Multitude Monday

This is a great day to start this new gratitude endeavor ... because it wasn't a great day. Know what I mean? The kind of day when it takes some firmness of will to breathe out the words, "Thank You for ..."
Here goes. 
I'm thankful today for these gifts:
1. The beautiful outdoors -- the sound of the windchimes and the rustling leaves, the sunshine, the invitation to play outside and build bowers under branches. 

2. Enforced rest time this past weekend. A yellow jacket stung me during my Saturday morning run, and the pain became excruciating, lasting all day. I had to stay home from a wedding, which meant I didn't get to dress up and dance with my date (the Professor, who went alone). And I love weddings. But the kids went on their prearranged playdate, and after swallowing my disappointment, I decided to embrace the unexpected quiet time. To read, to watch a Jane Austen movie my sister brought me, to dine alone on the patio. All while icing my hand (and sending whiny texts to my brother, an anesthesiologist-in-training). Sorry, not quite at the point of  being thankful for a bee sting. 
3. A neighbor who thoughtfully dropped off a box of hand-me-down craft books for my girls. For them, this is sustenance to their souls. (Dr. Dobson, I see, has a book out now called Bringing Up Girls: Practical Advice and Encouragement for Those Shaping the Next Generation of Women. Would you like to know my practical advice for raising girls? I can sum it up in two sentences: 1. Validate their feelings. 2. Do tons of crafts. Do some together, and let them craft on their own by providing plenty of inexpensive supplies. There you go. That'll be $Free Ninety Five, please.) 
4. Pumpkin-scented candles that put the "homey" in "home."

5. Thrift-store bargains. Hello, GapKids jean skirt for $3.50! Hello, boys size 10 cargo pants in perfect condition for $4.00! So glad to have met you!
6. A God who keeps telling me, when I moan, "I'm not the right person for this," where "this" means "homeschooling and parenting a child with learning differences" ... "no, but I AM -- and I'm making you the right person for this."
7. Peanut butter chocolate-chip cookies, gluten-free and fresh out of the oven. 
8. Project Life by Becky Higgins. Yes, I'm weeks behind on my journal cards, but no matter -- I love seeing the chronicle of our ordinary life unfolding, and my kids already love reviewing it. Hooray for that.