Days 22 - 30

22-30. Recently, one of my old high school friends has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.  They are not sure how good/bad it is, what her future will be and all that.  They have scheduled surgery in the next few weeks.  She has young children, and her youngest has heart health problems, and has had a very complicated medical life in four short years.  She has older children, ready to embark upon their middle school and high school years.  She has a husband who loves her.  She has brothers and sisters who love her.  She has so much to miss if the tumor changes who she is or becomes terminal.

When I think about things I'm grateful for, my list just kinda halts when I think about my friend.  It reminds me of Lindsay, and when she was in the NICU for so many weeks.  AND just how precious this gift of life is.  What a great gift, what great experiences for learning, growth, enjoyment.  Things to see, hear, do smell, taste, touch.  People to love, hate, treasure, miss, long for.  Knowledge to gain and to lose.  It's amazing.  I'm just grateful to have this gift of life and health.  To have my husband and my children.  And even to have the gift of Taylor, though she is not here now.  She helps me appreciate, to reflect, and to still live a life full of wonder.  For that, I am grateful.

Days 17 - 21

17. I'm so relieved my kids like vegetables.  You don't even know!  Last night I made baked fish, steamed carrots and broccoli and oven roasted potatoes.  My kids ate it all up.  I was amazed and so happy we didn't have a dinner fight over food.  Lindsay of course kept saying, "I don't like fish." This right as she shoved it into her mouth.  That girl!

18. I'm so happy to have friends who have the energy to do stuff!  This is because I don't!  At least I don't have energy to put it all together, so it's nice to have friends who have the energy to organize an event and I just get to bring a dish and show up!  :)  Super yay!

19. Texas winters rock!  I hate snow, shoveling snow, scraping snow off windshields, warming up the car, etc.  Here in Texas, I don't worry about any of those things.  I usually don't even worry about having a coat or a jacket, and I have to remind myself that the girls cannot wear flip flops to church in February.  I just love the warm weather!

20. I love colored string lights.  This year we are stringing lights around our house for all the holidays.  Christmas, New Years, Halloween, Thanksgiving.  It just makes the house feel festive and different and peaceful.  I love them!

21. I appreciate the gift of sight.  I've had dreams since I was a kid that one day I would go blind.  That hasn't happened yet, but I do have terrible eye sight.  I'm not even eligible for corrective laser surgery!  My last visit my doctor told me I have focusing issues of a 40-something.  :/  So, in case that dream comes true (not in a good way!) I'm going to appreciate seeing my cute kids, sunrises, blue skies, my love's eyes, and all those other glorious things we see every day and don't even realize are so lovely.

Days 13-16

13. I'm so super grateful for our shop manager, Jessica.  In the almost 3 years (3 weeks short of 3 years) our salon has been open, we've had 6 managers I think.  Or 6 managers I can immediately think of.  Some were okay, some were bad, and one was great.  Jessica is a great manager.  She gets the point of having a business is to service customers and to make sure they are happy.  She understands you want your employees to be happy, but you don't want them to take advantage of you, she just gets it.  I'm so happy to have her running our salon!

14. I'm grateful for a dependable co-owner who lives near our salon, and is willing to go in and help wherever needed.  I can't even tell you the number of times I call him for random items.  He's awesome!

15. I in LOVE with the commandment to cleave unto your wife and leave your parents.  I could go into this, but I'm being grateful and positive today.

16. I appreciate diapers, but I over-the-moon that Lindsay is potty trained.  No more poop smeared all over her bedroom, no more diapers to change, no more dirty clothes that you just throw away.  No pee on anything.  (Accidents are few thank goodness!)  Hooray!

Days 9 - 12

9. I'm grateful to not be crazy.  Seriously, that's a loose word to mean any sort of mental incapacity.  I know several people who are pathological liars, self absorbed, multiple personalities, etc.  It's so nice to be in a correct state of mind and to know my mind and to know reality for what it is.  Of course it makes me crazy dealing with those who have no grasp on reality.

10. I'm grateful for automobiles.  While I'm totally in love with horses, I'm happy to be able to get from point A to point B quickly and safely.  I don't have to worry about the time it takes me to get somewhere in terms of months or years as compared to hours or days (limited that to the US of course).

11. I'm grateful to be a world of variety.  Can you imagine growing up and knowing nothing about the other cuisines of the world?  No Italian food, or Mexican food or delicious mango smoothies?  No other traditions or beliefs to consider?  I think it's amazing people are so similar yet so different.  Hoorah!

12. I love the computer age.  The ability to hit backspace and not have to begin anew with a clean white sheet of paper.  Cause I took typing folks, and nothing stinks worse than typing an entire page or letter and realizing you made a typo in it, and having to start all over.  Yay for delete!

Time

I'm grateful to have time.  It heals wounds, it dulls pain, it lets you make memories, and allows others around you to grow up or become more mature.  I'm happy to have each and every day here, as they are all precious and none, absolutely none are guaranteed.  I appreciated my memories of my times, both good and bad, as they help me retain lessons learned and cherish moments lost.

Day 7

Today I'm extra grateful for my little Laney.  She has been working so hard and getting settled into her new medication, her new classes, her new teachers.  All this and roommates leaving suddenly, in-laws staying over for the night and turning into a 30+ day stay, and just normal bumps of life.  Well, last night she got her first report card and she had all B's and one A.  Not not be a good grade for many of you with children, but for my little girl, who has STRUGGLED with school and her focusing, it was A-mazing! We haven't started a year off this great since kinder!  Yay for Laney!!!

Lots to Remember

This morning while I was driving in to the office, I was thinking about what I wanted to list for my gratitude challenge.  There were so many things that came to my mind.  So many wonderful things I have in my life that I need to remember and recognize.  So, here are a few things:

3. I am super duper happy to have indoor plumbing.  You may think it's a little dramatic, but rest assured, I remember using an outhouse when I was young and visited my grandmother.  Complete with the Sears catalog.  Which reminds me, toilet paper = happiness.  You don't think so?  Try using Sears a time or two and finding out.

4. Alarm clocks.  Yes, I have a love/hate relationship with mine, but I'm glad it's faithful to me every day and tells me when I need to be up so I don't have to rush around being late.  Of course, it also reminds me how much I love the Snooze button.

5. Forgiveness.  I so appreciate forgiveness.  Those friends and family who I have wronged, sometimes without even realizing it.  Thank you for looking past my shortfalls and remembering good intentions do count.  Even when I am an idiot and my actions do not always reflect those good intentions.

6. Athletics.  I am so grateful to have the ability to challenge my body with sports.  I enjoy sports - team sports and solo sports.  I am grateful to be able to keep my body strong (notice I did not say "in shape" - not there yet) and healthy, to have a way to reduce stress, and to know that I can outrun at least the slowest person near me in case of the zombie apocalypse.

Gratitude

I know a lot of people do the November Gratitude challenge.  I actually received the challenge from sister missionaries that lived in my parents' house while I was away at college.  It was during the summer so I don't always remember to repeat the challenge except at Thanksgiving time.  Hopefully, this year, I can make something to post up at home to help my family remember the things we have to be grateful for.  As for me, with today being November 2nd, I have the following things to add to my list for the month:

1. I am grateful to have a daughter with a large heart.  She is a great big sister.  Even when Lindsay makes Laney so mad she could spit, Laney will still be there to help, to comfort, to cheer.  She is selfless and I'm so grateful for that.

2. I am overly grateful for my husband.  I know I mentioned this last year, but every year it just gets better.  We still look at each other and say, can you believe we knew each other less than a year before we were married?!  He is a great match for me and even when he drives me crazy, I can't live without him.  He's funny, kind, loving, and easy to please.  Who doesn't love that kind of man?!

Halloween

I didn't take pictures on Halloween (I know, right?), but I did take pictures on our FREEZING trunk or treat trip last week.  I don't have those with me now (again, yes, I know, bad mom!), but I do have a picture of the girls on Halloween that my friend Beth took.  So here they are in all their glory (that you can see from behind).

Laney is a go go dancer (not sure why the shawl) and Lindsay is a Fairy Barbie.  This was
the first house of the night.

Laney walked Lindsay to almost every single door.  And held her hand to keep her brave.  A couple of houses missed Lindsay because she was one of the smallest in the group and Laney gave up her candy to Lindsay because she didn't want her missed.  She is a great big sister.  She did ask if I would go with Lindsay to a few houses so she didn't have to go with Lindsay and said, "I don't want to be a bad big sister, but can you go with her mom?" I think she just wanted a break. ha ha!  I also love the face on the little boy (our friend Noah) running away from the door with his candy.  He is obviously SUPER excited to be out trick or treating.  And the arrow points to our friend Jak who is 6, but had never been trick or treating before because it had scared him.  This was his first trip ever.  Obviously, this picture comes from his mom.