Weekly Gratitude Journal

This is our new reality. Our family is no longer living all within a half hour drive from one another. We now have one daughter and one son-in-law and four grandkids living on the opposite coast from us.  They flew us back to South Carolina this past week so that we could be with our two oldest grandsons for their birthdays. Next month they will be flying here for our oldest granddaughter's birthday and graduation and our youngest grandson's first birthday. I guess that frequent cross country flights are our new reality too. I've wrestled to accept that this is how things are now, much less to give thanks for it, and that needs to change. God, I give You thanks. This is hard, being on separate sides of the country, but You are still good even in the hard things. Thank you for airplanes and direct flights! Thank you that nothing can separate us from Your love as well as for our love for one another, no matter how far apart that we live.

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Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks, 

piling up gratitude day by day in my journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)

#14,467-#14,487

5-10-2021-

-our daughter and son-in-law flying us to South Carolina for our two grandson's birthdays

-getting to be at our grandson's seventh birthday party at a beautiful state park

-a few quiet moments on a bench swing under a canopy of leafy green trees

5-11-2021-

-And today he's seven! Thank you, God, for him!

-a fun day celebrating him-(he even went on a zip line over water all by himself!)

-the cousins all FaceTiming him for his birthday

5-12-2021-

-Our oldest grandson is seventeen today! So thankful for him!

-our oldest granddaughter's love for her three brothers

-encouraging messages from our growth groups at home

5-13-2021-

-finding a gas station with gas!

 (We had a scare with the pipeline shutdown that we might not have enough gas to get to the airport!)

-a walk on the beach with my little buddy

-God taking care of a scheduling conflict back home

5-14-2021-

-getting to see the 36 acres our kids bought to build on in S.C.

-a safe flight 

-our home

5-15-2021-

-a day of studying and worship to get ready for tomorrow

-the beauty of the Pacific Northwest

-the difference just a few minutes of pulling weeds makes in the flowerbed 

(and the spiritual lesson that that holds as well, God, keep my heart weed free!)

5-16-2021-

-Your continued good work in us and in our church

-our son-in-law coming to church when he's in town for work

-a wonderful gathering of the women of our church

still following,