Turning a Disappointment into a Beautiful Gift

 Today Hannah and I drove to the library.  This is a special time for her.  She gets new books and CDs to listen to.  She gets to play big girl games on the library computer.  

 However, today we arrived and found out that the library is closed the whole weekend because of the holiday on Monday.  My little girls head dropped and tears were gathering in her eyes.  Her whole body reflected her disappointment. 

 At that moment I decided to turn this sorrow into a beautiful memory for both of us. 

So we went on a pretty leaf hunt.  

The sun was shining, the smell of autumn was in the air and there were leaves making a path for our shoes-crunching under our feet.  Hannah was in heaven finding handfuls of leaves. 

 I kept remembering a phrase that Anne Voskamp often writes-the Hurry Hurts the  Kids.  So instead of hurrying on our walk, I slowed down and just enjoyed the moment.  So many times I almost told her to hurry.  I almost refused to smell each and every flower that we past.  But I didn't.  I kept my mouth shut and a smile on my face and I was blessed with a beautiful time with my daughter.

Hannah worked on reading the sign.  She did a pretty good job too.

For you mommy!!

Take the time today to just be with your kids.  Don't hurry them.  Don't think about all that you have to get done today.  Just be there 100% with them.  Smell those flowers and accept the gifts and smile and laugh and hug and love them.

Playing in the Rain on Memorial Day

Today was Memorial Day.  A day to honor our military.  To honor those serving our country now and all those that served in the past.  I am so thankful to each and everyone of the people that have given their time, their lives and their all to each of us in America.

Today was also a day off of school.  I wanted to take the time to do something fun with the girls.  I had promised to take the girls to the dollar store.  They worked really hard at our garage sale and this was their payment.  They had such fun picking out two things each.  The girls must have changed their minds half a dozen times.  

Then I stopped and got Bekah new sheets for her bed (Hannah had cut up the other ones "by accident").  I got Hannah new sandals for the wedding coming up.  The girls are going to be flower girls in my cousins wedding.  Whoohoo!

I had planned on taking the girls to the park and then to the river.  Right before we left the house, it started raining.  

I loved my girls response.  

"We don't have to go to the park.  Everything will be wet.  We can just go to the river and play.  It'll be an adventure.  We can make this fun!"

Instead of complaining. . . they were happy. 

 Instead of crying and screaming. . . they figured out how to make the best of it.

Every day we work on this.  We talk about how to praise God when things happen that we don't like.  We thank Him for everything around us when we are tempted to complain.  This doesn't come naturally to me.  It doesn't come naturally to the girls either.  I think that most of us have this struggle to look for the good and to smile instead of throwing a fit when things don't go our way.  

So the girls smiled and had a good attitude and we went out and had fun. 

We packed the umbrellas and our coats and headed out the door.  

We went to the 

          Healdsburg Veterans Memorial Beach.

It was raining, but the girls didn't care.  Within a minute, Bekah put down the umbrella and went to play.  The girls just loved getting wet.  They loved the rain on their faces, the river water filling their boots, the mud all over their hands.  

Each moment they were out at the river they had fun.  We took what could have been a wet and rainy day stuck indoors and we made memories.  These are memories they will cherish for a long time.  Find ways to enjoy your kids and do fun and crazy things with them.  Teach them how to look for the good and how to smile when they don't get what they wanted.

Have fun playing in the Rain!!!

1,000 Gifts

Last year, on January 9, 2012, I started to write down the many, many beautiful gifts that God has given me.  I was in the middle of reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  She talked about her journey as she learned to daily seek the gifts or blessings that were given so freely to her by God.  This book was such an encouragement to me.  Little by little I began also seeking to discover what God was giving me. 

My sister gave me a cute journal with pictures of my family on it.  So I began to journal my way through the year with daily blessings.  Some were big things that God generously bestowed on our family.  Most were little, wonderful things.  As I read over my list, I see that God has been so good to me.  Most of what I have recorded, I had forgotten.  But each was a gift to me.  Real and sweet and tangible.  Now that they are written, I will never truly forget them.  They are a part of me.  A part that I can share with my children.

  As Ann said in her book, "The discovery that naming offers the gift recognition-that is priceless. 

This naming really does call now a gift, a gift from God.  I look at a day, a thing an event infront of me, and it may look manna-strange: "What is it?"  But when I name it, the naming of it manifests its meaning.  To know it comes from God.  This is a gift.

In naming that which is right before me, that which I'd otherwise miss, the invisible becomes visible.

Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant-a seed-this plants the giant miracle.  Do not distain the small.  The whole of the life-even the hard-is made up of the minute parts, and if I miss the infinitesimal, I miss the whole thing.  The moments will add up."

I loved how she pointed out that the gift is nothing, until we name it.  Once we name it, it is ours.  We recognize the gift and can now take joy in them.

So I began to do just that.  I named every blessing that God gave me.  At first it was just a few words.  Simple gifts written out.

* * * * * * * * * * *

My husbands faithful love. 

 A whispered "I Love You" from Bekah.

 A full nights rest.

  Light from the sun on my children's hair. 

  Little girls laughter. 

 A good book. 

 A kitchen cleaned by my husband. 

 Teaching my girls to love helping others. 

 First time obedience. 

 Coconut Ice Cream. 

 Seeing my friends baby move with new life inside her.

  Catalyst group.

  Sincere apologies. 

 Pine trees-the taller, the better.

  Peppermint hot cocoa. 

Water balloons in the bath tub. 

 Getting my face painted by my little girls.

  Hannah's bright smile as she sits and enjoys being with mommy. 

 Snuggling in bed after nap time with my girls-drawing pictures on their backs with my finger. 

 Hannah saying, "I love you Mommy!  I super love you!". 

 Worship songs from Ross King. 

 No headache today. 

 Listening to the girls say their Awana verses.

  Rain spitting on my face in the early  morning-so refreshing. 

 Game night with friends. 

Holding Chris' hand in the car.

* * * * * * * * * * *

As the days stretched into weeks and then months, I began to see that the moments with our family and with our friends were so special.  Each moment that I cherished them was a gift.  How sweet it is to look back on these moments, these blessings that are so freely given.   I am writing down the whole experience, which is a gift in itself.  

* * * * * * * * * *

My husband is a wonderful father and husband.  I have been sick for a week.  Chris made bread for me and had Hannah help him.  It was super sweet to hear him in the kitchen with her.

We are so blessed to have both of us at home with our children.  We can enjoy their lives together.  

Our friends are such a blessing to us.  Last night we went out to look at lights all our friends.  What wonderful fellowship!

During the musical house light show, Hannah fell asleep in my arms.  What a beautiful picture of a child at peace and sleeping while the world goes on around her.

"When God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables them to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-this is a gift of God."  Ephesians 5:19  Thank-you for giving me a job I love and an amazing family.

Chris went out to dinner with family and took the girls.  I wasn't feeling well, so I stayed home.  It was so nice to just lay on the couch and read a book.

Hannah did the dishes all by herself.  I did not have to rewash any of them.  She is just 3 years old.

I went to wake Hannah from her nap today.  Her room was flooded with sunlight.  She was asleep all sprawled out on the bed wearing her bumble bee dress and Chris' 49'er socks pulled up to her knees.  That made me smile.

Bekah to Mommy, "I love you so much.  If I find a flower that is not too hard to pick, then I'll pick it for you."

* * * * * * * * * * *

So I counted and journaled the gifts.  Day after day.  Week after week.  My heart changed as I sought the blessings God gave me and my family on a daily basis. Today, after just over a year of seeking to record the gifts from God, I wrote my one thousandth gift.  What a blessing to look over all these things.  I am going to continue to seek the blessing of God and write them down.  This will be a gift to share with my children as they grow.

Read this book.  Be touched.  Take the time today to start writing down the many blessings that you receive each and every day.

Have your read this book?  How have you been changed?

My Journey to Thankfulness: Part Two

So contines my journey into finding out how to change my life by becoming more and more thankful.

I copied words from the book, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp, into my journal.  Words and ideas that I did not wish to forget.  Here are some more of her words.

"How do I live?  Am I living a life fully alive or with empty meaningless motions?  How do I want to live?

Jesus, the God-man who came to save me from prisons of fear and guilt and depression and sadness.  With an expiration of less than twelve hours what does Jesus count as all most important?

" "And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them. " "  Luke 22:19

He gave thanks is the word eucharisteo.  The root word of eucharisteo is charis, meaning "grace".  Jesus took the bread, saw it as grace and gave thanks.  He knew it was a gift.

The derivative of charis is a greek word, Chara, meaning, "joy".  That has always been the goal of the fullest life-joy.  I long for more life, for more Holy Joy.  Was this the clue to the quest of all most important?  Deep chara joy is found only at the table of the euCharisteo-the table of thanksgiving.  Is the height of my chara joy dependent on the depths of my eucharisteo thanks?

 As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible.  Joy is always possible.  Whenever, meaning-now; whereever, meaning here.

Charis.  Grace

Euscharisteo.  Thanksgiving.

Chara.   Joy.

Eucharisteo-thanksgiving-always precedes the miracle.

Non-eucharisteo, ingratitude, was the fall-humanity's discontent with all tha tGod freely gives.  That is what has scraped me raw: ungratefulness.  Then to find Eden, the abundance of Paradise.  I'd need to forsake my non-eucharisteo, my bruised and bloodied ungrateful life, adn grab hold to eucharisteo, a lifestyle of thanksgiving.

If our fall was the non-eucharisteo, the ingratitude, then salvation must be intimately related to eucharisteo, the giving of thanks.  We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks."

As Ann kept pondering Thanksgiving and joy and the grace that God gives us she tried to find a way to make it real in her life.  She wanted it to change her at her very core.  A friend of hers challenged her to write a list of a thousand things that she loved.  This is how it started: in her own words.

"Could I write a list of a thousand things I loved?

To name one thousand blessings-one thousand gifts-is that what she means?  Sure, whatever.

I begin the list.  Not of gifts I want, but of gifts I already have.  They make me smile. They are just the common things and maybe I don't even know they are gifts really, until I write them down and that is really what they look like.  Gifts HE bestows.  This writing it down-it is sort of like . . . unwrapping love.

Well, if all these were gifts that God give-then wasn't me writing down the list like. . . receiving.  Like taking with thanks.

Paul writes, "I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.  I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether i is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little."  Philippians 4:11-12

There it is-the secret to living joy in every situation, the full life of eucharisteo.  Paul had to learn.  I would have to learn eucharisteo.

Thanks is what multiplies the joy and makes any life large, and I hunger for it.

The discovery that naming offers the gift recognition-that is priceless.

This naming really does call now a gift, a gift from God.  I look at a day, a thing, an event in front of me, and it may look manna-strange: "What is it?"  But when I name it, the naming of it manifests its meaning: to know it comes from God.  This is a gift.

In naming that which is right before me, that which I'd otherwise miss, the invisible becomes visible.

The space that spans my inner emptiness fills in the naming.

God is in the details;  God is in the moment.

God is in all that blurs by in a life-even hurts in a life.

Though pastors preached it, I still came home and griped on.  I had never practiced.  Practiced until it became second nature.

I am happy in all these little things God gives.  I laugh.  I am changed!  Surprised by joy!

Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped.  God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: JOY!

Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant-a seed-this plants the giant miracle.  Do not distain the small.  Thw whole of the life-even the hard-is made up of the minute parts, and if I miss the small moments, I miss the whole.  Give thanks in this one small thing.  The moments will add up."

And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:20

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * * * * * * * *

The more of her book that I read, the more I was challenged.  I had heard so many times growing up that I needed to give thanks to God and not grumble and complain.  I often thanked God for the big things He did for me and sometimes for the little things too.  But I had so made a habit of complaining out loud and in my heart.  It was going to be hard to break that.  But I was determined to try.

I got out my journal that my sister had given me.  And I started a new chapter in my life.  I figured I had to try to reach at least one hundred things.  I was going for a thousand, but that is a lot!!  When I tried to  thank God for things I normally gave up after I thought of all the obvious things and I got bored.

 At first my list of gifts God had given me were simple.  My husband's faithful love,  Hannah's slobbery kisses, I whispered "I love you" from Bekah, Warm patches of sunlight on the floor, little girls laughter, God, the smell of freshly baked bread.  I thought that I would just start out that way and some where along the way I would have really spiritual insights of the gifts God gave me.  As I kept writing His gifts down day after day, I realized that He poured his blessing on me continually.  I had never really looked for them.  All the little things that He did for me I had never named and so had never truly received them as a gift.  I was slowly starting to see His gifts all around me.  I started to write down the experiences that God had given me that blessed me: *Worship songs sung with our congregation.  Truth in each word.  Worship of our great God.  *Two deliveries at work.  They were born lifeless, after working on them, they were fine and stayed with their mommies. Such a miracle. * Hannah asked Jesus into her heart tonight.  She loves God with all her heart.  What a wonderful day.  *I went to wake Hannah from her nap today.  Her room was flooded with sunlight.  She was asleep all spawled out on the bed, wearing her bumblebee dress and Chris's Fourty-niner socks pulled up to her knees. That made me smile.  *My attitude with the girls has been so good lately.  I am calm and quiet instead of grumpy.  *Bekah is enjoying school and learning so much.  * New friends made today.  Excited about having them over to our house.

God was working in my heart in such amazing ways.  I started really focusing on all the little things that God has given me, all the tiny blessings.  I found myself smiling more.  I was experiencing more joy in my heart and more peace too as I focused on all the blessings God gives to me.  Why had I never done this before?  Well, I can tell you that I wanted that to continue to be my daily attitude.   I still fall back into the habit of complaining, but now it is just so much easier to snap out of it and start thanking Him again.

I challenge each of you to read this book and start your own list of One Thousand Gifts.  Oh, how have I done on my list.  Well, I made it to 100 gifts and kept going.  Over the last eight months I have continued to look for and record the gifts I see.  I am at 807 right now.  I am aiming for 1000 and then I will keep going.  This is going to be a habit that I hope to continue for many, many years.

My Journey to Thankfulness: Part One

Almost a year ago my sister, Megan, had recommended a book to me.  She had borrowed it from the library and had read a part of it and loved it.  It was called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  I wrote it down on my wish list for Christmas and forgot all about it.

On Christmas I received this book as a gift.  My sister also sent me a gift of a beautiful journal with a picture of my family on it and the words, Things I love . . . , written on the front.  After reading the book she recommended, I started using it in a way that would help me refocus my thoughts and bring praise and glory to God.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  I have waited quite some time to share this with my bloggy friends out there.  I wanted to read the book cover to cover and allow its message to work on my heart.  Today I want to share with you things that have challenged me as well as encouraged me over the last eight months.

 One Thousand Gifts is a book describing the journey of one woman through her loss of a sister at the age of four years old to a place of peace and thanksgiving to God.  It is her insights to different things that God did in her life to change the way she thought about Him and related to Him.  I love the way she is able to put words on a page.  The way that she encouraged me to start looking for the gifts that God had given me.  This is about her journey to write down one thousand gifts that God had given her and how it changed her life.

As I read her book I wrote down things that I wanted to remember in my journal.   They are things that challenged me or opened up my eyes a bit more to what God has done for me.  I am going to share a few of those things with you.  So here goes. . .


All that is in italics are quotes from her book.  I do not wish to plagiarize, just share with you a bit of what she shared.

"It started with Satan, in the garden, wanting more power, more glory.  He is an ingrate.  Satan's sin became the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude.  Adam and Eve are, simply, painfully, ungrateful for what God gave.

Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren't satisfied in God and what He gave.  We hunger for something more, something other.  They saw God as He truly was: good.  But we are lured by the deception that there is something better.  After the fall we no longer see God for who He really is or perceive Him as wholly good.   We try to fill our emptiness.  But God has a purpose for each one of us.  ""His secret purpose framed from the beginning is to bring us to our full glory."" I Corinthians 2:7  He means to return us to our full Glory.

Grace: it means favor.  A free and ready favor.  We choose to take the grace offered at the cross.  Do we CHOOSE to live each day as one being filled with His grace?  It is a choice, each moment, each day.

As we go through life and face really hard trials where we have to seek God or turn away, what will be my choice?  Will I let Him nourish me and work through me to see His grace and love?

I wonder too . . . if the rent in the canvas of our life backdrop, the losses that puncture our world, or own emptiness, might actually become places to see.

To see through to God.

That that which tears open our souls, those holes that splatter our sight, may actually become the thin, open places to see through the mess of this place to the heart-aching beauty beyond.  To Him. . . To the God whom we endlessly crave.       Maybe so.

But how?  How do we fully live-to live full of grace and joy and all that is beauty eternal?  This is a dare to live an emptier, fuller life."


That was just a peak at the first chapter.  What she said made me start thinking about the choice that I make each and every day.  Am I making a choice to be ungrateful to God and ignore all that He has done for me?  Or I am making a conscience choice to be thankful for all He has give me, all He has done for me?

 When I think about it, I am over come with thanksgiving for His grace and His blessings on my life.  He saved me as a small child from a life that was in bondage to sin and to Satan.  I am now free to serve Him and love Him.  He has covered me with grace and love and mercy.  I don't deserve any of that.  But He has given all that to me and made me into the woman that He wants me to be.

But how often do I really think of all He has done for me.  How often do I praise Him for the big things He does?  Do I ever really thank Him for all the little things?  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that so often I was making the choice to complain and grumble about all that didn't go my way.  I wasn't really looking for the blessings that God gave to me daily.  I decided to make a choice to start doing that.  But how does one just start being thankful day in and day out?  The rest of the book helped me to change my daily habits into ones that turned more and more toward God and all He had done for me.

This is one of my greatest blessings!