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. 

Day 6: I am Grateful I can hear...

I am grateful that I can hear Kenny playing guitar music.  He spends some time playing guitar almost every night, usually shortly after dinner, and it's this really pleasant time in our household.  The kids are milling around, half listening and half playing.  We all have our favorite songs that he plays - mine is "Country Roads", Zoey's is "No Woman, No Cry", etc.  I'm so grateful for the moments when our house is filled with music that we can all enjoy. 

Day 5: Financially...

I am grateful that God has always provided money for my basic needs to be met, whether this was through my parents, a job, a student loan, or family income.  I'm not saying there's never been lean times, or that I don't follow a budget, but I've never been in a position where I had to worry about where my or my kids' next meal was coming from.  And I realize that this fact alone puts me in a category of ridiculous wealth compared to almost all other times and places in history.  It lets me think about things other than survival.  It lets me enjoy and/or worry about all kinds of things other than money, which is only possible because there is more than enough to pay for food, housing, and clothing.  I am so grateful for the huge blessing of God's financial provision, and I hope that reflection on this great blessing causes me to be more generous.

Day 4: Today I am grateful for...

Today I am grateful for the right to vote.  I love living in a country where the government is a representative democracy, and we all get the right to have a say in who and how things are run.  I love seeing all the other people who are out voting or running the polling places, everyone doing their civic duty.  I love the little sticker they give you saying "I Voted".  I'm grateful that even when the election doesn't turn out the way you hoped, there will be another opportunity to cast your vote within 2-4 years.  And I will be REALLY grateful if a few of these bigger elections turn out the way I voted...

Day 3: About my Hometown...

Today's prompt is "about my hometown".  The first question is, what's my hometown?  I was born in Sacramento, spent my first 13 years in Norfolk, Nebraska, attended high school and continue to visit my family every year in Lincoln, Nebraska, and currently live in and plan to raise my family in Reno.  I have lots of love for Lincoln and Reno, but for today's prompt, I'm going to write about my OG hometown:  Norfolk, NE.

Norfolk is a small town of 21,000 people, with no bigger population towns anywhere within 100 miles.  One thing that's fun about small Midwestern towns is that everyone is very loyal to the local sports team.  The varsity football and basketball games are social events for the whole town, and if the team makes it to state playoffs, the fans will caravan en masse to root root root for the home team.  This is a super fun way for the townspeople to have a sense of unity and camaraderie, and I'm grateful I got to be a part of it for many years.  (And even to play on some Norfolk Panthers teams in junior high.) 

I'm especially grateful for 1994, when the Norfolk Panthers beat the Benson Bunnies to win the Class A State Football championship, and in that same season, the Nebraska Cornhuskers won the National Championship.  Sports fandom does not get much better than that!

Day 2: About My Health...

Backpacking trip up Mt. Blanca

 I am grateful for the great blessing of good health so far throughout my life.  Health is one of those things that I often take for granted, so it's good to have a prompt to remember what a difference it makes.  When I was younger, good health allowed me to participate in many fun and memorable activities - volleyball and track teams in high school and college, climbing mountains while living in Colorado, and running half marathons.

Now that I'm older, every brief bout with sickness or injury reminds me how much I rely on good health to take care of my family.  Caring for little kids takes a surprising amount of energy and physical stamina, and it's really hard to manage when you as the caretaker are ill, or when part of your body needs to rest because it's injured.  I've never had a major or chronic illness or injury, and I'm extremely grateful for that.

30 days of gratitude, 2018. Day 1: About My Family

(I got this challenge from scaleitsimple.com)

One of the nice things about having a blog that you write just for fun is that you get to choose
your own pace of writing and posting.  This is also one of the hard things.  Fall is traditionally a slower time of blogging for me.  This is partly because there are many extras in our life this season (all the kids' birthdays, back to school and IEPs and Katie Beckett, all the holidays), and partly because my mood somewhat mirrors the seasons, so fall feels like a time for reflection and melancholy rather than prolific writing. 

However!  If you don't post at least once in awhile, then your blog dies. So I'm going to start my 30 days of gratitude early this year because 1) i want to keep the blog going, 2) my perspective could use a gratitude ramp up starting immediately; and 3) this will allow for a few days off of blogging between now and the end of November.

Here's the full 30 day challenge, if anyone wants to join in the fun!  I will put this first day up on Facebook, but the rest I will only post on my blog.

Day 1:  About my family...

I am grateful for Kenny because he is smart and thoughtful, and the way he thinks about life and faith and politics challenges me and makes me grow.  I'm grateful for his wry sense of humor.  I'm grateful for the musical interludes he brings to the house when he plays guitar.  I'm grateful for the way he sets goals and achieves them, and for the way he has dreams for the future.  I'm grateful for his creativity and his writing skills.  This list really just scratches the surface.

I am grateful for Josh because of his sweet smile, his sense of fun, his passion for the things he's interested in (and anyone who knows him knows what those things are!), his strength and persistence in the face of adversity, and his kind heart.

I'm grateful for Zoey because of her sensitive spirit, her sharp wit, her funny combination of strong feelings and empathy combined with a heavy dose of logic and rationality, her love for her rope, her creativity expressed through dancing, and her love for her family.

I am grateful for Ivy because she's always ready to have a dance party, she was born with more social and emotional intelligence than I will ever have, her big eyes see everything, and she brings so much fun and love to the family. 

I am grateful for Gus because he's loyal and affectionate and a good friend to all of us.

What are you grateful for about your family?