One Thousand Gifts (221 - 230)

Last weekend, hubby and I had an opportunity to slip away for a few days.  We headed north to Bryce Canyon.  It's been about 20 years for each of us since we've been there.  We stayed in a quaint little town called Tropic, whose population was maybe 600!  In the evening we got ice cream and strolled down the main street of town.  

We did a beautiful 4 mile hike in Bryce where we only saw a handful of other people the whole way.  I got to see my first woodpecker too, but they wouldn't stop flitting around and the rain started  coming down, so no picture.

221.  Weekend away with hubby

222.   Beautiful scenery

What makes a tree do this?

223.   God's amazing creation.  There is no denying Him when you look at this!







224.   Thunderstorms.  There was even a flash flood warning Saturday night.  I love, love, love rain!

225.   Wonderful (brave) friends who actually volunteered to watch the kids - All of them!

226.   Fun weekend for the kids.  They got to stay up as late as they wanted and eat as much as they wanted.  Life doesn't get much better!

227.   Long, intimate talks - with no interruptions!

228.   Coming home to more rain!

229.   Contented and comfortable silence.

230.   Lots of hugs and kisses when we got home

Mini-Reunion

Last week my Sis was in town.  She came with my bil and great nephew.  It was so wonderful to see them all again! I (we) missed them so much.  It's been nearly a year since we've seen them.  I was so hoping that Mom and Dad would make the trip as well, but they stayed home this time.

While they were here, I got to spend some uninterrupted time with my G-Nephew, getting to know him better.  I gotta say, that kid is so sweet!  He clicked right away with Knight and Tigger.  They had a blast together.

Over the weekend we went to Sis2's house for a mini reunion.  I say mini because Mom and Dad weren't there.  (Feeling guilty yet, mom?) We were also missing a niece and some nephews.

The kids swam and ate and swam some more.  The adults mostly ate!  It was tons of fun!  Even though Sis2 lives here in town, it's probably been about two years since we have seen each other.  Not sure why.  Life just gets in the way, I guess.

 This one is my personal favorite! Sis2 is on the left and Sis is on the right.

Part of the clan getting ready to jump in the water.  For whatever reason, they could not master 1-2-3 jump! We probably have 20 different shots from 3 different jumping attempts.  It was quite amusing.  Just couldn't get them all in the air at the same time.

My G-Niece and other G-Nephew.  These are Sis2's grand kids.  G-Niece is 2 weeks younger than my E-Baby.  She is a handful and works her cuteness to its fullest!  

 G-Nephew2 just turned 10 and he's an all around good kid.  The boys can't wait to hang out with him again.

Their mom and dad, my niece and nephew in-law(?) I start getting confused on relations once I get outside of cousins.

Sis and Ladybug

 D and E-baby surfing

Bear, giving G-Niece a ride

Sis2 and G-Nephew

I think I should rename Tigger to Bugman or something.  Bugs are his passion.  He's never met a bug he didn't like.  He often brings them in the house to show me his new friends also. (shiver)

My Son-in-law, daughter and grandson (you can't see him because he's hiding in his mommy's womb still.  Can't wait!!)

 Brother in law getting ready to bean Knight! The kids LOVE him!

 Sis2, G-Niece and Sis

 And now for the mid-air shots!

I didn't get any pictures of Sis2's fiance or his son.  They were inside during the big picture taking frenzy.  No, they are not unsociable.  That just happened to be where the pizza was at that time!

I am so glad we were all able to hang out together.  It meant more to me than I thought.

One Thousand Gifts (201 - 220)

Counting...

201.  Cooler weather

202.  Rain - not much, but it was nice!

203.  A sweet friend who fostered a beautiful baby girl for a year and a half will finally be able to adopt her!

204.  Working out again.

205.  Visit from my sister, brother-in-law and great nephew The circumstances surrounding their visit were not good, but I am thankful that some joy can come of it.

206.  Decluttering the house
            I'm so thrilled to be letting go of the junk around the house.  I still have a ways to go, but I have a clean garage! I'm so tempted to put a picture of it here but that would just be weird.  I will admit to walking out there occasionally and just standing and looking around!

207.  Mr. Baseball and Ladybug get to experience their first  outreach to the homeless.

208.  Free slurpees

209.  Bob's back is starting to feel better.

210.  A special, middle of the night bonding experience between sisters.  Princess is on cloud nine today.
           Ladybug had a bad dream and woke up Princess to keep her company.  Princess slept on Ladybug's bed with her and they played with stuffed animals in the  wee hours of the morning until they fell asleep again.

211.  Spending the day with my great-nephew.  What a sweetie!

212.  Discovering a fun, new park

213.  An evening alone with my little girls.  A Burger King picnic in the living room and a fun movie!

214.  Carpenter 1 fire is almost out and there have been no injuries.

215.  Tigger, Knight and g-nephew hit it off immediately!  It was like they were always together.

216.  Mini family reunion at my other sister's house.  Great fun! Hopefully that will be another post.

217.  Fun afternoon at the Children's museum.  When it's closing time, the employees start a conga line to lead everyone out the door.  It's great!  We went twice in the last few weeks.

218.  Bear, who makes me coffee when she gets up before me.

219.  Ladybug wrote a card for me while she was at her friend's house today.

220.  Learning contentment - - to bloom where I am planted.  Still longing for somewhere else, but I'm starting to find some positives about being here.

One Thousand Gifts (191 - 200)

It's been a while, but I'm still counting...

191.  My beautiful oldest daughter is now a married woman.

192.  She and my new son are giving me a grandson!  He is due to make his appearance on October 28th - which, by the way, happens to be Boo's birthday AND Boo, Princess and Knight's adoption day.  

193.  School is almost over for another year.  We only have 10 days left.  It's been a pretty good year.  

194.  Thankful that I still have many years of homeschooling ahead.  That actually surprises me to think that since schooling is one of my most stressful things.  But a friend just graduated her oldest and it really got me thinking about how precious these years are and how quickly they go by.

195.  My boys getting new opportunities and conquering fears

196.  My kids love each other.  Yes, they fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but the love is there!

197.  My husband still loves me, after nearly 15 years, 9 kids, thousands of grey hair, deepening wrinkles, and many pounds (on my part).  

198.  Melatonin.  I can sleep at night again  :)

199.  Thanks to Ann Voskamp who, once again, let God use her to speak the exact words of encouragement I needed at the exact right time.  Mama guilt is a powerful thing, and it takes powerful words of Truth to dispel it.

200.  My bff's second cancer scare turned out not to be cancer!  

One Thousand Gifts (181 - 190)

Still counting my blessings............





181.  A surprise phone call from my sister!  I miss her!  Who'd a thunk it too.  We did NOT get along as kids.  Now she is one of my most favorite people.

182.  A blessed evening with an amazing missionary and wonderful friend.

183.  Watching children play at the park.  It struck me as so beautiful to see something like 50 kids all with huge smiles on their faces.  Odds are that some of those kids were dealing with big problems in their lives but right then, in that moment, you could tell, life was perfect!

184.  That the mold report for the water damage came back and showed NO black mold.  Just the regular stuff.  Woo Hoo!

185.  Warm weather.  

186.  My dog FINALLY figured out how to work the doggie door. Only took her a month!

187.  The love my kids have for their dog.  They all dote on her. Makes training next to impossible though.

188.  My amazingly messy kitchen. Because it means that we are well fed when so many are not.

189.  My daughter got a job with the school district.  One step closer to independence. 

190.  Watching my kids try to do the "YMCA" dance.  Hilarious!!