So much for which to be thankful!

Not in any particular order...

1. Walla Walla Sweet onion rings at Burgerville. They only appear once a year, and boy are they YUMMY!

2. Cool mornings and sunny afternoons.

3. Our Life Group from church- they are an awesome bunch!

4. Friday (both the dog, and the day!)

5. My job.

6. The breeze in our backyard that takes away the mosquitos.

7. Verses like 1 Thessalonians 4:11 "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,"

(emphasis mine) I like the bit about working with your hands because I feel that it gives me a mandate to quilt, scrapbook, make cards and just be crafty! (Of course, it's completely out of context...)

8. HGTV (Again with the crafty stuff...)

9. Our neighbors. Even the loud ones.

10. The late Charles Schultz and the whole Peanuts gang.

3 Cheers For Summer!

I am a teacher, Abby is a student. How could we not love the 8 weeks we get off between school years? So in the spirit of counting our blessings, here is our list of reasons to be thankful for this summer- not in any particular order:

1. Camp. Horse camp, dance camp, sports camp. (Not for me, for Ab. Well, maybe horse camp for me, but can you see me at dance camp? Please.)

2. Sun tea. Of course I could try to make sun tea all year, but in the Pacific Northwest it would be called cloud tea and probably wouldn't taste as good.

3. The ceremonial Turning Off Of The Alarm Clock in late June.

4. Watermelon.

5. Running through the sprinkler.

6. Our hammock. Yesterday, I actually had time to take a book to the hammock and read undisturbed for over an hour. Glorious. And later in the evening, Abby and I took blankets and snuggled on the hammock and watched the birds swoop through the yard eating all the flying bugs while the sun set. Had I known a hammock was this much fun, I would have splurged years ago! (Of course, there is a trick to getting in and out of it- much like there is a trick to getting in and out of a canoe. Thankfully, you don't get wet while practicing the hammock entry/exit strategies...)

7. Flip flops.

8. Staying in our pajamas for an entire day (that's Abby's thing, but I willingly agreed to it.)

9. Bike riding.

10. Time. Time to make dentist and doctor appointments, time to hang out at the park, time to visit with friends, time to do all those little things around the house that just stare at you during the school year and defy you to take action. Time to sit on the front porch with Ab and watch the birds take baths in the fountain. Time to read a whole book that isn't about teaching. Time to read a couple of books that are about teaching! Time to dream and plan for next school year in a different building with new kids and new curricula. Time for Abby to practice piano just for fun. Time to scrapbook and write letters (Ab loves snail mail pen pals, I prefer the electronic kind.). Time to learn new stuff on the computer. Time to drag out that box of slides from 20 years ago and figure out how and when to get them scanned to digital files. Time to shop for shirts for kids in Haiti. Time to pray. Time to nap. Time to veg out. Time to just simply be.

Happy sigh.

Be sure to count your blessings- even if you don't own a hammock.