Day 29: About Your Pet

I didn't plan ahead very well on this one, as I've already written about our dog Bear earlier this month. So instead, I'm going to write a post of gratitude for how many animals my parents were willing to let us take on growing up. We always had one or two dogs, one of which was always a miniature schnauzer. Like pugs, these dogs are very loyal companions and good cuddle buddies. We often had a bird and sometimes had fish. And for a stretch of a year or two, we had had hamsters. (Shout out to my mom for letting this continue even as the hamster would escape it's cage and end up crawling around in their bed.)

I think pets are wonderful for kids. They provide companionship, teach responsibility and some of the early lessons about life and death, and supply some hilarious moments and favorite memories. I'm grateful to my parents for being such good sports in this realm. 

Day 28: About your Community

I am grateful for our homeschool community. One thing I was really unsure about in starting the homeschool journey was the question of socialization / friendship. I knew our kids would have each other, and that they would see cousins, teammates, and church friends - but that's not exactly the same as knowing a whole community of families who are going down the same educational path. Thankfully, over our four years of homeschooling (and thanks in large part to two wonderful moms who are always organizing and leading new ventures), we have been able to form that community. We've joined other homeschoolers for nature group, art group, Shakespeare group, and literary society; we've participated in field trips, park days, and back yard hang-outs; and we've been lucky to make some really good friends. I'm thankful to the families who are our homeschool besties. 

Day 27: About your Job

The main thing I'm grateful for about my job is the kids I get to form relationships with and the chance to try to guide their case towards the best possible outcome; additionally, I'm grateful for this, this, this, and this. 

But one not insignificant thing I don't think I've written about before is that I'm grateful for the work-life balance provided by this job. It helps that I'm part time (which is both a blessing and a curse, something I'll write about at a future time), but one of the huge huge benefits of non-profit legal work is that you can have a real, full caseload, makes a real life difference practice that is also usually contained to Monday through Friday 8-5 (and for me, about half of that contained within those hours). It's not never that I have to work nights and weekends, but it's exceedingly rare and it's usually because I've used the regular work hours towards something other than work. My job is an important part of my life, but it's not my whole life - and that's not the case for all lawyers. I'm grateful to be able to do the work I do and still have a meaningful amount of hours off the clock. 

Day 26: Who In Your Life

 

I am grateful for my sister. I'm super grateful for who she is as a person, but for today, I want to focus on the specialness of the sibling / sister relationship in general. I am grateful for the almost entire lifetime of shared history we have - shared family past, shared secret jokes, shared moves, shared clothes; shared family / life stages, shared faith, shared interests in reading, shared things we find hilarious. There is a way she understands me and I understand her that no one else will be able to ever touch, which is such a special thing. I'm so grateful to have a sister, to have THIS sister.

Day 25: About Nature

 

I am grateful for clouds. I am grateful for how much drama they bring into a moment. I'm grateful for how you can imagine shapes into puffy cumulus clouds. I'm grateful for the reminder of God's power in a huge wall cloud moving over the Midwest prairie. On road trips, my kids will sometimes try to give the sky Myers-Briggs personality types, and I'm grateful that clouds give the sky so much personality that this is a plausible game. 

Day 24: Challenge

This has been a year of many challenges, one serious thing after another, and if I'm being perfectly honest I can't say I'm grateful for any of the challenges. I thought about writing something along the lines of "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and it will be wonderful if that turns out to be a result ten years down the road, but that's not where I'm at today. There are two things I can honestly say I'm grateful for right at this moment: 1) When you get through a thing you think you could not survive and you do, that is knowledge to take forward when the next scary thing comes along. 2) It's been a year of chances to see that God's mercies are new every morning; to grow dependence on God and understanding that He is the only sure and steady anchor for my soul; and to take the grip of control I try to keep on my life and try to give it more and more over to God. To the extent that all the things in that second category take hold, I am immensely grateful for that.

Day 23: Smell

 I am grateful for the ways smells can trigger memories and feelings. Both generally and very specifically. Baking chocolate chip cookies remind me of safety, warmth, home, and childhood. A particular perfume smell reminds me of my Grandma Eileen. The smell of campfire smoke brings memories of happy times singing, roasting S'mores, and hanging out around the campfire. A fish / ocean smell reminds me of the Oregon beach. I am also grateful for a book I read this summer - Jitterbug Perfume - that celebrates all things related to the olfactory sense.