Sunday ritual…

The morning was overcast, but sometime during lunch the clouds blew away.

The sky is blue, with just a few feathery cirrus clouds remaining.

The house is quiet except for the soft sound of the clothes dryer downstairs.

The sun shines through the slats of the window shade, making lines of light on the blue and white comforter and the white sheets.

I sit with laptop, Hubs reads his book.

I smile recalling the summer week gone by…a family reunion, a meeting with a hurting family in our congregation, our weekly prayer gathering, baby granddaughter sleeping over, grilling dinner out on the deck, making homemade ice cream, a church picnic, Sunday morning worship.

The sun is getting lower in the sky outside our east facing bedroom window. 

The light is turning golden.

I open the little green book where I jot my thanks during the week, and end my Sunday as I have for over a year now, typing out my gratitude list, sharing the blessings.

my continuing gratitude list #1210-#1222

-a family reunion with all but one of my siblings, and some nieces and nephews and their families

-visiting late into the evening around my sister’s backyard fire pit,

inventing and trying different variations of s’mores

-homemade strawberry milkshakes

-seeing God’s grace at work in our family

-sister time

-getting the giggles

-God helping us, giving us wisdom, giving us insight, giving us others who are strong where we are weak

-Great prayer time, with some visitors from last week’s neighborhood outreach showing up too

-baby granddaughter sleepover {aka “The Misadventures of a Not Quite All The Way Potty Trained Two Year Old”-It went something like this: we read books about being the big sister and having a new baby coming, we run to the bathroom with her as she yells “Hurry, Hurry”, we change her undies, we read her favorite book about a frog, seeing a funny look on her face we run to the bathroom with her, we change her undies, we grill outside and while Papa is cooking she dumps a whole bottle of bubbles for blowing out on the deck, we hose off the bubbles, oops, a potty accident on the deck, we hose it off again, we change her undies, we eat dinner, we sample my homemade chocolate mint ice cream, bath time, we’re relieved to put her back into a diaper for the night, all clean and in her pajamas she snuggles and watches Despicable Me for the one billionth time, she wakes up after the whole night dry! YaY!,  saying, “I yike,(like),my mommy” meaning, “It’s been fun, but I want to go home now.”}

-church picnic

-freedom to worship

-buying fresh, local strawberries

-homemade strawberry smoothies

 

Gratefully yours,

Elizabeth

Happy Fourth of July!