Thank you, Ann Voskamp, for opening your life to us all and giving us the challenge to be grateful. Here's my tribute, my own refrain of praise, my eucharisteo. (Perhaps you'll add your own? ...the comment box is open now.)
#1000 - see the last gift
# 990-999
introducing my children to the powerful dance, song, & history of Disney's Newsies
caffeine after a late night
Sugar's gold and silver embroidery floss
electric lights and pellet fire for a rainy day
little boy, hands in toddler pockets, trotting
Lil' Snip's "pum-um" for "poem"
an hour of prayer, sweet fellowship
that when I scolded "Hop to it!", she hopped (literally)
his soft littleboy cheek next to mine, looking at a book: "See!!"
even his cool little hand brushing my kiss away, already a reflex
# 980 - 989
movies to choose from
how everything is picturesque, viewed through eyes of contentment
love - and good paint - covers a multitude of sins: thank you, my Farmer, for the bright new life you gave to the back kitchen's ceiling!
having nature flotsam on my table
finding crocus buds - one white and one gold
Lil' Snip getting down on his knees to see them better
drumming to hymns
raindrop music
learning the art of cajolery ... and patience
keeping pace with my intrepid adventurer
# 970 - 979
the photographic Sunprint paper that almost worked - might work
girlfriends being real - "she ain't heavy - she's my sister!" (apologies to Glennon)
grace for a sister's sin
simple pleasure - visual-tactile - of shadowshapes
a half-hour nap while the big ones play in the next room!
conquering Lil' Snip's lunchtime funk with a game for his sisters: he got interested in spite of himself!
beauty of a sweetgum ball
crepe myrtle seedpods
Lil' Snip hugging me back!
picking up where I left off
# 960 - 969
falling, and knowing it won't change His love for me
sunshine, again, still
a family intact
loving and being loved by my imperfect church family
homemade sugar scrub
passing on the giving
buds pushing on the Meyer lemon: promise of perfume
sitting on the step to the sunporch, flooded with sunlight
new leaves on the pomegranate - ruddy-tipped green
kumquats: little cheery orbs, a smiley-face of a fruit
# 950 - 959
old jeans, fitting again
Hinds' Feet, a book to bring grateful tears
honey
being loved anyway, by Him who knows all the "anyways"
decades-neglected "back kitchen" cupboards, freshly painted
the adoration in Lil' Snip's voice, addressing his sisters
joy of giving
talking to someone who knows what it's like
plowing through discouragement's dark maze, somehow
Lil' Snip's "Cump!" leading me to a children's hymnsing, and then: "Dance!"
# 940 - 949
big pale morningmoon
windows open to the sunporch, letting in some of that 100* F
husband home
being hungry for my meals
Lil' Snip bring me puppy boots - " 'side?"
a decade of parenting, gone like that
birdsong
lying on the hammock in February
the first dandelion
daffodil-yellow, the exact color of love-received-trustingly
# 930 - 939
oregano oil - a chance to heal?
a transformed friend: God really works!!
the magic of electrical wiring, and that my Farmer is a magician
a light in the closet
a night of sound sleep
humor on the unlikely subject of punctuation
that feelings aren't fact
warmth on a wintry morning
duct tape Bible cover
giving the firstfruits
# 920 - 929
my laundry folded by another's serving hands
well-trained children
the work that it takes, training me too
my patient, humble Father joyously about His work
friends, old and new
all their undiscovered facets
that I "have never met a mere mortal" (C. S. Lewis)
God's heart, broken for His lost children, searching, wooing - using you and me?
this list, so soon accomplished
that numbers never end
# 910 - 919
Lil' Snip begging for " 'nother onion soup!"
Nice playing "Edelweiss" on the Fisher Price windup record player to put me to sleep
Amazon Prime (free trial)
Lil' Snip coming to me for a (RARE!!) snuggle, saying "sleep"
parenting encouragement from the Bobbsey Twins
paring down, paring down
being conservative (the new radical)
a mom who smiles in the midst of chaos - A, you inspire me
anticipation of a pretty Bible (Take II)
bananas - sweet creamy morning treat from the tropics
# 900 - 909
even the pain of falling back to "normal"
that my Farmer's home, easing the transition
clay play
absorbing her anger with love
her turnaround: God's grace
loquacious Lil' Snip's exploding lexicon
my Farmer's productivity tear
him loving me while I loaf
my Farmer seeing good in me
snow, the best kind: slow-falling, road-melting, tree-sticking, magic-making fairyland snow
# 890 - 899
that truffle torte, to welcome us (thank you, J!)
lamplight
lead crystal
pool of candlelight
streamsound
pounding hooves
time
good books
welcoming smiles
fellowship meal food
# 880 - 889
that the government is on His shoulders, not mine
laying it down, giving it up, dying to self
gaining life
Spice, fighting frustration, and winning!
clean sheets, blessedly soft
beauty, because He didn't have to (or did He? Beauty cannot create ugly, can it...)
that while we ran home for the humidifier, he fell asleep
worship music, a great cloud of witnesses
mint chocolate chip ice cream
oasis of quiet
# 870 - 879
the perverse satisfaction of all those zigzags
hot spice tea
his fever, gone as quickly as it came
a friend with a pie and a hug
prayers of the saints
duct tape for a wart
the enormous power and privilege of asking
beauty of less
gratitude in a girl
getting it right, sometimes
# 860 - 869
Sugar fixing Spice's brand-new (and newly broken) bike horn
dryers
warm corn tortillas with melty muenster
a week's worth of suppers planned
sacrifice's searing pleasure
freedom of submission
children who beg for sauerkraut
playing charades
(imitating the children)
that I know how to mend jeans
# 850 - 859
little boy sleeping
new flannel sheets (good ones, this time!)
attitude of abundance
choosing to take a nap and ignore "all the possibilities"
"eating" water for a snack
standing firm
living faith out, simply
not having to understand it all
the chiropractor for his neck
out-of-the-blue offers: grandma keeping the children for a weekend, friends offering their new "retreat"
#1000 - see the last gift
# 990-999
introducing my children to the powerful dance, song, & history of Disney's Newsies
caffeine after a late night
Sugar's gold and silver embroidery floss
electric lights and pellet fire for a rainy day
little boy, hands in toddler pockets, trotting
Lil' Snip's "pum-um" for "poem"
an hour of prayer, sweet fellowship
that when I scolded "Hop to it!", she hopped (literally)
his soft littleboy cheek next to mine, looking at a book: "See!!"
even his cool little hand brushing my kiss away, already a reflex
# 980 - 989
movies to choose from
how everything is picturesque, viewed through eyes of contentment
love - and good paint - covers a multitude of sins: thank you, my Farmer, for the bright new life you gave to the back kitchen's ceiling!
having nature flotsam on my table
finding crocus buds - one white and one gold
Lil' Snip getting down on his knees to see them better
drumming to hymns
raindrop music
learning the art of cajolery ... and patience
keeping pace with my intrepid adventurer
# 970 - 979
the photographic Sunprint paper that almost worked - might work
girlfriends being real - "she ain't heavy - she's my sister!" (apologies to Glennon)
grace for a sister's sin
simple pleasure - visual-tactile - of shadowshapes
a half-hour nap while the big ones play in the next room!
conquering Lil' Snip's lunchtime funk with a game for his sisters: he got interested in spite of himself!
beauty of a sweetgum ball
crepe myrtle seedpods
Lil' Snip hugging me back!
picking up where I left off
# 960 - 969
falling, and knowing it won't change His love for me
sunshine, again, still
a family intact
loving and being loved by my imperfect church family
homemade sugar scrub
passing on the giving
buds pushing on the Meyer lemon: promise of perfume
sitting on the step to the sunporch, flooded with sunlight
new leaves on the pomegranate - ruddy-tipped green
kumquats: little cheery orbs, a smiley-face of a fruit
# 950 - 959
old jeans, fitting again
Hinds' Feet, a book to bring grateful tears
honey
being loved anyway, by Him who knows all the "anyways"
decades-neglected "back kitchen" cupboards, freshly painted
the adoration in Lil' Snip's voice, addressing his sisters
joy of giving
talking to someone who knows what it's like
plowing through discouragement's dark maze, somehow
Lil' Snip's "Cump!" leading me to a children's hymnsing, and then: "Dance!"
# 940 - 949
big pale morningmoon
windows open to the sunporch, letting in some of that 100* F
husband home
being hungry for my meals
Lil' Snip bring me puppy boots - " 'side?"
a decade of parenting, gone like that
birdsong
lying on the hammock in February
the first dandelion
daffodil-yellow, the exact color of love-received-trustingly
# 930 - 939
oregano oil - a chance to heal?
a transformed friend: God really works!!
the magic of electrical wiring, and that my Farmer is a magician
a light in the closet
a night of sound sleep
humor on the unlikely subject of punctuation
that feelings aren't fact
warmth on a wintry morning
duct tape Bible cover
giving the firstfruits
# 920 - 929
my laundry folded by another's serving hands
well-trained children
the work that it takes, training me too
my patient, humble Father joyously about His work
friends, old and new
all their undiscovered facets
that I "have never met a mere mortal" (C. S. Lewis)
God's heart, broken for His lost children, searching, wooing - using you and me?
this list, so soon accomplished
that numbers never end
# 910 - 919
Lil' Snip begging for " 'nother onion soup!"
Nice playing "Edelweiss" on the Fisher Price windup record player to put me to sleep
Amazon Prime (free trial)
Lil' Snip coming to me for a (RARE!!) snuggle, saying "sleep"
parenting encouragement from the Bobbsey Twins
paring down, paring down
being conservative (the new radical)
a mom who smiles in the midst of chaos - A, you inspire me
anticipation of a pretty Bible (Take II)
bananas - sweet creamy morning treat from the tropics
# 900 - 909
even the pain of falling back to "normal"
that my Farmer's home, easing the transition
clay play
absorbing her anger with love
her turnaround: God's grace
loquacious Lil' Snip's exploding lexicon
my Farmer's productivity tear
him loving me while I loaf
my Farmer seeing good in me
snow, the best kind: slow-falling, road-melting, tree-sticking, magic-making fairyland snow
# 890 - 899
that truffle torte, to welcome us (thank you, J!)
lamplight
lead crystal
pool of candlelight
streamsound
pounding hooves
time
good books
welcoming smiles
fellowship meal food
# 880 - 889
that the government is on His shoulders, not mine
laying it down, giving it up, dying to self
gaining life
Spice, fighting frustration, and winning!
clean sheets, blessedly soft
beauty, because He didn't have to (or did He? Beauty cannot create ugly, can it...)
that while we ran home for the humidifier, he fell asleep
worship music, a great cloud of witnesses
mint chocolate chip ice cream
oasis of quiet
# 870 - 879
the perverse satisfaction of all those zigzags
hot spice tea
his fever, gone as quickly as it came
a friend with a pie and a hug
prayers of the saints
duct tape for a wart
the enormous power and privilege of asking
beauty of less
gratitude in a girl
getting it right, sometimes
# 860 - 869
Sugar fixing Spice's brand-new (and newly broken) bike horn
dryers
warm corn tortillas with melty muenster
a week's worth of suppers planned
sacrifice's searing pleasure
freedom of submission
children who beg for sauerkraut
playing charades
(imitating the children)
that I know how to mend jeans
# 850 - 859
little boy sleeping
new flannel sheets (good ones, this time!)
attitude of abundance
choosing to take a nap and ignore "all the possibilities"
"eating" water for a snack
standing firm
living faith out, simply
not having to understand it all
the chiropractor for his neck
out-of-the-blue offers: grandma keeping the children for a weekend, friends offering their new "retreat"
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