Day 7 - "Wordless Wednesday"

Take a picture of a person, place or moment that makes you feel grateful.

I couldn't take just one...

Gratitude Challenge, Day 6

Take a few minutes to call someone you haven't talked to in a while. Tell them how much you appreciate them.

I hope you have your cell phone with you today, Cari.

The Gratitude Challenge, Day 5

Take five minutes to write about how grateful you are for all of the wonderful things that you currently have in your life. Don’t long for what you don’t possess—instead, take stock of all the blessings you already enjoy.

Grace.
Forgiveness.
Gabe.
Scooby & Scrappy.
Morning lattes.
Sleeping in.
Hot water.
Leopard-print ballet flats.
A kind boss.
Sunshine.
A freezer and fridge full of food.
A patio.
Roses.
10 brothers and sisters.
8 neices and nephews.
A granddad.
Three moms (all terrific).
Daddy.
Patty B.
A closet full of pretty clothes.
A chest full of pretty jewelry.
Health.
Girlfriends.

The Gratitude Challenge, Day 4

Write a short message of thanks for some of the “negative” things in your life.


I'm thankful for financial struggles. I see ours, and I look around me, and I realize - we still have SO much to be thankful for! What we have does not define us. We can, and we will, live without some - if not all - that we have, and WE WILL THRIVE.

I'm thankful for my strong-willed, defiant little babes. This fire within them will, God-willing (and I survive), buoy them in later years when they face peer-pressure and trials in their adult life - and help keep them going.

I'm thankful for this blasted heat-wave, because it means I live in California, which I love and adore. Come February, I'll be longing for 90 degree weather again.

I'm thankful for the piles of laundry I've yet to fold tonight, because I didn't have to wash them by hand, and I love the little bodies that will wear those socks and undies this week.

Nighty-night...a demain!

The Gratitude Challenge, Day 3

Write about something you feel grateful for in your life today.

I'm grateful for my health. I'm grateful that my family has been free from major illness and disease. I have watched other families suffer from cancer and other horrors and I often wonder...why them? why not us? Not that I would wish it upon ourselves, oh no, but how does that all work that they get saddled with such a burden and we don't? I know it's not a fair world, and I know that God is there through all of it. I'm thankful though, that ear infections, colds and the occasional round of familial gastro-intestinal ewww has been the worst we've had to face.

I'm sure it won't always be that way. But this post is about today, not about tomorrow. Today, I'm grateful for my health.

The Gratitude Challenge: Day 2

Use the alphabet as a fun and quick format for making a list of things for which you feel grateful. Share this list with your social network through email, a blog post or a Facebook or MySpace page.

A: Apples. it's fall and I love having a bowl-full on my table. I love that Scrappy now carries one around, knawing on it like a little squirrel for hours until it's mangled and bruised.

B: Boys. I have three and love them dearly.

C: C stands for Scooby, my firstborn. My superhero/astronaut/pilot with the bleach-blonde hair and aqua blue eyes who has a memory that is scary-quick, and is absorbing knowledge faster than you can say "

D: Daddy. Mine. I know, he's in here twice, and it's because I'm feeling blue about their move, but my dad has been my rock the last 10 years, serving as both father and mother, confidant and nurturer, when mom was taken from us. He made such a perfect choice in partner when he brought Nancy into our lives, too. I'm really grateful for such a wonderful dad. Thank you Dad for my dad.

E: Email. I'm grateful for such an easy way to keep in touch with people.

F: Friends. Loyal, long-distance, local, whatever. I love 'em.

G: Gabe. I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so grateful for the amazing partner, friend, lover and father that I'm married to.

H: Halloween. I love corny, campy decorations and this is the first of a bunch of great winter holidays that give me an excuse to go country for a few months.

I: iPhones. I don't have one, but one of the preschool teachers does and it's been the only way I've been able to drop Scooby off each morning this week without screaming and tears. He loves the Star Wars app...while he's slinging around his lightsaber, I can sneak away without any Mama Drama.

J: Job. As in the one I've got now, which allows my kids to enjoy this great school and gives me the time to enjoy them.

K: Karen, my mom. I am so grateful for the 20 great years I had with her. I am so grateful she made me pull weeds, and sit for her while she sketched, and sat and listened to my adolescent angst. My garden, her drawings on my wall, and my sense of self all hearken back to her legacy.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

L: Love. As in the unconditional variety. I'm grateful for that.

M: M is for Scrappy, my baby. The one I still rock in the middle of the night after he falls out of bed or has a nightmare. The one with the fiery temper who's got dimples, and he knows how to use them.

N: Nancy. My step-mom, friend, and one of those gifts from God you never expected but find you cannot live without. Especially now that I might be without her till next May. Bleah.

O: Opthamology. I no longer live in dreaded fear of retinal detachment.

P: Papa. The best granddad two boys could possibly imagine, who loves them, coaches them, challenges them, and takes them flying. Top that. Besides, he's my daddy and I wouldn't have survived 1990-2006 without him.

Q: Quick dinners - from places like Trader Joe's and Costco. When they say "organic" I feel that much less guilty for not preparing something from scratch, too.

R: Rewards. Hopefully one we'll all be enjoying this weekend if Scooby has yet another week of consistently improved behavior at school. It's called "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs".

S: Mrs. S., and all the teachers at our school, who don't just care for my kids, they LOVE my kids. They are thrilled when they succeed, and heartbroken when they don't. They encourage and support ME just as much. I couldn't ask for a better group of men and women to help me raise my boys into loving, Godly men.

T: Time. When I have it, I'm grateful for it. Time to relax and do nothing. Time with my girlfriends. Time to sit down at the table with my family. Time to hang out and watch The Backyardigans with one on each side.

U: Underwater. As in, being underwater. With my kids. In the swimming pool, in the lake - one of the few activities we ALL were able to enjoy together ALL summer long.

V: Views of my backyard. I love looking out my windows now on my pretty patio. It makes the plants even look nicer.

W: Window. The one behind my office which looks out over the preschool playground where Scrappy, at this very moment, is pushing himself along on a tricycle with his feet. We don't have that pedaling thing down yet. I love being able to watch him and his friends during the day.

X: The Roman numeral for 10, and the sign of the cross. The reason I can wake up and face each day no matter the challenges or the hardships or the joys. Because He died for me.

Y: Y is for Yahoo! and all those wonderful portals and search engines and blogs that have made the world smaller and life much more interesting. And have also provided me with another great tool of procrastination.

Z: Ok, I'm completely stuck. Z stands for...zippers? zany? zinc oxide? I'm grateful for zinc oxide and what it does for Scooby's backside. How's that.

See you tomorrow.

The Gratitude Challenge

I was just challenged to take the Gratitude Challenge.

I would seem awfully grumpy if I refused, so I didn't.

Here we go - 21 days, 21 posts, and probably more than you were interested in.

Day 1: Express why you accepted this challenge and what you hope to achieve from it.

I am accepting this challenge because discontent has always been one of my millstones. It drags me down, it robs my joy, and prevents me from being the person I want to be. Discontent and gratitude, being sworn enemies, cannot co-exist. Here's to 21 days free from discontent. Or at least 21 days with less of it. We can start small.

And besides, the real reason I write this blog is because I want something that my kids can read 20 years from now, when perhaps their mom isn't quite the person she is now. Lest they forget how much they were loved, adored, laughed over, cried over.

I don't know what the future holds, or what God intends for me and my family, but I print out and keep these logs in a binder. It's the closest I'll ever get to a diary. It's a journal of my love for them. I want them to know how grateful I am for them and for the life I have RIGHT NOW. That's the best we all can do, right?

See you tomorrow.

Bruised, but not broken...

I barely triumphed this morning, over the ambush orchestrated by a 6 and a 2 year old.

Their goal? Not leaving the house.

They were ruthless in their endeavor. There was milk spitting, excessive screaming, hair-dryer hiding and the 'ole "I can't find my shoe!" trick...at one point the conniving little gremlins tried to distract me by attacking one another.

I'm exhausted, but triumphant. We made it to school on time.

globally unpositionable...

"I am not a brave person."

This was the line that kept running through my head a few nights ago, as I drove through utter blackness, pulling over periodically to read the page-long sheet of directions I was given to guide me and my two-year-old to our overnight accomodations. (or, at the very least, a meeting place from whence my SIL would guide me to our overnight accomodations.)

I like to know where I'm going, in the first place. GPS is usually helpful in this arena. But statements kept popping up on my Garmin screen, like:

"Please find the highlighted route and your guidance will begin."

Please FIND the highlighted route?
You want ME to find it?!
That's YOUR job!
You mean, the SATELLITE doesn't even know where I am?

I am GLOBALLY UNPOSITIONABLE???!!

yes, globally unpositionable, in the dark, all alone, responsible for not only my well-being but that of the tired and cranky little person in the backseat, who was, blissfully unaware of how scared I was of being lost.

Blindly assuming that at some point, we,
but more importantly, he,
would soon be tucked into bed.
Knowing with unwaivering certainty
that footie pajamas, a sippy cup, "bitzie", and Sharkie would also be joining him there.

Upon arriving at the agreed-upon meeting place - a charming little park in the teensy-weensy town of Santa Margarita (I know the precise size of the town - it is not tiny, nor is it teeny, it is teensy-weensy because I drove the length and breadth of it, twice, trying to find said park). At one point, I attempted to follow a van full of drunk teenagers (by accident - I thought it was Trish), and by them was alerted to the fact that said park was rapidly filling with more drunk teenagers and I was at the site of a very-soon-to-be raging rave.

After meandering through total, utter darkness behind the tailights of my SIL, safety emerged from the gloom in the form of a capacious 5th wheel, lit up like a Christmas tree, the A/C running (did I mention that Santa Margarita is very, very hot?) and hugs from my family who awaited us.

We achieved our goal,
we didn't get (very) lost,
we didn't give in to (total) panic, and,
we didn't get kidnapped by drunk teenagers.

Later that night, a full moon rose and shone so brightly outside that the darkness was pushed away and the hills and trees lit up as midday.

I know this because Scooby and I were awake, trying to get warm.
Santa Margarita, while quite hot in the daytime, is a bit chilly at 3am.
We cuddled in a nice rocking chair in the darkness.
he had me (and Sharkie)
I had Him.
we were globally unpositionable
but safe
in the deep, dark night
and maybe,
just a bit more brave
than we thought.

This summer has been just full of those moments where I find out what I'm truly capable of.