Monday, October 31, 2011

Multitude Monday, Take 224

"I look at the world and I see beauty. I see love and loss, birth and death, joy and sorrow. I see a world where color exists, and in enormous generosity we were given eyes to see it. This is a world where bread makes a smell as it's baked, and we just happen to have noses to smell it. Color, smell, sound, taste--these are things that could have gone unnoticed; we could have been senseless in this reality, careening around like so many spattering particles. Were our noses invented first, or the smells? Our eyes, or the sights? ...We have been created as recipients. I look at the stars, at the grass, at my fat-faced children, at my fingernails, and I am oppressed by gratitude."
--N.D. Wilson, Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl

Thanking God for...

2237. wonderful trips and travels (the reason I didn't blog about my gratitude the last two Mondays)
2238. 365 days of Jude!
2239. remembrances of God's mercy and generosity on the day of Jude's birth
2240. a first haircut (bye-bye, baby mullet :)
2241. a party with family

2242. frosting in Jude's belly button
2243. wine and conversation with my brother- and sister-in-law after the kids were all in bed
2244. two days with my mom and my aunt
2245. Steve keeping the boys at his parents' to free me to go
2246. boxes of stuff from my grandmother's house--some needed, some useful, some purely sentimental

2247. World War II love letters
2248. old, old photographs
2249. family resemblances
2250. stories told and retold
2251. reminders that stuff fades, moth and rust destroy, much of what I save and value will be unimpressive and discarded by others

2252. a Treasure that no moth or rust can destroy, that will never lose its value
2253. nursing home workers
2254. family recipes scribbled on bits of scrap paper, stashed in creaky metal boxes
2255. a walk to Dietsch's with Mom
2256. my grandma's delight in her great-grandsons

2257. Steve's mad car-trunk-packing skills
2258. audiobooks
2259. Jude doing so well apart from me for two days
2260. Jude's eagerness to nurse as soon as he saw me
2261. one-liners from Elijah that leave my mom in stitches

2262. Elijah learning to be both cautious and brave
2263. having to ask forgiveness
2264. Chick-Fil-A sauce
2265. brilliant fall colors
2266. opportunities to bless others as we have been blessed

2267. electricity
2268. communion by flashlight, lunch in the hallways--adventure, memories at church yesterday!
2269. our pastors and their care for us
2270. chili verde and the celebration of a new church launched and led by our friends
2271. Steve's motivation and help in cleaning up the kitchen to start a new week with an empty sink


3 comments:

Jamie said...

Glad you're back - I've missed you! :)

Zoanna said...

Your baby is ONE already??? Where did THAT year go??

JRae said...

Sunday was the craziest Sunday ever, but definitely a memory I will never forget :)