Week's end with thanks

• Heidi learning to wash her hands by herself in the bathroom.
• Those curls with hint of shimmering gold, swept over her eyes.
• So many new words.
• Surprised by Daddy and kids at church and end of spring brunch.
• Being done.
• Drinking water.
• Fresh fruit.
• Mistakes we make that work themselves out. So thankful there’s someone else in charge.
• Homemade ice cream.
• Baby James crawling all over the train room, grinning from ear to ear.
• Dutch teaching James about cars and trains.
• Community Group! I could list this every week but it is a continual gift each week. I love these dear souls.
• Beans and rice. So basic, so cheap, so nutritious, so good.
• Peppermint tea.
• Lilies, so fragrant the whole house smells of their sweetness.
• Early bedtimes.
• Mrs. Meyer’s basil-scented dish soap. It is a luxury item to be sure but I love it. Washing dishes has never been so delightful.
• Baby James’ smile.
• A trunk of little-girl dress up clothes donated from a neighbor. Kids giddy with excitement. Dutch coming down the stairs in high-heals and a princess dress, “Look Mommy! I’m a princess, aren’t these shoes darling?!”  Oh boy. Wish I could video this and show it at his high school grad party.
• Mail delivery. Call me crazy, I still think it’s amazing that you put a letter in a little box and it makes its way across the country to just the right place. How awesome is that?!
• Amazon prime.
• Studying God’s Word.
• Banter with my beloved.
• Ministry meetings that involve holding hands with my husband. I love those ones.
• A friend who’s cheerfully willing to add my kids to hers for the afternoon.
• Amazing Bible Study ladies.
• Encouragement.
• Authenticity.
• More vinca.
• $10 off $50 Safeway coupon. After a long day with the kids it was a joy to wander the aisles, lost in my own quiet thoughts. Who knew the grocery story was a peaceful reprieve.
• Holding Genevieve Grace!  Beautiful girl, beautiful mommy. I love you, Melody!
• Unicorn stickers and wooden dominoes.
• Text from husband near end of day: “Sunshine! Meet me at the park!”
• Packing picnic dinner and huffing and puffing our way up the path to the park.  Play all evening in the slanted sunlight. Happy, dirty, sweaty children. Cheese sandwiches and apple slices.
• Almonds.
• Bananas barely green at the top.
• Trying new things.
• Four mile walk along Old River Drive, amazing view of the Willamette river, moss (I love moss!), a waterfall, and about a hundred “broken trees” that Dutch & Carson found. Amazing day.
• Tired legs.
• Finding that kids play much better all day after a morning of exertion.
• Heidi running to the dinner table so excited, “Meat Ball Peese!”
• A husband who doubles as a really great dad.
• Booking a flight to Glasgow!
• A mommy-built amazing Lego house complete with beds, dining room table with a vase of flowers, cups and plates, a couch and chairs, computer room, front and back patio with BBQ, stove, fridge, sink with two faucets, a hat rack and a completely enclosed bathroom with a toilet, toilet paper, and swinging door. It was inhabited by Darth Vader, several spacemen, a mechanic, a 70s girl, and a caped Viking man. I spent hours creating it and it was worth every moment–the kids have been playing with it all week since.
• College friends.
• Picture Plan.
• Learning what makes my children tick.
• Walk to church for picnic lunch with Jeff. Double jogger up that hill with those two kidlets is heavy.  Don’t know how much longer this mama can push those little monkeys!
• Playing in the sun at WCC. So thankful for a church home where we love to just be.
• Friendly faces.
• Quiet time to study.
• Afternoon sun.
• First day line-drying sheets! So excited to slide into their freshness tonight!
• Washing down comforters. There’s nothing quite like clean.
• Fresh salmon dinner on the deck.
• First day of kids running through the sprinkler. Screams and happy shrieks of delight. Soaking wet kids ready for bath.
• Dutch picking something up in the yard. “Mommy, what this?” I look up.  It’s dried out dog poop and we don’t have a dog. Not sure that that counts as a gift but somehow I thought it was funny.
• Rosy cheeks.
• Overhearing Dutch’s superhero monologue in the backyard, “And if you destroy this temple I will raise it up in three days! And if there’s danger there’s a space ranger!”   Jesus meets Buzz Lightyear.
• Every day we’re a new family of something (starfish, moray eels, hammerhead sharks). Today: “Mommy, we’re a family of collapsible heaps.” Later, “I love you, Mommy-collapsible-heap.” Yes, son, a collapsible heap I am.
• Heidi’s new words, “Mommy, I ‘appy!” Oh baby girl, I’m so glad you are happy.  I’m happy too.
• Amazingly rich meeting with my mentor. So much truth. So blessed. What a gift she is to me.
• Multnomah Graduation Ceremony. So happy for dear Ellen, Eva, and Anna. And so happy I’m not still in seminary… 🙂
• Little green shoots, growing growing still, stretching up toward sun.
• Learning.
• Growth.
• Desperation.
• Laughter.

Happy weekend; may yours be blessed. Thanks for reading.