It was Friday, our day off, or date day as I like to call it.
It was sunny and warm with blue skies, a beautiful day sandwiched between days of typical Oregon late spring drizzle.
The Hubs and I drove through the beautiful countryside to the rose nursery where I bought my first English rose.
Afterwards, we took the the meandering back roads home, the windows in the car rolled down, enjoying the air and the weather and the sights.
We stopped and got burgers and diet cokes to go, and found a place to park by the river for an impromptu picnic. Though the temperatures were barely in the seventies, it was a sunny June day in Oregon so the teenage girls in bikinis and boys in long baggy swim trunks played in the river and splashed and giggled, and young mamas brought their kids to the water and the toddlers splashed their hands in the shallows, and little boys threw rocks and tried to make them skip.
I think about the joy and appreciation of this sunny day that I see in everyone around me and how the rainy days make us appreciate the sunny days and how it’s the rainy days that give us the Oregon beauty that makes the sunny days so amazing.
Life is like that, when the storm gives way to calm, oh how the calm is appreciated, and yet in the storm lessons were learned, roots grew a little deeper, a little stronger, so when the sun and the calm come, the beauty gained through the storm is revealed. It takes all kinds of weather to make the beauty of a life, and God is teaching me to give thanks for it all.
my continuing gratitude list #1187-1198
-working through miscommunication and hurt and misunderstanding until healing comes
-Jesus is My Righteousness
-our nephew, our right hand man, at our church
-hearing from middle daughter about what a good time she had with her dad on his visit
-an unexpected evening out together, precipitated by a broken coffee pot and going to the mall together to pick out a new one
-seeing birds building a nest on a busy freeway sign
-youngest daughter’s coworker letting her use their more reliable car for her drive to Chicago
-her arriving at Chicago safely
-date day!
-the Word
-oldest daughter, son-in law, baby granddaughter’s safe trip to and from Wisconsin and how God used them as SIL spoke at a youth camp there
-a great Father’s Day, and the good dad and papa my Hubs is
Gratefully yours,
Elizabeth
Oh, you were in my neighborhood again, my friend! I MUST go to see the roses at your favorite place. The river scenes look so familiar. Thinking how it looks like the river just a mile from my home.
ReplyDelete~Adrienne~
-youngest daughter’s coworker letting her use their more reliable car for her drive to Chicago
ReplyDeleteLove your gratitude list and LOVE your date day. :)
Your date day sounds just heavenly! I was drinking in the green scenery. Your gratitude list is enjoyable as always. I love the impromptu run to the story for a coffee pot and the way you found it to be a reason for gratitude.
ReplyDeleteThe windows down and enjoying the sights... love those times! A rose nursery sounds like a great place to visit! :) What a great date day!
ReplyDelete