Brownies

are in the oven.  YUM!  We've really been bums for the most part today.  Well, the kids & I have been.  Jim was up and working downstairs at 5 this morning.  (he has a little bit of work that was sent his way, and we're really grateful for that, but we're hoping for something more steady soon.)  The kids and I are still in our jammies, just hanging out and watching movies.  I love movie days!
#23.  Movie days!  Snuggling on the couch with the kids is the best!
#24.  Baby steps.  Haven's not officially walking yet, but she's pretty darn close.  She cruises around everywhere and could walk if she'd try.  I'm really not all that anxious for her to start, though.  She's my last one, so all the growth markers have been bitter sweet for me.
#25.  Brownies that make my entire house smell AMAZING!
#26.  The way the river is a blue-green today.  There's little whitecaps on the usually still water, and it looks so deep and mysterious.
#27.  Baby giggles.  'Nuf said. :)

Beauty in everything...

I feel like I should have some sort of a preface to my thankful ramblings, but I supposed the previous posts will do, right?  I've got a long way to go to get to 1,000, but, hey, it's starting to be fun.  There's a lot more that I'm thankful for during the day, but I only have a few minutes to write them down, so this is what's here for now.
#17.  Lazy Sunday afternoons when all three of the kids are sleeping and I have time to sit and watch a movie.  This very rarely happens, and so it makes me all the more grateful when it does.
#18.  Blue skies devoid of clouds that make it look deceptively warm outside when it's only 40 degrees.
#19.  I love that Asher stopped Haven from falling down the front porch steps yesterday.  He's only three, and I've never even mentioned to him that it would hurt her.  He grabbed her and held her until I could get to her.  Pretty good, I'd say!
#20 Rosy cheeks with chocolate remnants on them.
#21  Chubby baby feet that won't fit in shoes.
#22.  Orchid blossoms

Life in a Bubble

Wow.  I've always felt like I've lived in a bubble.  Growing up in a pastor's home, I felt like everyone was watching, and everyone had certain expectations of me.  I need to change my perspective of the bubble.  Like each moment is a bubble, and I need to enjoy that moment because it's SO fleeting.
#13.  Right now.  Trash needs emptied, I need to take meat out for dinner and get things together since my parents are coming over tonight, telling my boys not to make a mess with their breakfast, and trying to get my thoughts together for my day.
#14. I'm thankful for LEARNING to be thankful.  I'm starting to see things so differently...  A way to live in gratitude.
#15.  Babies dancing.  Haven's just learning.  She's not walking yet, but oh, that girl can dance!
#16.  The illogical logic of a three year old.  Asher just put his boots on his feet in order to go in the bathroom and change from his pull-up (he wears one at night) into his big-boy underwear.

So, like I said, I have to get things together for my parents' visit.  I'm excited to see them.  We're only an hour apart, but only see each other once a month or so.  It'll be a good time!

Laundry Day

And boy, do I have a mountain of it to do!  It's been a week.  YIKES!  I can definitely be thankful, though for my HUGE washer & dryer that lets me get it all done in the space of a few hours.

#8.  The smell and feel of clothes fresh from the dryer, still warm.
#9.  The way the dog digs in a pile that I'm trying to fold and burrows in to get warm.

#10.  Coffee in the morning...  Drinking it while I watch the reeds in the back yard wave gently back and forth in the breeze.

#11.  Geese.  Noisily flying over my house in their vee formation.

#12.  The majestic bald eagle that lives somewhere nearby that I keep seeing gliding in the wind.  He's SO cool to watch!

I'm going to end today with another quote from Ann Voskamp.  This one's on her blog today: www.aholyexperience.com

Do not disdain the small. 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.

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.

Time...

I just want time to do my one life well. ~Ann Voskamp

This book is full of things like that.  It's making me look at everything differently.  I'm normally a pretty content and happy person anyway, but as I'm learning to be thankful for everything, I'm learning to see beauty all around.  It's pretty amazing.  Here's a few more things that I love:

#4. The way my dog follows me everywhere, crawls under any blanket, and plays gently with Haven.
#5.  The sound of laughter when the boys think WE think they're asleep.
#6.  The smell of a clean house.
#7.  The way the river looks so close right now.  Like I could step out the back gate and be in the water.

This is going to be challenging... Not to find things to be thankful for, but to be able to put them into words.  I'm  not so good at that.

Jim has been downstairs all morning working.  What he's doing is monotonous, but at least it's something.  We're praying that an actual JOB will open soon and we'll be able to get things back to normal.  I'm thankful that we had some savings so we're not stressing too much, but it's still stressful to be out of work.

We had another wind storm last night.  More shingles came off the roof... I hope that the roofer will be here today to fix things so we don't have any more damage.

One Thousand Gifts

is a book I've been reading by Ann Voskamp.  It's pretty darn awesome.  I don't normally read "churchy" or even "spiritual" books, and honestly this isn't written like one.  It's so challenging, though, to be thankful for all that God has given us.

I've decided to try to write down a list of one thousand things that I love.  We'll see how that works out.  Hopefully it'll help me establish my blog a little bit better and keep up on it more.

So, #1 would have to be time...  Time with my family.  Time with my husband.  Even though he's not working right now, I'm SO thankful that I have him home with me.  I love being with him.  I love that we're best friends and that we have such a good time together.

#2.  Listening to my kids play together.  Their imaginations run wild, and I love how they "become" different people in different places.  They're firemen, teachers, astronauts, police officers, dinosaurs, and dogs all in the space of a few minutes.  Awesome. 

#3.  Wind storms.  I love sitting in my living room and watching the wind turn the peaceful river behind my house into something angry and dark with foamy white caps and huge waves.  The trees bend but (most of the time) don't break, and everything has a dark beauty to it.
Okay, I'll write more later.  The baby's needs to be put to sleep.

Busy, busy!

I'm getting ready for Haven's 2nd 1st Birthday Party.  We had one last weekend while we were in Idaho for Thanksgiving, and we're having another this weekend with our family up here.  I've had a lot of fun making her decorations and deciding what kind of cupcakes to make for her and that sort of thing.  Still working on that one, although I know how I'm decorating them.  I'll post pictures after we're done with the whole thing.
I just got a Cricut, and it's SO much fun!  I made her a birthday banner, and now I'm working on tags for Hannukah gifts.  I'm having a ball!
Anyway, this is short, but sweet!  Have a wonderful week!