Gratitude

So I'm a little late with my gratitude post but there has just been so much going on in my life and I have so very much for which to be grateful.

I am so grateful that my mother is still here with us and doing incredibly well.  I'm amazed at her strength and tho I never want to go through this, I hope I always have her strength and grace in whatever comes my way.

I'm grateful for my siblings.  My sister has been a rock in caring for my mom and I'm so grateful she is there for her always.  My brother has been a quiet presence of support and strength to both my mom and sister and me too.

My little family has been great as well.  I dropped everything Monday evening, packed my bags and was out the door in 20 minutes for the drive to be with my mom and family for the surgery early Tuesday morning.  They supported me and gave me room to be where I needed to be and then arranged to prepare the Thanksgiving meal without me (just in case.)

It's been a whirlwind of a week but we made it through and I am full of gratitude for my family and the friends who were quick with their prayers and support.  I am definitely blessed beyond measure.

Disconnecting

DD fell last week while at ballet and she is now on crutches.  It's a waiting game that neither of us are very good at playing.  We have to wait for the radiologist to read the x-rays and then get the report to the Doc and then for her to call us.  Until then she is on crutches and bored and driving me crazy.  We've watched way too many Gilmore Girls in the last few days.  Binge watching at it's best.

We usually sit and watch until we get fidgety and then we pick up our phones and start playing games, toy blast, solitaire, crosswords and so on.   By the time it's bedtime, my eyes hurt and I can barely see.  Last night, I decided we needed to put down the phones.  They were making us feel bad.  So, I went to our game chest and pulled out a few games and we had a wonderful night!  We still watched too

many Gilmore Girls but we played Connect Four, Scrabble (no scoring!), and SkipBo while we watched.  We had a fun night cheering when we won and laughing at the mistakes, made up words and so on.

Why don't we do this more often?  We interacted with each other instead just staring at our screens like zombies. It was so nice!  Nice to disconnect from the screen.  My eyes thanked me and so did my daughter. 

There probably won't be games tonight as she is mostly likely going to ballet at least for a few hours to do what she can without putting weight on her foot but I'll be looking forward to the next time.  

What are your favorite games?  Offline games, of course.

Gratitude

I don't really have time to read much anymore.  That fact makes me really sad.  Reading has always been a favorite pastime of mine, but recently I found a book I thought I needed to read to help with a sermon series I'm hoping to start this week.  I bought it on my Kindle hoping to get around to reading it eventually.  Well, a couple of days ago, I finally forced myself to start it and I'm so glad I did!  It was an amazing read!!  I felt good at the end, I laughed, I cried, I felt sorry for the author and happy for him too!  What book is it you ask?  This one, "A Simple Act of Gratitude" by John Kralik.

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I couldn't put it down.  Last night as I was reading in the car waiting on DD, I laughed out loud, I teared up, I smiled.  My heart was warmed.  

And then this thing happened.  A song came on the radio.  I had it on to drown out the sounds on the street that were distracting to me.  Anyway, this song came on and I was instantly transported to another time but still present too. 

The song was one my DH had put a slideshow to during one of his deployments.  I remember watching that little video over and over again.  The words to the song have a different meaning to me now though.  Now, I felt such gratitude for the love of my husband.  Don't get me wrong, I felt this then too but not at the level I did last night.  I was overwhelmed with the knowledge of how much he loves me and how much I love him.  So much has changed in our lives since he made that little video/slideshow.  We've both grown so much and I can honestly say that our love has grown by leaps and bounds!  I texted him immediately to let him know how the song still makes me feel and how he is my universe.  

As I read that text over again, I realized that it was a kind of thank you note.  That's what the book is about, writing thank you notes to express your gratitude and well, as I clicked send, my heart was just overflowing with gratitude and joy.  It was overwhelming.  When DH texted back you could tell he was a bit overwhelmed too and I realized that THIS is true gratitude.  This is how we should feel everyday, about little things and big things.  Even just about a song playing in the background on the radio.

Part of the title of the book is "How learning to say thank you  changed my life."  I really think it can change all of our lives and in turn maybe even change the world a little bit by making it a better place to be.

So, thank you, dear readers and fellow bloggers, for sharing your time with me.  For sharing your life with me even if just for the second it takes you to read a bit here now and again. Thank you.

Sorry, I know I've been a bit vague and a bit too mushy here but really, READ THIS BOOK!  It's an easy read and so worth it! It could easily be read in a day, though I just read a little here and there as I found the time.  But Read IT and let me know what you think!

Eric Clapton - Change The World from Park on Vimeo.

Moments, Precious Moments

We've been having a tough time of it lately.  We've had issues here and there and some struggles too.  This week I've spent time concentrating more on my DD and it's been fun.  We went on an amazing adventure yesterday and then spent the evening snuggled up on the couch watching TV while we waited on the little ghouls to ring the door bell.  It wasn't our usual Halloween but it was a nice quiet one that we probably needed.  

Just this past week, I preached a sermon on time and how it can seem so fleeting to us.  I talked about how we have to make the most of every moment and so the last couple of days with my DD, I've done just that.  

Yesterday we went on one of our grand adventures.  It's been quite a while since we've done this.  

We've both been so busy, too busy.  So after some must dos like Bible study at one of the churches and a hospital visit, we headed to the Big City and tried a new to us restaurant and visited a new store.  
No adventure with DD is complete without stopping to purchase ballet shoes and then we made time for the bookstore!!  We never go to the bookstore anymore. We even purchased fun books!  Books for us, not books for work or school.  Just books for us and our own time.

 It was fun and quite the adventure for us.  I have a hard going to new unfamiliar places.  I don't like driving where I'm not familiar with the area and especially the parking!  So, yes, a grand adventure.  :)  It even snowed on us on the way home.   We laughed and giggled, we chatted, we walked, we had a beautiful time and I wouldn't trade a second of this time together.  

DD won't be here forever, she will eventually move out of our home into her own and begin her own life somewhere.  Until then, I'll cherish every minute I have with her.  Sometimes you have to put work away and just be in the moments God gives you.  These moments are precious!  Don't miss them!!