Thankful for ~~~

1. sleeping all the way through the night
2. only two bills in a big stack of mail
3. the music of Priscilla Ahn
4. making a little movie about cathedrals, little movie, many minutes!
5. even 10 minutes on the bike feels good!
6. Electrifying iridescent waves because of SoCal’s red tide —you gotta see this!
7. Gifts before Christmas…
8. Another day is a gift!
9. Another chance to see Amelia’s smile is a gift!
10. Another day in safety is a gift!

There is nothing that determines more of who we are and will be than the things we choose to ignore. The greatest value of life is not what we obtain. The greatest value of life lies in who we become every day, who we chose to be, throughout our experiences. ~Lily Gimenes

Very grateful for

1. Changing seasons
2. Hearing that Amanda has already had snow (and knowing that this change is far away from me!)
3. Changing leaves in beautiful pictures sent by others
4. The reminder that sometimes change happens suddenly but sometimes it is a slow and winding road
5. A caution for me that I cannot manage change
6. Seeing a change in another
7. The hope that this change will prevail
8. A change for me, rejoicing in the way things are
9. God, who never changes and is always consistent and safe to trust

In the journey to find your true voice, you will want to leave room for something beautiful. Leave room for grace. ~Bonnie Gray, Faith Barista

Very grateful for

1. As the day began, a quiet video of remembering… (Scroll down)  on the page
2. Learning a new word from Amanda: “Zentastic”
3. Almond Butter
4. The “Coogs for the Cure” t-shirt sale yesterday and Paige’s enthusiasm
5. Tennis
6. Good causes
7. Awareness
8. Survivors  and Warriors
9. Touch

Imagine the day if I keep “for thou art with me” in my heart from dawn to dusk…

Very grateful for

1. This picture pretty much sums up this past week.
2. This quiet street, for over 14 years
3. Cooler morning temperatures
4. Reassurances
5. Computer’s Disk defragmenter—would be good for life too!
6. Prayer
7. God in the middle of it
8. God’s patience
9. And His Love!

The promises cover every imaginable situation. All we need to do is to take the hand He stretches out.   ~Elisabeth Elliot

Very grateful for

1. Payday!
2. Comfort
3. Birthday Night last night for four very special people
4. Jeanene, who changed her plans
5. Psalm 94:18-19
6. Seeing Joy from the inside out
7. Thumbprint cookies
8. Some types of forgetting…it really can happen! (of course, his comment made me remember, but I can forget again!)
9. Monarch butterflies on their migration through our town

Keep shining through; you may be a lighthouse to someone trying to make it.~ Caroline Naoroji

Very grateful for

1. The breaths that connect an entire day and life
2. Hanging on and Hanging in
3. Doubting my Doubts
4. Receiving a surprise email
5. Cynthia, my new intern
6. Christy’s good news on her lien
7. Raenel’s courage to overcome her fear of water and take swimming lessons and then go Kayaking with her family
8. Raucous belly laughs on the phone with V; feeling tons lighter when I hung up.
9. Not getting hung up on my old issues
10. This picture with its sipping reflection

Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.

~Francis Chan

Very grateful to have~~~

1. pushed through this morning and drove to ManLand
2. quieted my shaking with LaMaze breathing while entering the car repair “Emporium”
3. been able to repeat, “I am here about the Motor Mounts” without my usual error of substituting the word “Mouths” for “Mounts”
4. counted four uses of the phrase, “Ok, Man,” three uses of “Yo, What Up,” and two each of “Git After It” and “Flip the Switch on that Puppy”
5. quelled the urge to ask about the existential ramifications of the repeated farewell word, “Later”
6. not slipped when hoisting myself up into the “Courtesy Truck” that drove me to work
7. quickly figured out that “thank you” was the appropriate response to “you smell better than my cat.”
8. fresh gratitude for working with women at The Women’s Center
9. Mozart and Tracey Chapman right now on the iTunes playlist to obliterate some unsavory country music metaphors heard via the shop sound system (i.e. “her kiss has got me rocking bigger than a downtown van”)
10. appreciated the irony that each and every one of the mechanics takes home roughly double my salary (and they do not have college loans)

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work. ~Thomas Edison

Very grateful for

1. Pausing long enough to see the cute way Ruby pauses and sniffs the air
2. Joyce showing up for extra volunteer time
3. A friend has begun writing again
4. Cecelia’s steeled strength
5. The gentle shake last Sunday was an actual earthquake-in Texas- and not some weird mid-life vertigo
6. A Reassurance
7. Reassurances
8. Sissy
9. God’s forgiveness
   Beauty, it can be a strange flower, unfurling in the hard seasons — most fragrant in the wind. ~ Ann Voskamp

Very grateful for

1. Better health for Jackie
2. Amelia’s sweet attitude
3. Pizza delivered right to our door!
4. Another pound gone despite the pizza
5. Learning of a new-to-me-blog and smiling while I read the posts
6. The music of Shaun Groves and his album, Third World Symphony
7. This recipe which features the last of the summer veggies
8. a tentative risk to anticipate a visit
9. feeling the elusively, cool air thread in the air

Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Very grateful for

1. Pinon coffee from Sue after her trip to New Mexico
2. The moon-if it were not for the gravitational pull of the moon our days would be only six hours long and I would be four times as old! (I think, if my math is correct)
3. Getting a parking place close to the building
4. Lots of hugs at lunch
5. Healing comments
6. The opportunity to receive
7. Contributions to our Hope Fund
8. This picture: “I am thankful for today!” at this link
9. God is always safe to trust

At first glance it may appear too hard. Look again. Always look again. ~ Mary Anne Rodmacher