Day 13: 5 small things

This weekend is the annual "Fall Back" of Daylight Savings.  As many memes have noted, when you have young kids, this does not usually mean sleeping in.  BUT, how often do we all wish for more time?  Getting the gift of an extra hour means we all got to enjoy a long, lazy morning together.  Here are 5 things that I am grateful that I was able to do because of our longer morning:

1.  Read the kids a story about Pocahontas - getting our history on!
2.  Make homemade pizza dough, simplifying dinner time later. 
3.  Play a board game.
4.  Finish a novel that I've been trying to get through for months.
5.  Make it to church on time!

Day 12: I love this about how i look

Oooh, this is an uncomfortable one!  I'm grateful that I was lucky enough to inherit the long, lean body type from the Fickenscher side of the family.  I like that, because of that, I can receive hand me downs from my more fashionable mom and sister.  I'm grateful that it has allowed me some athletic opportunities in high school and college, and that it makes it easier to pick up running even though I'm more of a dabbler than a hard-core dedicated athlete these days.  I'm grateful that I can reach things that are up high.  I'm grateful that, by sheer luck of genetics, I've been able to get back to about the same shape and size after three pregnancies.  There are things I would love to change about my body shape, just like everyone, but all in all I'm grateful for what I've been given in my body type. 

Day 11: About my school or job

The secret to looking lawyerly when you're young:  glasses.

Today, I'm going to discuss something for which I was grateful in two of my former jobs:  I got to work in two non-profit law firms where the vast majority of attorneys were female.  There were so many things that were awesome about both of these workplaces that they could (and probably will) fill a whole volume of thankful posts, so today I'm going to focus on the mostly female workplace part.

First, I'm grateful for what there was not - nobody was trying to undermine or beat out anyone else.  While many of us were competitive by nature, we applied our competitive nature to our cases and our non-profit mission.  There wasn't any locker room talk or boy's club atmosphere.  There wasn't gossiping and backbiting. 

Second, I'm grateful for what there was:  Friendship.  Support, encouragement, and cooperation.  It was inspiring to be surrounded by these smart, driven women who were using their talents to better the world, and it gave me a model for what I wanted my career to look like.  Both offices took great pains to be flexible and family friendly.  People knew each other's kids and spouses, at least a little bit.  People made time to help each other with cases. 

There were males there, too, and they were great.  (I think it takes a certain sort of strength in a man to do well in a working environment led by women, so kudos to you men.)  But I'm grateful to have had the experience, twice, of being surrounded by co-workers who were smart, social justice oriented, kind, and mostly female. 

Day 10: About my Friends

I had to think hard about which friends to shout out for this post - not because I'm so ragingly popular, but because I've been lucky to have really great friends in different stages of my life.  I'm deeply grateful for my good friends from school and different church communities we've been a part of, but today I'm going to talk about the friends who I see the most these days and who are helping me get through this stage of life.   

I'm so grateful for my playgroup moms here in Reno.  Some of the moms in this group knew each other back when we were childless co-workers, so it helped that we already had a friendship and some things in common before kids were added to the mix.  I love that I can talk to these moms about all things good and hard about parenting; about my thoughts on when and whether to go back to work (for the bazzillionth time); about the silly or the deep.  I am so deeply grateful for their encouragement and support and sense of humor.  

We had the same core group meeting for a solid two years.  Now in year three, we have started to meet less frequently as the older kids reach school age - some are back to work, some are now homeschooling, most of us have added another kid or two, and for all of us it's hard to get together as often as we originally did.  But I'm so grateful for the continued relationship via texts and mom's night out and birthday parties and group swimming lessons.  And I know that I will always appreciate the group that helped me get through these sometimes lonely and challenging young child years.  

Day 9: What I love about this planet...

These categories of gratitude are so huge!  Where do you even start with what you love about planet earth?  If you choose the mountains, how can you leave out the ocean?  Even if you just look at America, how do you choose between the granite peaks of Yosemite and the rocky beaches of Oregon and the rolling plains of Nebraska?  Between the lush forests of the East Coast and the wide open spaces of the Western half of the country?  I've just had brief glimpses of the beauty of the world outside of America, but some of the things I've seen - the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, Macchu Picchu in Peru - are spectacular.  So today, I'm grateful for the diversity of the beatiful features on Planet Earth, all of them beautiful and life-giving in their own way.  I'm grateful for everything I've seen in person so far, and hope to see much more of this amazing planet.

Day 8: A Compliment i receive lately...

I am grateful for my mom because she always knows the best things to say.  When it comes to compliments, hers are thoughtful, specific, and sincere - the best kind.  In a recent conversation about some of Joshua's doctor visits, she told me that I am just the right mom for Josh - in this case, meaning staying on top of the special needs visits and paperwork but also keeping things positive. 

Here's a truism about most moms:  we never feel like we're enough.  We never feel like we're everything our kids need us to be, or everything we should be.  I suspect this has always been the case, but I think social media takes competitive and comparative parenting to a whole new level.  So when someone tells you that you're doing a good job with your parenting, it's so life-giving.  I'm grateful for my mom, and her strong, faithful support and encouragement.

Day 7: To taste...

I am grateful to taste Chili's Southwest Egg Rolls.  Since we have 3 young kids, we very rarely eat dine-in meals at restaurants, and I do a LOT of food preparation.  So it's a big treat for me to get restaurant food that someone else has prepared.  There's a Chili's near our house, they have an easy take-out system, and they have food options that work for everyone in our family, so Chili's is one of our regular go-tos.  Feeding Josh and Ivy is especially tricky, since Josh is extremely picky and Ivy is at that in-between age where she won't eat a full restaurant meal but she needs more than just a few bites of my food.  Chili's has a "triple dipper" appetizer option where I can get chicken tenders to feed Josh (since breaded chicken product is the one restaurant food he will eat), some other side to feed Ivy, and then get these delicious Southwest egg rolls for the rest of us to share.  I didn't mean for this post to turn into an advertisement for Chili's, although I am a fan - I'm just so grateful for the break and help in feeding our family, for a restaurant that meets all our food needs, for living in a time that you can get restaurant food and drive it back to your house, and for delicious food.