Thank-full

Continuing my journey beyond one thousand gifts....

Wonderful Husband is hanging Christmas lights outside. I've removed my Autumn/Thanksgiving orange nail polish and am painting on Christmas/Winter red. I'm strategically planning how to decorate the inside of the house since last year our newborn-sleepy granddaughter has become our active-crawling-almost-walking one year old granddaughter. Her little hands explore everything, then everything goes in her mouth for further exploration.

I don't want our house to be thought of as "No-No-Grandma's house."

This is a season of thanksgiving and next year Wonderful Husband and I plan to participate with a local church serving Thanksgiving lunch to the homeless and lonely people in our area.

1043 - 1065  beyond my list of One Thousand Gifts, I thank God for:

1043. the Holy Spirit's presence during a meeting with the pastor whose church we're leaving. Open communication, no bitterness, ending in prayer.

1044. slow days at work leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday

1045. a Happy Thanksgiving phone call with my brother

1046. a Happy Thanksgiving email from my mom

1047. The Teacher coming to visit

1048. Wonderful Husband's family feast

1049. Young Sweetie's decision to spend Thanksgiving with her in laws since Youngest Sweetie had been feverish  and there would be 8 month old twins (second cousins?) attending our family feast

I had to show you pictures of them in their turkey-leg-knit caps. Darling!

1050. Young Sweetie's tender heart for her in laws

1051. the Thanksgiving dinner encore presentation on Friday with our son, son-in-law and Youngest Sweetie

1052. sending leftovers home for Young Sweetie who had to work and missed out on the meal

1053. making turkey soup afterward

1054. not shopping on Gray Thursday or Black Friday

1055. reading The One Year Chronological Bible: "Let love be your highest goal." 1 Corinthians 14:1 (NLT)

1056. strengthening the whole church, 1 Corinthians 14:3-4, 12

1057. breakfast with Paula and Maria and talking about forgiveness

1058. a reminder to plant Paperwhites. "When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't grow into a plant unless it dies first." 1 Corinthians 15:36b (NLT).

1059. sending cards to Diane, Joanne and Kaye. I am blessed with friends.

1060. finding The Allume 2012 Conference Keynote Speakers presentations online for free

1061. Sally Clarkson's wisdom and her clear, concise message: "Love God, love people, seek first the kingdom, live by faith."

1062. a sister-in-law sharing her concern about her son (our nephew) "having a problem with God"

1063. knowing God is big enough to handle the issue. He is present and patient enough to wait on the solution/healing/return.

1064. giving Christmas ornaments to Young Sweetie for her first family Christmas tree. Most were crafted with her own little hands, way back when. Precious.








1065. a new journal for my rambling thoughts. "Every day is a gift, every moment is a blessing, every life holds a beauty of its own."

This post is linked to A Holy Experience: Multitudes on Mondays, One Thousand Gifts.

Was your Thanksgiving full of turkey and leftovers?

Narcissi Paperwhites

Happiness in a box....

A new tradition for me? Maybe.

We'll see if my world-renowned-brown-thumb can actually grow them.

So far, so good.

It came with a complete grow kit: three bulbs, special growing medium, white stylish plastic planter and easy 3-step growing instructions.

I should be able to do this if I can remember to water and not over-water!

Have you ever tried to force bulbs?

Thanksgiving 2012

Continuing on my journey past one thousand gifts....

A week ago our granddaughter, Youngest Sweetie celebrated her first birthday. It was a large party with family, friends, food and presents. The weather was beautiful and the birthday girl was happy.

Thanksgiving is this Thursday. We have a family tradition of going to one of Wonderful Husband's sister's home for the meal. I will bring my cheese onions which are a tradition from my side of the family and it will be challenging for my introverted self to be surrounded by the crowd and the noise, yet I am still thankful.

1035 - 1042 on my list beyond One Thousand Gifts.

I am giving thanks for:

1035. our happy, one year old granddaughter

1036. our daughter and son-in-law. Such loving parents.

1037. family, food, and fun of a birthday celebration and Thanksgiving

1038. our son coming to visit for the holiday

1039. recognizing that every day is a gift

1040. feeling helpful while taking dinner to Diane who broke her leg

1041. my dentist who "crowned" my broken tooth in one visit. Very efficient.

1042. Christmas CDs playing in my van. Sing-along anyone?

This post is linked to A Holy Experience: Multitudes on Mondays, One Thousand Gifts.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and tell me, have you been humming Christmas songs lately?

The Storm That Wasn't

The first Nor'easter predictions:
2-4 inches of snow
followed by
1-2 inches of rain/sleet.

The storm was named Athena and I thought really? They're naming Nor'easters like hurricanes now?

I discovered that the people at the weather channel were the ones who came up with the name.

And that brings me to one of my pet peeves that instead of reporting news, reporters manufacture news.

Stepping off my soapbox now.

I have to tell you that I had a whole new respect for the weather forecasters after they correctly gave us ample warning of Hurricane Sandy. But I guess a hurricane is easier to track and predict than a Nor'easter since I woke up on Thursday morning and here is the accumulation from Athena:

Athena?

We hardly knew you.

Superstorm Sandy

Continuing on my journey past one thousand gifts....

Superstorm Sandy made her way to us last Monday. We are located inland, outside of Philadelphia and suffered less damage than shore communities. I lost power at work on Monday morning and was home on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I'm thankful for:

1001. Terri receiving her Advent-to-Lent-to-Ascension Wreath on Monday during the storm. Merry Christmas!

1002. seeing a bunny by our front porch step. Take cover!

1003. hard eucharisteo: losing power at 9:30 p.m. on Monday night at home

1004. plenty of candles and flashlights with fully charged batteries

1005. a candy corn scented candle

1006. a roof over our heads and walls surrounding us while we hear the wind roar through the neighborhood

1007. the house creaking ever so slightly

1008. the quiet of no power where we can hear everything

1009. peace in the quiet

1010. a full glass of iced tea poured before losing the electricity

1011. going to bed early and the warmth of sheets, blankets and comforter

1012. Wonderful Husband leaving for work at 5:00 a.m. His safe arrival there.

1013. phoning my mom on her birthday. The only call that went through until later that night.

1014. a day of naps, reading and occasionally opening the refrigerator

1015. The One Year Chronological Bible and reading John 14:1, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me." (NLT)

1016. reading that Jesus is the true grapevine, God the gardener and we are the branches and looking outside and seeing this

The first section of our neighbors' tree on Monday afternoon.

Wonderful Husband standing in front of the second section
of the tree that broke off during Monday night.

Another neighbors' weeping willow that was uprooted.

1017. walking around our property and seeing more intact trees than not

1018. hard eucharisteo: no reliable cell phone or text messaging available

1019. the rain stopping and going to pick up my newspaper from the end of the driveway. Seeing the headline of "It's turning ugly: Sandy gains power, aims straight for Northeast," and knowing it was written the night before.

The sky on Tuesday afternoon.

1020. trimming the wicks of the candles in case they're needed for another night

1021. power restored at 2:09 p.m. on Tuesday!

1022. hearing from family and all are safe. Some using generators for power, some never losing power.

1023. a refrigerator chugging softly

1024. warm heat through the vents

1025. a bathtub filled with warm water

1026. a dry basement

1027. only 16.5 hours of no electricity

It was difficult to watch the news and see the devastation that others have suffered from this storm. I have a call in to a tree service to come and evaluate the status of one of our trees. Not an emergency so we'll be far down their list and we'll be patient.

1028. preparing for the trick-or-treaters. Thankful that I don't have to eat all the candy purchased!

1029. finding my "Boo" pin and the orange nails have been painted for quite some time

1030. electricity restored at work on Thursday

1031. all who worked to restore electricity and removed the fallen trees

1032. God who shares our sorrows and our triumphs

1033. playing with Youngest Sweetie on Saturday night and watching Sesame Street

1034. Daylight Savings Time ends. A mixed blessing in "gaining" an hour of sleep, yet the daylight ends much earlier.

This post is linked to A Holy Experience: Multitudes on Mondays, One Thousand Gifts.