I've been reading Ann Voskamp's book
One Thousand Gifts- slowly. It's a bit much for my brain to absorb all at once.
For those of you who haven't read it, it's basically one woman's journey towards thankfulness and contentment and joy. She's a farmer's wife, a homeschooling mom of six kids.
Her words resonate in my heart, challenge me to fix my eyes on Jesus and practice thankfulness.
Work at it.
So, in an attempt to move myself in that direction, here are thirty things I am thankful for - in honor of my thirtieth birthday. (Yes, Micah, I'm old... =)
1.) Being 30 instead of 20 again. I was not as smart or as mature as I thought I was when I was 20.
2.) Moms! They took me to Lincoln for a day without kids. Yay! I am so incredibly blessed to have two examples to follow of the Spirit of God displaying Himself through real women in real life.
3.) A break! My wonderful husband has noticed that I feel a little overextended right now. He's taking me to Colorado this weekend. Just the two of us soaking in the glory of God displayed in the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains.
4.) Small children keeping me on my toes and my knees.
5.) My dad taking time to practice baseball with Ethan. He can hit the ball great now!
6.) A huge house and great neighbors.
7.) An absolutely gorgeous day for a birthday. I hate to be hot, so usually I hide inside on my birthday, but today was 75 degrees, sunny, and perfect. I wish it would stay this way all summer!
8.) Plants from my mom that are NOT DYING - yet anyway. I have a bad record with plants...
9.) Birthday song texts from a friend. =)
10.) I don't have to homeschool in the fall! ( I may be a little too excited about that...)
11.) Free furniture.
12.) Baby snuggles and kisses.
13.) Caleb's in charge of putting the kids to bed. I am NOT a night person. =)
14.) Kids who are excited to read "The Little House on the Prairie" series with me.
15.) Robins and cardinals and blue jays and hummingbirds outside my windows.
16.) Music! Ava has started singing. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" "Jesus Loves the Little Ones Like Me, Me, Me" "My God is so BIG!" It is the. sweetest. thing. EVER.
17.) My mom and dad and Kristi being excited to watch my kids for the weekend - even after VBS.
18.) The Word of God! And His Spirit challenging and comforting my heart through it.
19.) Chocolate chip cookies. Ok, any kind of chocolate. =)
20.) Mountains and sunsets and ocean waves and trees and flowers.
21.) Swings!
22.) The MANY people who have spoken truth into my kids' lives. Thank you, thank you for all your time and hard work and the willingness to just do it even when it's not easy to chase a whole ton of psycho little children.
23.) Our realtor's perseverance in trying to sell our house in Lincoln even when no one seems to want it very badly.
24.) A husband who can fix ANYTHING!
25.) Naps. =)
26.) The chance to live close to my grandma and grandpa again. I'm forever grateful for my grandma's wisdom and unconditional love and my grandpa's loving and godly example.
27.) Food to feed my kids. I think often of the utter helplessness of many mommies around the world who have no way to feed their hungry kids. I need to be reminded to pray and give more.
28.) My brothers and sisters! Even the one who told Anna it was my birthday so all 250 or so VBS people could sing to me... KAYLA! =)
29.) Dancing little girls twirling around my living room in ballerinas.
30.) God's never-ending grace freeing me from my natural bent to try really hard to live up to some standard that I've made for myself.
Wow! That took longer than I thought it would! I thought it would be easy to come up with 1,000 gifts, but 30 took quite a while. And it's a really long blog post, I know. Most of you are probably not still reading... Oh well. =)
That's it!
I challenge you to take the time to write a list of things for which you're thankful. It's good practice at being grateful. Practice in contentment and in seeing the world through God's eyes.
