on the cake.  Being there for the big thing is important but what a joy to see the small things.  


Thankful for the quiet time listening to the boys make "the world's biggest mud pie" in their fort.  Thankful for the parents of those two boys who are great parents for two boys!


Thankful to be available to listen to parenting questions, even if I don't have the answers and anguish with them about what to do in certain situations.  The open relationship that allows this is a special blessing.

Wow! Didn't see that one coming!

Today was the eighth Mother of the Brunch gathering at Kate's house.  It is a time for both sides of Luke and Kate's families to gather to celebrate motherhood.  We were reminiscing about the first brunch where Sheila and I each were presented with gift sacks containing booties.  The way we found out about our soon to be grandchild who is ISH.  We told the story to Geo and ISH and laughed about what a surprise it was.  After a sumptuous meal, Luke brought us up-to-date on the adoption process that had begun the week before.  He ended with:  "We have been taken off the adoption list for babies.  Deaconess has a policy that there must be a year between children and there won't be a year before Kate's due date in December."  Very calm.  Tears of joy.  And so a total surprise blessing...a new grandchild to be born in December.  Wow!  What a surprise.  


So, while I am thankful for the blessing of family and extended family, I am thankful for the twists and turns in life that can bring us joy.  

A day behind but not too late

Great start that I am already a day behind!  But that will not deter me from continuing.  Yesterday was a special day because I spent it with my mother.  As this is Mother's Day weekend, I realize how fortunate I am to have mother still living and active.  Many people I know have already lost their mothers or their mothers are not in good health.


I am thankful for my mother's active lifestyle that meant she worked outside in my yard with me, raking and picking up leaves to make the children's play area neat and clean.


My mother sees the beauty in God's creation and has shared that love with me.  Time at a gardening center becomes a feast for of sight and smell.


I am thankful my mother and I can share an evening with my husband watching "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Tulsa PAC.  Laughter shared is a beautiful thing.


I am thankful for my husband who loves my mother as much as I do.  God really blessed me with this.  

The Beginning

The challenge in posting daily reminders of thankfulness will not be in being thankful, but in the actual posting.  It is in the posting that I am still enough to think through my thankfulness to a level of a deeper sense of the Spirit of God moving in my life.  Thankfulness can take many levels and I want to be still long enough to see the evidence of God's fingerprints, hugs and beauty daily.  This will also be a good reminder to me when I am struck with or stuck in the occasional "Woe is me."  That doesn't happen often, but I want it to happen less and less.

And so begins the journey of me awareness of the number of ways, each day, that I am blessed.