Sunday, November 14, 2010

365 Days of Blessings, Days 168 and 169

Counting these as Blessings and Giving Thanks for:

1. Seeing "proofs" of Every Day Poets first print anthology, including the proof pages where my poem, "Grace Unexpected" will be in print! Woohoo!

2. The editors at Every Day Poets who give constructive criticism whether they are sending me a rejection letter, or a "please revise, and resubmit" letter.

3. Two Sunday School teachers who made my day yesterday afternoon. When I said I needed help, they jumped in and created solutions for today's Sunday School session.

4. Watching three toddlers at play yesterday evening at a double family birthday party.

5. Giving swinging rides to two twin boys (one at a time) and smiling with them.

6. My daughters are thankful for the fun they had playing with their twin cousins who led them on a merry chase upstairs and downstairs, shrieking with delight.

7. The double 80th birthday party yesterday.

8. My oldest played soccer with two of her cousins, and had fun getting muddy. Soccer isn't her usual game, but she liked it.

9. Finding out that one of the older girl cousins is/was an Irish Step dancer, and having the girls all show each other some of their dance steps.

10. Seeing family that I haven't seen a while.

11. Enjoying the beauty of someone else's nearly finished construction project. My husband's cousin, who hosted the party, is building his own home with the help of his talented wife and his Dad. The tile work is gorgeous, the floor plan is open and welcoming, and the place is wonderful.

12. Feeling re-energized about our home projects. That pesky upstairs bathroom isn't finished yet, but it will be soon (we hope). Then we have a messed up sliding glass door to replace, carpet to pull up in three places, new paint, closet shelves, the downstairs bathroom with its water damage, and when all that's done, we might work on the fireplace. Oh, and the roof, and one of the foundation posts . . . those actually need to be done sooner rather than later. The joy of living in a 60 year old home is that there is always something to do. Boredom is never an issue.

13. Operation Christmas Child!!! We love this project!

14. Shopping for Operation Christmas Child with my daughters and my mom this afternoon. We have so much fun filling up our shoebox containers with goodies for children in need. We pick out toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes and barrettes, and then . . . the fun happens. Scarves, hats, shirts, toys, dolls, teddy bears, colored pencils and paper can call be stuffed into those containers, and we get so much joy out of deciding what each of our boxes will hold. As we go through the store, we each have our own container to fill up, and each one gets something a little different.

15. Seeing my youngest daughter write a card to go with her shoebox of gifts this year.

16. A homemade folded flip origami toy with special drawings going into a shoebox.

17. Making vanilla brownies with chocolate chips. Yummy!

18. A wonderful gracious friend having us over for a "chili" party.

19. A house full of cooking smells.

20. God gives us the gift of giving.

Scripture Blessings: "We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness." Romans 12:6-8

3 comments:

Golden Eagle said...

I love it when a house smells like someone's cooking; it's so much more . . . homey. :)

Angie said...

I always love your posts. They remind me of all the blessings in my life too. Good luck with your home remodeling.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Thanks Angie! Our home remodeling is something that we've been working on since we moved in nine years ago, and it will probably continue for another two. I don't necessarily recommend moving into a "fixer upper" but we definitely have stories to tell.