A Life of Gratitude

When I decided to purposefully look for the things in my life that I am blessed with, I was astonished at all of the little things that I had been overlooking; all of the small but beautiful gifts in my life that make my heart sing.  These are the gifts that make up the stories of our lives and without them, my story would be nothing that you would want to read about.  Moments in time, smiles, stolen glances at loved ones, holding hands...these are where our stories begin.

41.  The way my husband makes me laugh.  Half the time I'm laughing just because he thinks he is so funny.  He won't let me go very long with a pout on my face.  He's such a tease.

42.  My husband's kisses...that's all I need to say about this gift!

43.  Rodney's adventurous spirit has made for countless of wonderful family times and especially "Father/Son" times.  Every year, he takes a couple of our sons to the mountains for a week of fun..they like to tease and say they are in search of Big Foot.  They come back with thrilling stories of how they heard him in the woods!

44.  The way he honors, respects and helps his mom is such a gift to me and to our children.  He is tender and generous with her.  He makes sure that our son always spends time with her and helps him with her house and yard.  He is teaching an invaluable lesson to our son.

45.  He knows that I love to be close to the land, so almost every Saturday morning, he gets up and says, "Where do you want to go today?".  He takes his whole Saturday to drive with me taking pictures, just letting me feel close to God.  Precious time spent together, talking, laughing, not saying anything.

46.  Holding hands makes me know my beloved is mine and I am his.

47.  The way he'll play along with me and get dressed up to go to a fundraiser for an organization I believe in.  My friends adore him for that.  He's always willing to "play" along with whatever theme we pick!



48.  The smell of his cigar.  When he's smoking his cigar, I know he's stealing a moment of peace, just for himself.  He will go outside and eventually, I'll catch the wonderful aroma from the cigar wafting through a window.  So I'll go outside just to sit quietly with him and enjoy the company.  Yes, the smell of his cigar tells me he's content and I love it!


What are you grateful for that tells the story of your life?  What small things can you take note of that would leave holes in your life if they weren't there?

If you'd like, you can hop on over to Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts to see what others are thankful for in their stories!