30 Days of Thankfulness

Nov 30 - This is the last day. But I hope I consciously work at expressing thankfulness more often because as evidenced here I am extremely blessed. I have been given much and I hope to find out a way to give to others. It is something I am lousy at. This last day I could sum up all the things I have already written. I have probably left out some glaringly obvious person or thing to be thankful for. For that I will be sorry. Maybe next year I will be better at recalling and thinking about everything I should be thankful for. But this last day, I am thankful for PUSHY PEOPLE. There are people in my life, and even some folks who have passed on who pushed me. I need pushing.. pushing to be better, to be more, to be nicer, to be stronger, to be less fearful, to reach higher, to stand back, to try harder, to let go. I am thankful for all those in my life ... some my elders, sometimes my children and even grandchildren, sometimes my friend and some even those who are decidedly NOT my friend, sometimes a stranger on the street. For all these people who preach to me loudly without words, thank you. Because of them I am rich.



Nov 29 - Today I am thankful for a job. Some days I am not to be honest. But the fact is my job.. while it is definitely NOT my identity, IS a job that suits me, uses my gifts, allows me to solve puzzles (a past time my Dad turned me on to as a kid), and interact with people. I am glad when my bank account has emptied that there is a way to fill it. Mondays are Mondays but on this one after a lovely 4 day weekend, I am thankful for my job!



Nov 28 - Today I am thankful for finishing... Luckily I have had time and margin to finish some things today and it is still early. One thing I started in January with a Dec 31 goal and the other I started Nov 1. And while there is satisfaction in finishing there is not a sense of conquering because it can always be done better. Though I wrestled with words and with myself, there is no mastery. So I keep on living and learning and searching and trying. Thank you God for a life that only finds satisfaction in YOU!



Nov 27 - Today I am incredibly overwhelmed and thankful for sunsets and rainbows and waves that roll in hour after hour, day after day, year after year, century after century, and for rainstorms and sunshine. Our world is a creative place that we are blessed to live in... God gave us all this so we can glorify HIM. God is good.



Nov 26 - Today is the morning after and the day it all begins. Today I am thankful for all the things I have been thankful for up to now. And then I am grateful for being able to take a trip to the beach and a lovely home and living in luxury when I don't deserve it and getting to write the last words of my novel watching the stormy rain coming in. It is amazing here and while this is not the place to complain.. I am sad that we cannot seem to get ESPN and I am missing the football game. BUT... all in all my novel is going to get wrapped up this weekend and I am thankful for that chance to use the gifts I have been given or just to exercise it. Thank you.



Nov 25 - Today is Thanksgiving. Today is Blakes Birthday. Today is a day off of work. Today is a day I get to see Monkey (and his family). Today is a day we get to eat good stuff... turkey, ham, plus all the birthday stuff and homemade ice cream. I am overwhlemed with gratitude for a life that is filled with excesses. I cannot help but think of those who live without. This holiday season I am beyond ready to do something different. The fact is I have everything I need and maybe a whole lot of stuff I do not need. Oh.. I still want. That wanting monster inside of me has to stop being fed. Please ..family, friends, lets stop. Lets find a way to spend time celebrating relationship instead of shopping. Lets love in action without involving more stuff. Lets think of all those people who go door to door looking for a single tamale to celebrate the season with and find them a tamale... the only thing they will have to celebrate Christmas. We who live in the land of excess need to learn to spread the wealth. Where is Robin Hood when you need him? Oh that right... we have Jesus. Lets change the world!



Nov 24 - I know we were already thankful for vets and warm houses and freedom. But this cold dark morning it is 15 degrees outside and my heater is on (a shock to most visitors to my house) and I am warm and comfortable. I am planning turkey day with my family and a beach trip.... food, good people, warm houses - one has to feel grateful for all the blessings we enjoy. Then on top of that I have been selling the jewelry that I brought home from Guatemala .. and it is not really selling it... I am giving it to folks in exchange for a donation to www.mayanfamilies.org/DonateNOw to help feed the little village of El Barranco who is experiencing famine. And my friends and family have stepped up to help me accomplish somthing so much bigger than I could have done by myself. I am humbled by the generosity of these folks who will act because I asked. God is good!



Nov 23 - Today I am really praising God for some folks close to me who were/are experiencing crisis/needs. It is awesome that we can petition our Father for things that concern our hearts and know that He listens, He cares, and He can move mountains. So today my niece and her husband have been given guardianship of their little girl, Jaydn. The rest is a matter of protocol.. visas, passports and getting them out of Uganda and HOME. The other was my sister's job.. and she still has it. That is awesome.



Nov - 22 Today I am thankful for lots of the same stuff. For the anticipation of holidays and shopping and visiting with friends and snow. Yesterday I got to attend church at a new place and I love to see how God takes care of his people whether they are close or far.



Nov 21 - Today I am thankful for the opportunity to worship with others... to see others dwelling in the word, to see them wrestle with scripture, to see them be open and friendly and natural and caring. God is awesome and His people are pretty great too. And I just gotta say Monkey is so adorable... Love being a Grandma.



Nov 20 - Last night I spent with a bunch of kids writing (ok some were actually doing math)... I also hatched a plan with Amber for Blake's birthday. I love that kids are so creative and eager. What an amazing world we have where we get to see and mold the next generation. I am thankful for not only the next generation of kids but their parents who are raising them in a very tough environment. We expose them to so many things now from sex everywhere they look to drugs and alcohol and for some families it is normal life. God help the parents and help the kids! But thank you for them, too. They give us hope and anticipation for the future.



Nov 19 - I am thankful for the "information age" and the ability to connect and touch people far away. NOT just that.. I have been selling the jewelry I came home from Guatemala with. I am NOT a seller. It is way outside my comfort zone. But in being able to show people pictures and videos from the little village ... people understand even a little. Famine is not a word we as North Americans can understand. BUT we do look into the eyes of a child and get it. So thank you Lord for this technology which allows us to track an adoption saga happening in Africa this very week, allows us to see and meet people far away, it allows us to stay in touch with loved ones, AND it allows want-to-be writers like me sitting in my living room to research and find answers without leaving my chair (the novel continues).



Nov 18 - I am thankful for kick back family group meals with people who have become my good friends. We are quite an eclectic group, not together for any other reason than that we love the Lord. But together we bring out the best in each other and at times I am overcome with just what awesome people they are. And the meals are awesome... always something great to look forward to. Thank you Lord for bringing these people into my life.



Nov 17 - Today I am thankful for a warm house and comfortable place to write, to sleep, to come to after work. I can actually work at home but prefer not to. I feel a little embarrassed at the size of my house after spending so much time in Guatemala and recognizing how the rest of the world lives. At the same time I have room for family who visits, friends who visit -- inside and out. Truly I am blessed and if some day I am asked to live in less, I have seen how it is done.



Nov 16 - Today I am thankful for the ability to sit down with others and study the Bible... There is never a time that I don't walk away with a heart convicted or changed over something that someone pointed out to me. I love to learn from my oh-so-smart friends. Sometimes the material goes over my head and it takes patient loving friends to bring it down to my level (is that dumbing it down?). Thank you God for putting so many wonderful teachers in my life. The list would be long if I named them. But today I am thankful for you!



Nov 15 - Today I am thankful for being able to watch an amazing God work in little ways and in the grand ways. The story is my neice and her husband have had it on their heart to adopt a child from Uganda. The cost was prohibitive and to most of us we would have quit right there. But she knew that God would work it all out and she invited the world to join them on their journey to "Jaydn" (2) (which is what they have named her). So once the money was rasied... and make no mistake - it was raised creatively and quickly with all needs being met, they had to wait on the government of Uganda which takes its own sweet time to move. Prayers went up. Prayers for patience, prayers for movement, prayers for action, prayers for a sweet little girl with spunk in her eyes surviving in an orphanage. And then one day they got their summons. And now there they are. Away from their children, Jovie (2) and Jaxon (6). And waiting again for the government to move...Prayers are requested.. for patience, for action, prayers for Jadyn and Jove and Jaxon all on this journey together. But they are sleeping with their little girl who still has spunk in her eye but now she sleeps with her forever parents and little does she know that God is about to bless her with an amazing brother and sister, a forever family. God is amazing.



Nov 14 - Today I am thankful for health. I can still move. I might pay for it, I might complain, my feet hurt, my ankles are frozen, my knees don't bend. My walking partners hear me complain way more than they should have to. But the bottom line is in the last year I have had two foot and leg surgeries and one broken ankle and I have still walked many miles including a few long training walks on the Vernonia Linear Trail (my favorite) and a half marathon a few weeks ago. Lord thank you for my health. My good health is a blessing from you. Thank You!



Nov 13 - Today I am thankful for friends. I have the best ones. They are people who fill in the gaps of my life. They push me and pull me and challenge me and make me reach higher and work harder than I really want to work. Connie can be convinced to set a goal and then we both work to make it happen. She is amazing in her discipline. She is a wonderful teacher and a friend who listens unendingly. Linda has been one of those constants in my life for so many years, I cannot imagine life without her encouragement, her constant attentiveness. There are new people in my life that are amazing. I want to be like them... Sonya, Candace, Helen. How I have been blessed! And then there are people who have been part of my life for years... that make me richer - Brenda, Connie T, Janet, Kathy, Kay, Laurel, Maiya, Marian, Martha, Mel, Roma... Each of these people have changed me and made me better. Thank you, God for friends, sisters.



Nov 12 - These are certainly not in order of any importance but I am thankful for grandchildren. My grandchildren taught me that there is no end to love, no life so full, no shortage of time or energy when it comes to grandchildren. My grandchildren are amazing ... every one of them. I could cry to think of all the things Amber has taught me without even touching her courage and bravery and beauty inside and out and how she faces tough things head on. When I grow up I want to be JUST Like her. Blake is sweet and loving at an age where that is not cool. So he is becoming a man instead (I don't like that). I love watching him play sports that he has gone after himself.. there is no one playing with him (football and basketball) to teach him technique. He is using his size well. He is the most tenacious person I know. Hailey is 6 and we still getting to know each other, but she is really smart and she works hard at being 15 so she can be Amber's best friend and she is not. She is a fish in water and loves harvesting berries growing all around the house. Caleb is my little love bug. He is 1 and we have shared much in the last year including a few sicknesses and asthma. How I am blessed with grandchildren. If you have none, adopt some... because they are truly God's reward for living thru raising kids!



Nov 11 - I thought I would be slowing down but I have three things I am overwhelmed with this morning.. but I will stick with one. Today along with the rest of the world I want to be thankful for the veterans. Those who serve, those who have served long ago, those who hold down the fort while their loved ones serve.... THANK YOU. You are responsible for the wonderful lives we have, the choices we have, the freedom, the riches... ANd there are no words for those who gave their lives. May God bless these men and women and their famililes always for giving their BEST.



Nov 10 - This day I want to be thankful for sisters by marriage. There were a lot of years that I was separate from those sisters. And this year those years of separation have been removed. These women were my role models when I was learning to be an adult, a mom, and even a wife. I watched them and I listened and I can tell you I am better today because of them. These women have lead amazing lives and are still two of the wisest women I know. I just know that I intend to treasure them for as long as we live. That is alot to be thankful for.



Nov 9 - This day I am incredibly thankful for my "family by marriage" even tho I am long unmarried. This family represeneted exciting new relationships that opened new doors for me. They were so different than my own family. They were loud and boisterous and opinonated and loving and accepting and a little frustrating, too. My mother and father in law were so patient and loving and taught me to be more. My mother in law urged me to nurse my babies, urged me to read a wide variety of books, talked to me about current issues, shared her love of gardening and roses with me. My father in law taught me to run. ... an activity that has changed me more than any other. They have both passed on... but they live on in many ways in how I live and how I love.



Nov 8 - This day I am thankful for my sister. She has been a companion during most of my life. She is brave and strong and tenacious... maybe more than anyone I know. She has accomplished much in spite of obstacles and disappointments in life. We struggle, we work together, we inspire each other. I cannot help but acknowledge that my sister has shaped alot about who I am. In many ways she is so different than I - in taste, and how we live out our lives. But in all the right ways she is very much like me. I have been blessed with my sister.



Nov 7 - Today I am very thankful for my friends. God has blessed me with friends who have walked with me on good days and held my hand as I cried thru bad days. This life is full of ups and downs (it rains on the just and the unjust) but having people in your life that walk alongside you IS PRICELESS. My friends speak the truth, crazily commit to walking marathons and half marathons, call to see if I am ok, allow me to be as good a friend to them as they are to me, they stretch me and grow me and on days when we grieve - they step up to fill in those holes. I am grateful for, the opportunity to experience the light of Jesus thru hands of these people whom I love.



Nov 6 - I love waking up early without the alarm and experiencing morning the slow way. I get to go out and walk in a few minutes and watch the sun come up. I know I said it already but it is powerful experiencing the birth of a day and know that God in HIS great faithfulness has caused the sun to rise each morning since the first day. So today I am thankful for God's wonderful faithfulness.



Nov 5 - This morning I am thankful for warm snug houses and comfy beds.. ok.. my comfy house and my comfy bed. Traveling I can sleep anywhere. But I AM most comfortable at home. And seeing hovels where 5 and 6 people sleep in one bed or worse yet, take turns sleeping and those not in bed are on a mat on a dirt floor. Do I feel a bit guilty? YES! But also want to recognize that I have been blessed.... with so many things. But one is a warm comfy house and a luxuriously large bed. Father, help me to not forget those who have so little. Then make me your servant to make a difference!



Nov 4 - Today I am thankful for blue skies and early morning stars that shine and sunshine and trees that are brilliantly dressed before their winter slumber. I love the crisp mornings and the surprise warmth of the November sun. I love the moon dancing with just a sliver... but the unseen barely showing. God is amazing in His creative powers. I am humbled by His majesty and His loving care to have created such splendor for man.



Nov 3 - I am grateful for parents who taught us right from wrong - who did NOT make us the center of their existance, who taught us to give back and in most cases to give back bigger and better, and the importance of church community and taking care of each other. I am thankful for their example of marriage and of staying together thru thick and thin. I love that they are still actively bowling (both.. you ROCK) and dirt bike riding (Dad you are so young at heart!), and learning new things (IPAD). God blessed me big with you as parents.



Nov 2 - I am thankful to my church family who have propped me up more times than I wish to relive and they have also encourged me to step outside that comfort zone and dare to do things I never would have tried. They continually remind me who I belong to and that risk is all relative. Thank you for being the light that illuminates my way.!



Nov 1 - I am thankful to my children who make it all so much more interesting.. with struggles and happy times and there is never a dull moment, never a moment I would have missed because even in the dark moments there was the other side. I love them fully completely and I especially love seeing God working in their lives. I love that my family of three children has expanded. I now have 3 daughters and a son. What a blessed woman I am.






DKU