This morning, I am grateful for:

1. something forgotten on a cluttered kitchen counter
2. a Fortune Cookie for breakfast
3. the crackle of the cookie and the easy way it breaks (a little like me)
4. the way it lightly meets and dissolves into hot coffee in my mouth
5. tiny ripples of muted but happy anticipation as I unwrap the fortune paper
6. what’s contained in the fortune: “a gathering of friends brings you lots of luck this evening”
7. the wish that Maybe you are these friends
8. Spellcheck, which caught my typo: “a gathering of friends brings you lots of lunch this evening”
9. that it is ok either way~~~ either version is ok

Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you…If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you: and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.

Today I am grateful for

God’s grace
Ruby bouncing in the bird bath
An encouraging email from Garrett
Time to finish a presentation at work
Crunchy, fresh yellow, orange, red, and green peppers
Laughing with V
Time to read
Late night walks
sleep

Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you are meant to be…It’s easy!…The Beatles

Today I am grateful for

Naps
Walks where the wind is so loud it drowns my thoughts
The variety, just the overabundance of variety, at the grocery store
Five different types of pie crust
Golden raspberries—never seen these! They are tart and fun!
Smiles
Ultimate Frisbee ( i did not play it, but felt the fun as the young man who sacks groceries and takes them to the cars told me about it)
$6.00 for a bag of books during the last hours of the Friends of the Library book sale
Sliding under crisp sheets

Today, especially on a Monday: Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them … every day begin the task anew. ~ Saint Francis de Sales

Today I am grateful for yesterday:

Fun friends to play tennis with
Ice-cold water on hot court changes
Doves calling in the trees by the courts
After yesterday’s quote, a night dancing/twirling/turning/balancing/falling and getting right back up!
A spirited hour with India.Aire after a recommendation Creative, Spiritual Women
Blip.fm
iTunes
A fun time burning cd’s
sweet potato chips and polenta fries on a carpet of fresh basil
soft pillows

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic. ~Dave Barry

June 11, 2011-today I am grateful for:

1. Waking up and Feeling the lacey remnant from a nice dream
2. A long stretch
3. Air-conditioning
4. Ceiling fans
5. Quiet
6. Just a short but lingering trace of coolness in the early just-passed-dawn air:  blink and it is gone
7. Ruby’s puppy breath replaced almost immediately with an eagerness to chase the gray cat
8. Hot coffee
9. Sweet strawberries

Build a bridge; make it fancy; and dance over it. ~Catherine Benson

Today I am grateful for~Our stupendous library booksale/fundraiser which began yesterday with a preview sale.

1.  The volunteers who collected/organized/sold/greeted/collected money
2.  Smith Wigglesworth*
3.  Hugh Prather*
4.  Sark*
5.  Mary Oliver*
6.  Joyce Carol Oates*
7.  Tony Hillerman*
8.  Richard Rohr*
9.  Jane Roberts Wood*
Some books are to be tasted, others are to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. Francis Bacon
*=authors of some of the books I bought :)

Today is our Cancer Survivor Day memorial event and I am grateful for

1. Paula Ford who said “I am positively POSITIVE I am stronger than cancer!”
2. Georganne, who quietly asked for (And received) prayers during her second-successful battle
3. Jeri, who has faced the battle five times and won and thrived in her health and successful business
4. Sherry Hirsch, who took care of her husband when he was diagnosed in his thirties, and now takes care of our entire community through her advocacy and generous contributions
5. Jennifer H, who prayerfully and steadfastly walked through her valley in this last year and will meet her doctor tomorrow for victorious news
6. Tiffany, a very young, vibrant mom who introduced our speaker at last year’s survivor event and this year will speak as a survivor.
7. Tyler Runnels, a strong athletic boy from my childhood who went on to heaven as a teen-ager. He was the first person I knew in the battle. I was six. He is ageless in heaven
8. Carolyn Daniels, my mentor in college and the first woman I knew to fight and win on the heaven-side of her battle
9. L.I.W.I. –Life is Worth It

Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.

Today I am grateful that~~~

1. she did not listen to her family who thought he was an unrefined Navy man
2. he did not listen to his mother who thought she was a wild California Republican
3. she never complained during his many, many long trips away
4. he kept reaching higher and higher and responding to His voice
5. she put him through school…three times
6. he put her through school twice
7. they had a son
8. they had a daughter
9. they had another daughter (me!)
   10.  they are married 63 years today
   11.  and he still says, “it is not long enough”

I see you down there, white-haired among the green leaves, picking the ripe raspberries…
We are the you and I who were they whom we remember…..Wendell Berry

When things feel out-of-control, I am grateful for what is in my ability to control:

1.)  if i respond with kindness
2.)  if i act instead of react
3.)  how i spend my time
4.)  how i spend my money
5.)  what kind of food and how much food i consume
6.)  if i take “that” phone call or let it go to voicemail
7.)  if i decide to take offense
8.) whether i take the time to enjoy tonight’s sunset
9.) if i stop and really listen

It is often between the lines and in the empty places where we hear God. ~Lonni Pratt, journalist

With swirling uncertainty, I am grateful for what I can control:

1. My attitude
2. Love
3. Joy
4. Peace within
5. Patience
6. Kindness
7. Gentleness
8. Self-control
9. Faithfulness

If you knew who God made you to be, you’d never want to be anyone else. ~Brenton Dowdy