1. Hopefulness
2. Strong diva-friends who answer texts
3. Linda’s sweet rolls
4. This poem by Tara
5. Amelia starting her first day of school again, but now as a student teacher
6. a little ray of light pushing out from the clouds
7. Contentment
8. Finishing the last post in my eCourse
9. Fittingly, it was on devotion
10. God’s goodness

 If things are feeling a bit overwhelming right now, ask yourself what simple thing you can do right in this moment that will help to ease the feeling of heaviness and bring some light into your day. An answer will appear. It always does when we truly listen. ~Alia in this post

Very grateful for:

1. A way to stay calm during a potentially anxious weekend
2. Little Mason jars to hang from ribbons in the big tree in the front yard
3. Little solar light bulbs to place around the base of the tree
4. Extra ribbons to drape down from the branches
5. Tiny tea light candles
6. Throw pillows for the recovered chairs
7. A restful place in the dry grass
8. Ruby, watching the whole project unfold
9. Lighting a candle at dusk

Gratitude is the art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture. ~Kak Sri

1. God’s patience
2. This prayer
3. My office computer, which finally decided it likes me
4. Lucy Anne’s gratitude list today and the word pictures she creates
5. Accelerating on the freeway
6. Checking things off of the list
7. Reassurance from Garrett
8. A small change for the better in an ongoing challenge
9. Bougainvilleas

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18

Very grateful for

1. Waking up for the early meeting even though today was THE day my clock stopped working
2. Ghiradelli Chocolate Raspberry coffee on sale!
3. Jeanene’s cleared sonogram
4. Amelia passed her teaching exam!
5. Time for conversations and laughter with Amelia
6. Another teacher in “the family business” as my dad calls it
7. Vulnerability
8. Adventure
9. Resisting futility’s pull to “understand” it

“Love and I tend not to see eye to eye all the time and we argue and call each other names.”  Aleathia in La Spectatrice

Very grateful for~

Souls
Peace
Surroundings
Cool Air
Ice Cubes
Invitations
Reading Glasses
Laughter
God’s constant, unceasing strength

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing ~Romans 15:13

1. the smells from a chiminia and an outside fire last night
2. quiet
3. low laughter from the yard next door
4. writing through it
5. the way that working on an art project feels healing afterward
6. a phrase like *facepalm*—-probably everyone knows this but when my daughter used it in a book review, it was so new and funny to me
7. Exodus 14:14  
8. Teachers, many are going back to school today to get ready for students; some have already started
9. This phrase from Chris Shea: “look at the world through their hearts.”

Resist exchanging what you want most for what you want at the moment. Adapted from Lynn Greenling

Very grateful for~~

1. Reclamation
2. The way the hills just smack right up against the sky
3. Redirecting
4. Going slow enough to see the steam from the coffee
5. Replenishing
6. The way it almost seems as if Ruby the dog is smiling
7. Refraining
8. Realizing that sometimes, with some people, discussion doesn’t work anymore
9. Remembering

“When people walk away from you, let them go (sometimes). Your destiny is never tied to anyone who leaves you, and it doesn’t mean they are bad people; it just means their part in your story is over (sometimes)” ~Seen on Facebook  (sometimes added by me)

Very grateful for

1. dreaming of the sound of a waterfall and waking to find it was raining!
2. Pulling the covers up closer and just listening
3. Saying “thank you, thank you, thank you” to God for the rain
4. Hearing almost an exhaling sigh from the trees and grass and herbs
5. Standing in the light rain in the yard
6. Ruby lapping at the puddled water between the rocks
7. Puddles!
8. Finally cooler temperatures!
9. Hearing the sound of car tires on the wet street in the front
10. The staccato chirps of the birds!

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

Friday Gratitude for:

God’s unconditional love
The smell of rain
Seeing puddles!
Forgiveness
Finding an old, favorite shirt-a bonus for cleaning the closet!
A chance to give back
A nap
Reading Amelia’s book reviews and laughing at her expressiveness
32 brave Navy Seals

 The love that you withhold is the pain you carry.

Today I am grateful for:

1. Being able to see in color and this vivid reminder
2. the many ways God loves and cares for me and us
3. when I am oblivious He is there
4. a pound wrested itself off of me—I am losing them s-l-o-w-l-y but they are leaving
5. gardens
6. Susan
7. Air1 music
8. Calming, encouraging emails from Garrett
9. Really liking a book on tape that I checked out and finding the actual book in my “to read” stack!
   10.  The undercurrent of thinking that everything will turn out great

 Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ~ Victor Frankl