365:107-135

So many wonderful God given gifts lately!  We just got back from a vacation to Pennsylvania.  We were able to reconnect with family and see some fun and historic sites.

 Mom-Mom playing go fish with one of the kids.

Pop-Pop with the girls

The Liberty bell.  When asked later what she thought of the Liberty Bell, Boo answered "Well, it has a crack."  I don't think they were impressed.

 Walking up to the visitor's center.  Why, oh why are they ALL walking on the grass when the walkway is 6 inches to their left?

What does Rocky have to do with the Declaration of Independence?  I dunno either.  But the good folks of Philadelphia thought there was a connection.

 Phillies Phanatic!

Preach it sister!  At Christ Church.

 With cousin L after a makeover.

 Mama N (my sister in law) didn't think too much of the makeover!

 Cousin J.   He's as much of a baseball fiend as my Mr. Baseball.

 Princess and Boo with baby J (my great nephew) who will be a year old soon.

 The kids found all sorts of critters in the creek outside of Aunt P's house. I think this is a salamander?  Not entirely sure.  These things don't exist here in the desert.

 The girls all tuckered out at the Statue of Liberty

 Playing in the stream in the park

 Team work.  I think they were going to make a dam.

 Silly city boys trying to catch tadpoles.  Like they were going to just swim into the cup, right?!

At the Philadelphia Zoo.

Zoo

 Zoo

At the shore.  It was cold...and foggy...and did I mention cold? 

 Yes, they went swimming!

 Boo and Aunt A

 Ladybug with Uncle B, Aunt A and Baby J 

 Hubby with 3 of his 4 siblings.  

 The boys with Cousin (?) JS

The kids with some of their cousins

I have pictures of my other Mother and Father in law but they are on hubby's camera.  Mine died because I forgot to bring my charger!  I will post those next time along with the really cool scenery pictures I took.

365:100-106 and One Thousand Gifts (395 - 400)

I've really been having a hard time finding blessings lately. We've had a few big disappointments and my focus has been on those things rather than on God, who remains faithful and continues to bless my socks off at every turn.  So, here I am still counting....

395.  My friend who, just up and gave me a camera lens!  Who does that?! I am blown away by this act of kindness and generosity.

396.  Really fun, impromptu church picnic.

397.  Seeing the miracle of new life in the ducklings at the park.

398.  Watching Bear blow bubbles for random toddlers at the park...just because it made them laugh.

399.  Seeing my big girls, who barely spoke to each other as kids, now very close to each other.

400.  Amazed and humbled at the miracle of the conjoined twins, now separate and ready to go home.

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Blood moon

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 Mr. Baseball feels the need to climb on EVERYTHING!  This is at a local park and he's about 20 feet off the ground.  

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These ducklings are the cutest thing ever!  They struggled so hard to get up that little waterfall.  Mama duck was right there the whole time quacking her encouragement.

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This turtle swam right up and let the kids pick him up.  They named him Harry.

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My cat.  Her name is Jubileena Bing Bing.  She's such a love!

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Tigger always has that smirk on his face, like he has the next 

joke on the tip of his tongue.

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Boo playing mud cakes

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As usual, I am behind.  I should be at picture 102.  Its amazing how fast this gets away from me.

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Birthday season is upon us.  Princess turned 9.

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Bear turned 8.

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My kids cooking a great breakfast of fried potatoes and eggs for everyone.  Yum!  So blessed to have kids who enjoy serving their family.  Someday, the boys' wives will be thankful too!

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The girls found some eye stickers and were fooling around.  Kinda makes them look creepy, doesn't it?

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Ladybug.  I like this one!

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Mr. Baseball had a great game!  He got a hit every time he came up to bat and he made some awesome plays at third base.

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Dandelion

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My boy loves his dog.  I think the dog mostly loves the banana though! 

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This reminded me of the little flower that held the dust speck 

that the Whos live on in Horton Hears a Who.  

Beezlenut Rah! Rah!

365:83-88 and One Thousand Gifts (383 - 394)

3 Gifts Eaten
383.  Chocolate, of course!

384.  Pizza

385.  I should write something healthy here, but I'm not. - Ice cream!

3 Gifts That Made You Laugh
386.  My grandson, who tends to laugh at completely inappropriate times (he's 6 months old)

387.  My grand daughter, who is 4 going on 30 and loves to use fancy words.

388.  Tigger.  I may have to rename him to class clown, or something. It's his life's mission to get a laugh.

A Gift Salty, Sweet, Just Right
389.  Doritos.  No, French fries.  Maybe Dorito flavored French fries!

390.   Chocolate!

391.  Ice cream.  Quite possibly the world's most perfect food!

3 Gifts Found in His Word
392.  Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!  Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.  Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;  Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.  (Psalm 95:1-2)

393.  So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;  for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.  (James 1:19)

394.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)



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Wolfie! 

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Mr. Baseball took a fast ball to the eye.  This, a day after he hurt his wrist doing tricks on his scooter and we thought he had broken it.  

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Let's go fly a kite.

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Knight scored 3 goals today!  His team logged their first win too.

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My Ladybug is developing quite the "big foot"!  

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This wasp was trying to build a home on the ceiling of my patio.  Tigger got mad when we killed it. Go figure.

365:70 - 82 and One Thousand Gifts (378 - 382)

378.  Tickets are purchased.  We're going to Pennsylvania!  I'm cautiously excited.  

379.  Ladies Bible study.  I haven't done a group study in years.  I'm so glad I signed up for this one.

380.  Getting away to go to the movies.  We saw God's Not Dead.  That was a very good movie!

381.  Ladies prayer breakfast.  What a wonderful way to develop deeper friendships.

382.  Beautiful spring weather!  

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Three of my girls in a rare moment of peace.

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Kitty in a bucket

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My sweet Wolfie.  He's getting so big!

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Princess turned 9!  I can't believe she's that old.

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Ladybug and Mr. Baseball

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Bear.  

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 Boo.  She was crying because Knight pretended to put her rollie pollie bug down in the sewer.

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 Knight.  This is the culprit from above!

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 Pretty flower

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 These are some dirty feet!  Boo has been playing outside in bare feet.  I cannot figure out how the tops of her feet got so dirty though.

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Baby pine cones

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My handsome Tigger!

365:65 - 69 and One Thousand Gifts (357 - 377)

3 Gifts at 3pm
357.  School's done!

358.  A surprise hand and foot massage from my girls.  (It was actually at 4:00, but it's close enough)

359.  A nap. The massage relaxed me so much that I fell asleep!

3 Gifts Green
360.  The grass and trees that are coming out of winter's hibernation.

361.  Salad.  Yes, I actually like salad!  I think I would like it better if it tasted like chocolate though.

362.  My foray into more "green" products.  I'm using natural homemade cleansers and will soon be making my own toothpaste!

3 Gifts Worn
363.  My contacts.  Without which, life would be a blur

364.  Slippers.  I love, love, love my slippers.  Shhh.. don't tell anyone. I even wear them out for quick errands. 

365.  Trade these ashes in for beauty
         And wear forgiveness like a crown
         Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
         I lay every burden down at the foot of the cross

3 Gifts Hard to Give Thanks For
366.  Aging.  I love the maturity, but the physical break down is hard to deal with.

367.  Past mistakes.  But they played a part in making me who I am today.

368.  Laundry.  Blech.

3 Gifts Found
369.  $20 tucked away in my purse.  Score!

370.  After looking for a looong time, Knight found his soccer shin guard 5 minutes before we were to leave for practice.

371.  Me.  I was lost, but now I'm found!!

A Gift Bent, Broken, Beautiful
372.  Bent - The trees in the wind.  We get some ferocious winds here too.  But we need them to blow the pollution out of the valley.

373.  Broken - In a house with 7 kids, it seems that everything is broken!  My husbands honey-do list is probably taller than he is!  But, although the stuff is broken, the house is full of love!

374.  Beautiful - Good friends that I can count on to be there for me...always.

3 Gifts in the Kitchen
375.  Kids and friends giggling so hard they can barely eat.

376.  My coffee maker, with the timer that has piping hot coffee ready for me when I stumble down the stairs.

377.  My boy, making cookies.

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Palm trees at the soccer field

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Mr. Baseball just up and decided to make cookies the other day.  

He also cleans up for me without being nagged.  He's going to make some girl a great husband one day.

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The view from the soccer field

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We went up to Calico Basin today with some friends for a b-b-q.  Lots of fun!  This is Friend T, Bear and Princess.

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There was a nesting female bird up in the rafters of the picnic area.  This little guy was very concerned that we were there and kept flitting nervously around.  I'm assuming he is the daddy.

365:59 - 64 and One Thousand Gifts (345 - 356)

3 ugly-beautiful gifts

345.     The piles of laundry that are ALWAYS on my dining table.  It means we have been blessed with plenty.

346.  My van.  Oh, I hate that big ugly thing.  We have nicknamed it Monstro, after the whale that ate Pinocchio.  But, it is dependable and it carries our whole family and a couple friends.  So often, it is filled to capacity!

347.   My voice.  I was not blessed with a good singing voice.  The only time I sing loud is when I am completely alone and the music is louder.  However, God hears it differently.  He calls it a joyful noise and it is beautiful to His ears.

3 gifts from the past that help you trust the future

348.  The gift of salvation.  I have no doubt that when I close my eyes on this world I will open them again to see Jesus.  In fact, the Bible tells me that He already has a mansion with my name on it!

349.   My parents.  They loved me even when I behaved in terrible, awful ways.  As a teen, it seems that I did everything to push them away.  But when I became human again, guess what? There they were. No condemnation, just love. 

350.   My husband.  Another person who stuck by me when I was an idiot.  Even after 15 years of marriage, he still loves me and wants to be with me.

A gift dull, shimmering, cleaned

351.   Dull:  My wedding ring.  I never take it off, so it gets pretty dull and dirty.

352.   Shimmering:  The city after a good rain

353.   Cleaned:   The air after a windy day.  The mountains look close enough to reach out and touch.  There's no brown haze in the valley.

3 gifts before 11 AM

354.   Someone made my bed for me!

355.   Most of the kids are done with school.

356.   Coffee

I walked the neighborhood and snapped some photos.  Then, changed lenses and did it again.  I got some fun results.  Love my macro lens!

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Close up of a cactus.  

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 Flowers that are overtaking my yard.

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 Neighbor's flower

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 I love this totally imperfect bud.  When it blooms, it will be absolutely gorgeous.  It's a picture of us, very flawed, humans.  But when Jesus gets hold of our lives, we bloom into something so very beautiful!

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 Buzzzzzzz.  

I love the color on this shot.  I really struggle to get vibrant color with the camera.  I usually have to brighten it up with Photoshop.  But this one is SOOC.  

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Another mystery plant.  I really think I need to get a field guide to all the plants around here.