Thankfulness in Abundance

We took a family trip to our church garden again this morning and brought back quite a bit of goodness!  And while I am so thankful for the abundance, lying on the couch, resting my baby belly and back sounds so much more appealing right now.  Especially after bending, squatting, kneeling, and sitting in the dirt picking beans...

The pickled beets are done.  The carrots are peeled, blanched, and ready to be bagged for the freezer.  However, the green beans are still calling my name...and so, I'm hunkering down at the kitchen table with the radio blaring...

...thankful that my hubby and Luke are bringing home something for dinner after running errands...(for Mike's week long trip starting Monday...would you pray for us?)

...thankful that Elijah is keeping Sadie busy reading "The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe" to her while munching on snack mix...

...thankful that Isaac appears to only have the sniffles at this point...

...thankful that I'm not doing all this on my own - so blessed by my Lord, my hubby, my children...

Thirty-Five {Anything But Ordinary}

My birthday was today. I'm thirty-five.

I was chatting with a longtime birthday twin friend...in fact our moms roomed together at the hospital when we were born! She was having a normal day at home...her hubby was away for most of the day, she had baked her own cake, and was cleaning in preparation for her family coming over for dinner. I was sharing how my day was going to be pretty ordinary today as well...keeping fingers crossed that no one else would get the pukes, dealing with a few head colds, and just the everydayness of life.

We both agreed though that having birthdays as an adult are not quite as big a deal as when you're younger or before you have kids. We're learning to be less selfish with our desires for our day going our way.

That conversation got me to thinking about how my days are generally pretty ordinary. But, in reality, each day holds an opportunity to see the extraordinary. It's there, I know it! I live it when I choose to.

It's easy to get bogged down in the mundane, the annoying, the same old same old...

I purposed today to see the extraordinary in my day even though it was pretty much an ordinary day. Kinda like counting 1000 gifts...

Thirty-five or so extraordinary things about my day...in no particular order, but in reverse of my actual day.

1} Cheesecake from Wegmans because I prefer cheesecake over birthday cake

2} 35 candles...totally lit up the darkened room

3} Chili's Carside To Go - Fiesta Lime Chicken

4} Wendy's for the kids - no meal preparation today - mama's day off

5} Thoughtfully chosen birthday gifts: rolly ink pens, candles, peanut butter cups

6} Excitement over using the pens to journal...I like the "flow" of these pens while writing

7} Fresh flowers in bright colors because they know that's what I like

8} These darling children who call me mama, who teach me more about love and forgiveness, patience and kindness, being selfless and giving than all the most wonderful people in the whole wide world. So challenging. So rewarding.

9} A surprise party in a totally decked out dining room with streamers and balloons galore

10} Secret party plans and whispers while handwritten lists were being made

11} Happy Birthday signs

12} Feeling and knowing this song in my heart: What a Savior

13} Worship team - the friendships and blessings that have come from being with this group of talented people

14} Connected and comfortable to be my goofy self with these friends...laughter

15} Excited for the first time in a long time about music, singing, playing the piano...stretching and growing, remembering those starry eyed days of high school when music was in every part of my life

16} Free

17} Time to work on a baby sized scrap quilt

18} Repeatedly pushing our awesome doorbell that plays songs...today's song...Happy Birthday!

19} My camera - capturing these extraordinary days

20} Laughing at some of the pictures I chose for this post...some are wonderful, some are not, some were taken with my dslr camera, some were taken with our family's dying point and shoot (I do NOT like that camera now that I am learning to shoot in manual!)

21} Eensy, teeny rickrack - thrifted

22} Hanging out in my sewing room imagining up wonderful projects with vintage sheets and rickrack and free patterns and embroidery hoops and, and, and...

23} Excitement about life

24} Cozy fire and boys who know how keep it going strong

25} Our home and how perfectly perfect it is for our family

26} Boys out shopping with daddy while Sadie and Mama "kick it old school" and dance in Sadie's room. Yes, there is video evidence that I didn't attempt to load here. No, I'm not embarrassed by my dance moves...they're totally awesome...just ask the worship team...

27} French Vanilla creamer

28} This man - Sorry I chopped off your legs in this picture. You're still handsome even without legs. We both know that your toes wouldn't win any modeling awards anyhow. Seriously, I'm gonna make him haul in more wood and retake these pictures with his legs intact. I was just too lazy to put on shoes and tromp out in the snow to get a better picture. Kicking myself now. But not Mike from the picture...he's not kicking...he doesn't have legs.

29} Did I mention how handsome my husband is in the picture above. That's not just camera trickery I learned in my photography class. That's the real deal.

30} My husband - Godly, loving, hard worker, provider, super daddy, strong moral fiber, family oriented, indulgent of all my "craftsy/artsy" stuff, and on and on...

31} Setting out a thrifted picture...tranquility

32} Redecorating the top of the piano

33} Choosing fabric to cover the boring white shade. Sunday's project, perhaps?

35} A delicious, healthy smoothie with an umbrella for pizzaz

36} New mugs from Target

37} Amish fiction - let me hear a little whoop, whoop for clean, easy, mindless reading

38} Playing outside with Sadie while the boys were out shopping. I overheard her saying, "I want to go outside. I'm going to sneak out." while she was putting on her jacket and shoes. Choosing to love her and head outside instead of enticing her to stay inside with treats and movies. (Yes, I do that sometimes...don't judge me!)

39} Pulling Sadie around in her sled...seeing the smile on her face knowing I made the right choice to take her outside

40} Her matter of fact statement, "All princesses wear rainbow gloves!" Mama needs to get herself some rainbow gloves...

41} Unlined rubber rain boots with the cutest polka dots. Why don't I own winter boots??? Where do I live again???

42} Party feet - sparkly nail polish and hot pink flip flops - thrifted. I need that pop of color in my life everyday!!!

43} Meaningful notes and messages from loved ones and friends about my birthday, my life, the choices we have made and are making. Thankful for their love and support.

Thank you, Lord, for this life you have given me, for helping me to see the extraordinary in the ordinary days of life. So blessed!!!

Baked Oatmeal

I've been practicing thankfulness inspired by reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I am teaching, training, and practicing the art of being thankful for gifts within my own heart - the good, the bad, the big, and the small. It's all about looking at life differently with God vision, His perspective. I've starting numbering my gifts in a journal. It's amazing to look back over the past week seeing my life differently...it's refreshing and encouraging me to continue on this path of thankfulness.

I realize that while this is a life and heart change I want for myself, I want my children to experience change, too. How much angst and discontentment could be saved in their lives if they can learn these lessons early in life?! I want to live this thankfulness out loud, in front of my children's observant eyes and ears so it is natural for them to imitate. This morning afforded the perfect opportunity to tell them about how mama is practicing thankfulness.

It all began with baked oatmeal.

And complaints.

Rather than getting frustrated at the children telling them to "change their ungrateful attitudes, get eating, or there will be trouble" which is my natural response...ugh...I, only by God's grace, was able to see past the complaints, not get upset, and begin explaining how I am trying to see situations with thankfulness now. I told them how usually feel about doing laundry and dishes, making meals, picking up around the house - annoyed, frustrated, irritated, never feeling like a job is completed, etc.

But now because of how God is changing my heart and because I am learning the importance of seeing God's gifts in everything I am choosing to find ways to thank God instead of complaining or choosing a bad attitude.

While I'm folding laundry, I thank God for the scent of dryer sheets, feeling the warmth on my hands on a cold day, Elijah when I fold his sweatshirt, Luke when I fold his pants, Isaac when I fold his jammies, Sadie when I fold her dress, Daddy when I fold his tee shirts, a high efficiency washer and dryer to wash and dry more laundry at once, less water used per load saving money on water bills, the fact that I don't have to hand wash each piece, Shout and Oxiclean to take out stains, my favorite thrifted shirt...

While I'm doing the dishes, I thank God for a husband who does A LOT of dishes for me, lemony scented bubbles, warm water, a dishwasher, paper & plastic at times, lotion after washing to heal dry hands...

While I'm making meals, I thank God for the opportunity to serve my family is such a tangible way, hands capable of preparing and serving, healthy fruits and veggies, money to purchase foods whenever we want, always having enough & more than enough, take-out, grocery stores that carry more than I could ever need, safety regulations for safe food, an oven instead of a campfire or fireplace, healthy children who can eat anything, no allergies, milk and lots of it, recipes, premade & frozen & packaged things, food preservation inventions, baking sweets, sharing sweets with neighbors and friends...

While I'm picking up around the house, I thank God for a comfy house that is lived in every day & all day, a home that well-used and not a museum, a home that is busy and bustling with life and children instead of being empty as we go our separate ways, the blessing of being able to stay at home with my children, Legos that encourage creative building, dollies receiving love from a budding mommy-girl, storage bins, organization - a place for everything and everything in its place, enough space, blankets to snuggle under and for building forts, carpeting for cold toes, tile for easy clean up, pretty paint colors on the walls, a vacuum cleaner, Windex and 409, Swiffer and Shark, indoor plumbing, washable paint on bathroom walls, plungers, books scattered from siblings reading to each other...

And the list goes on...

The boys seemed to understand what I was saying, so I suggested that instead of complaining about baked oatmeal we should find things about it to be thankful for...

It was a stretch, dead-silent at first.

I named off the ingredients: oatmeal, baking powder, maple syrup, cinnamon, brown sugar, eggs, and milk.

Eli spoke up first, "I'm thankful for milk!" (He is the milk lover around here...so much so that we used to call him "the milkman" all the time.)

Luke reluctantly offered, "I'm thankful for maple syrup and cinnamon."

I said, "I'm thankful that it is like cake...a little sweet and very moist."

Isaac grinned, "I'm fankful dat I actuawee do like it a little bit." (SCORE!)

We continued to talk about baked oatmeal like it was our absolute favorite edible creation which lead to being thankful for other things like a hot breakfast on a snowy morning, bites of fresh pear for every bite of oatmeal, milk to wash it all down, plates and silverware for eating politely, small servings of baked oatmeal, not too many leftovers for tomorrow's breakfast, Sadie digging in with both hands and chewing like a wild animal making us laugh really hard, sitting together at the table for breakfast, not needing to eat quickly because we had to get out of the house this morning, pouts transformed to smiles, agreeing that it wouldn't be awful to have it again, a promise that next time we could sprinkle a few mini chocolate chips on top, finally eating enough to be finished and have mama be satisfied...

Oh, this thankfulness journey and numbering our gifts is catching and spreading! I'm so excited to see what God will do in our lives!!!