1000 Gifts: 79 to 99

I constantly wonder how serious/frequent bloggers do it. Is it streamlined and routine when you don't have to search your brain for reminders of how to use the most basic functions? Do they just need less sleep? Have a hired cleaning lady, perhaps? I don't know, but it takes me forever just to get this list posted.

But worth every moment it is.

79. The hope of paint color samples lying on the counter.

80. 80s sitcoms--finally, good clean TV.

81. Hands outreached, faces raised, bubbles twirling.

82. A safe place to shed tears.

83. The Lighthouse.

84. When God speaks in unique ways, just to my heart.

85. Friends to walk this journey with.

86. Freedom, ever widening, from generational snares.

87. New transplants, yet wilted but soon to blossom.

88. First farmer's tan of the season.

89. Big sister, little sister.

90. Way too many bodies in the too tiny pool.

 (Hey, look at me, all fancy, adding pictures to my post! I may just "get there" yet...)

91. Water balloon confetti in the grass.

92. Running, chasing, laughing, squirting--a "yes mom" moment.

93. Stretch marks (definitely no pictures on this one!)

94. First "big pool" day of the summer.

95. Clicking of bike gears down the driveway.

96. Filling the biggest booth, just us.

97. Famers' voices carrying in the wind.

98. Last day of school.

99. Hope. One day at a time.

Ingratitude

Please remove #65 from yesterday's list.

1000 Gifts: 63 to 78

No time for more than just the list today:

63. Our God always wins in the end.

64. Sweet songs sung by an even sweeter nephew.

65. The red-winged black bird who woke me at 5:00 a.m. (gratitude is a choice, right?).

66. Truth spoken.

67. Like-minded women who welcome freely.

68. A yard large enough for huge puddles when it pours.

69. Four hours with no pit stops.

70. Silence prolonged during an extra long nap.

71. Toddler scribbles rendering my gratitude list nearly illegible.

72. A harvest promised to bear fruit that lasts.

73. Fresh spring air billowing through the curtains.

74. Thirty percent off.

75. The hum of the spin cycle.

76. Total trust as pudgy toddler fingers grasp mine.

77. The way the sun and the breeze are somehow more peaceful when standing at the clothesline.

78. I will never even know all that I have to be grateful for.

Who are you looking for?

Your real, new self will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.
C.S. Lewis

1000 Gifts: 49 to 62

"He will do us good, real good, lasting good, only good, every good. He will make us good, and this is to do us good to the highest degree.” (Charles Spurgeon)

God’s priority is always our best good. And all true good comes from Him.

49. Tears that flow at the true meaning of the bread and wine.

50. Sewing projects completed while the seam ripper stays mostly in its home.

51. Sewing projects yet to be completed.

52. A baby now turned two.

53. Fresh white shelves holding in the clutter.

54. Things, useless, no longer weighing us down.

55. The teenager that will still laugh with me.

56. Long legs sprawled nearly to the end of the bed.

57. Missing my church when I'm not there.

58. Remembering that God is at work, always.

59. Jesus. The name alone brings peace.

60. Freckled face smiling, even after the wrong keys were played.

61. Laughter muffled through windows as they play.

62. Grass mowed fresh and green.

1000 Gifts: 35 to 48

I admit that I didn't stay mindful of gratitude this week. I so easily get busy living, moving, doing, and just don't see things. So this very practice is one thing that I am grateful for today:

35.  Faithful believers encouraging and creating accountability even across the internet.

36.  Hard rains that didn't come.

37.  Chains that have been broken.

38.  The hope that all chains one day will be gone.

39.  Friends that know so well yet stay close.

40.  Gradually letting go of the measuring up.

41.  Difficult conversations being truly heard.

42.  Sparkling grape juice fizz.

43.  Juice moustaches.

44.  Fat bellied babies.

45.  Youthful legs completing the race red-faced.

46.  That grin.

47.  Questions that come and come and come.

48.  Kids who are grateful for me.

1000 Gifts: 11 to 34

So last week's list never made it to the computer, and this week's list is slim, so I'm combining the two now that I'm finally getting around to posting. Honestly, there are some things feeling so heavy that seeing beyond them to the things, big and small, worthy of gratitude is a challenge. Part of me says that itis just wrong to be in such a place if I have any faith at all, but part of me knows that it is too real not to admit.

For that reason it seems that much more important that I continue with this discipline, to do all I can to direct my focus to what is true and learn, little by little to live in this truth Ann Voskamp shared today, perhaps just for me:

"You only know how to give thanks always when you know how to give thanks anyway."

11. Grass stained knees on jeans and the energetic laughter born in creating them.

12. Stain stick, though it seems less than holy, but at the same time miraculous.

13. New words and sentences flowing quick and mumbled behind the security of the paci.

14. Water that runs freely over muddy trail from feet played hard.

15. Shirts stained with many sweet things enjoyed.

16. Gapping baby teeth and a nose pinched tight into a mischievous toddler grin.

17. Email

18. Always just enough.

19. Gurgles and splashes as bath toys meet their purpose and carpet spots wet.

20. A sister who always feels like "home," no matter how long since the visit.

21. Reminders that messy is part of the journey, necessary even.

22. When size 7 1/2 is all that's left and it fits.

23. Fresh reminders of old joys buried under the busy.

24. Teachers whose passion for the Word is contagious.

25. Jesus is coming!

26. Hugs unrequested from adolescent arms.

27. Unruly ringlets bouncing.

28. Sisters, big and small, cuddling with a bedtime book.

29. Clean carpet.

30. Kind shoulders to share the load, and a heart willing to share her own burden.

31. Generous customer service who has blessed us 2x over.

32. A fun night with my teenage boy, still willing to smile at corny jokes and evidently not-so-subtle attempts to draw him out.

33. A new bright plaid shirt under the newly tanned face.

34. Giving thanks anyway because of Truth.