Friday, November 11, 2011

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 11 {Thankful for delightful snow flakes, and pausing to let gratefulness sink in}



The first snow of the year came yesterday.

Oh their faces... the joy and awe. I don't think Kai remembered the fluffy little flakes from a year ago. He was no less than thoroughly delighted.

And I am thankful.

Today: my heart feels extra full. I am grateful for an evening carved out for my man and going out with friends to a JJ Heller concert.

I am thankful for our warm home, and the way it almost seems to smile a welcome when I return to it.

I am thankful for the joy and delight that I live as I watch my boys experience it.

I am grateful for that moment last night when we slowed the scurrying around. It's like a dance that is complicated and too high tempo for me to keep up with; the after dinner clean up. So, we paused. Dave just held me for a moment. I think he knows that some times to get me to slow down, he has to physically stop me...

I told him that I was so happy, and it was truth.

He's is in a class that is stressing him out.
I am working hard to complete photos in a timely manner.
We are preparing for winter, and there is much wood cutting/loading/stacking to be done.
The windows of time that we have to see eachother have only narrowed of late.

BUT - I am thankful. I say that in complete authenticity.

If I were to wait until things settled down... well, that's not happening is it?

The key to true contentment is finding it *here*. Right now, right in the yuck, and the tough, and the fast paced.

Pause.

And be thankful.

It's working.

5 comments:

Kimberly (Anthony's Mom) said...

I don't know how you do it with the 4 boys, and working, and doing your groups. Some days I feel like I am barely getting by. Maybe it will get easier when Anthony starts kindergarten. I hope!!

The Sneaky Mommy said...

Contentment is something that God has been hammering away at my heart with for the last four months. It seems so hard when life is busy, tough, and not exactly what our dreams included! It's so freeing when we can come to that place where we say "thank you" for what God is doing. Thankful for peace in the midst of the storm (sometimes it's a hurricane and other times it's a nice spring shower!)! :)

Melody said...

Good, good words.

And I am oh so jealous, but oh so happy for you, that you're going to a J J Heller concert! She's my favorite!

Thanks for all of these great reminders to be thankful!

Kristen said...

Ah Wendi, can I take your words as my own? Perfect, they are perfect! My heart is full of so much happiness and contentment which is quite phenomenal because the pace is so fast and the window of time with my own husband is so small. Yet I am surviving with such peace and I know, I see it's because I stop just enough in the day to slow down to live in the here, the now. When I read your post tonight it strung a tune in my heart that it plays of its own. I get so much joy when my heart finds the connection, the passage of understanding that words can pave. Thanks, always for sharing your heart. I enjoy knowing you through your writing. I can only imaging you must be amazing person to know in the real life.

Nikki said...

So beautiful, Wendi. I especially love what you said about the windows of time you and Dave have for each other "narrowing" and how you're choosing to be thankful for the time you DO have together....that's really convicting. It's not the way I naturally respond to busy seasons that reduce the amount of time Mike and I have for each other. Thanks for sharing!