Five things to be thankful for.

March 31, 2020
Day 1,280

Thankful for:

a good day.

the end of March.

a fresh new month starting tomorrow.

my family.

my home.

Here are all the good things about today.

March 30, 2020
Day 1,279

Here are all the good things about today:

It was lovely out.

The sky was very blue.

The sun was warm, and the wind was cool.

We spent time outside.

We spent time inside.

I got all my schoolwork done.

I took a nap on the couch.

Odette cuddled with me.

I got to spend time petting Greenie and walking him.

I got to spend time laughing with my sister.

My husband held my hand and checked on me throughout the day.

I got text messages from friends.

There is such a thing as lavender oil.

We got carryout Sweet Water.

Armando fixed our car for us.

Sophia, Casey, and Odette are the sweetest and I love it when they're happy to see us.

Tea.

Coffee.

Warm blankets.

Cheese, bacon, and croutons on salads.

Walking Higbee at night, searching for big spiders, and finding them.

Found my, "King of the Hill Spider." He's very elusive.

Sharing my midnight snack with Higbee; an apple. Higbee loves apples. I do too.

Feeling Tobin reach for my hand while we were driving home.

The knowledge that I am safe at home. And all of my family is safe at home.

Time for reading, and tea drinking, and apple eating, and book reading, and show watching.

Things to be thankful for.

Family Sunday.

March 29, 2020
Day 1,278

Thankful for:

a simple and lovely Sunday.

the joy and comfort of laying in bed with my husband; his cuddles say he loves me and thinks I'm beautiful.

a birthday dinner for Matt's mom.

spending time talking and having fun with family.

pick-up soccer and football games in the cul-de-sac.

mix-match crochet blankets.

lemon cream pie.

Where's Waldo books.

puzzles.

talks on the deck with Steph.

a robin's nest under the deck.

talking with Mario by the grill; talking food.

Adelyn fell and skinned her knee, but she got up and kept going.

Tobin's pink cheeks and his enthusiasm for sports.

Maggie sleeping with Steph.

the love that Matt's mom shows her family; she's a beautiful person.

dinner at Patty's with my parents.

sitting at the table and enjoying a meal together.

cake and ice cream.

looking at Patty's paint projects.

hugs from Ryker and Odette.

seeing Odette recover from falling and hurting her knee.

my mom made our Sunday meal; I miss her cooking.

watching Tobin and Casey play baseball together.

the blackness of Greenie's fur.

spending the day with people I love is the absolute best way to spend my time.

way more things to be thankful for than to be afriad of.

Days spent entirely at home.

March 28, 2020
Day 1,277

Thankful for:

days spent entirely at home.

days spent on cleaning and organizing.

being able to make delicious food for my children.

walks with Higbee.

being able to watch Tobin play outside; he's so imaginative.

hugging my babies every morning and night.

phone calls with my husband, sister, and mom.

beauty and joy in the midst of the unreal.

Music that makes the words flow freely.

March 27, 2020
Day 1,276

Thankful for:

Friday nights.

our home.

Cheyenne, my brother's wife; it's her birthday today.

hearing about my mom making a beautiful birthday party for Cheyenne; my parents do birthdays right.

our families; we won the family lottery.

yoga pants and sweaters and socks.

glasses.

huge mugs of tea.

way more things to be thankful for than there are to be afraid of.

music that makes the words flow freely.

Beautiful, magical, quiet, peaceful, everywhere.

March 26, 2020
Day 1,275

     Thankful for beautiful foggy mornings. Thankful for the forest. Thankful for birds. Thankful for gravel driveways. For the laughter of my children. For the warm redish brown color of Higbee sprawled out on our sofa, sleeping in a sun ray. For the the way our home lights up when the sun hits it just right. For my husband. For my family. For the cozy, comfy feeling of socks and sweaters. For the privledge of working from home for a while. For time to stay home. To stay in. To stay quiet and keep to ourselves. For time to crochet. To write. To listen to music. To read books. To watch movies. Thankful for God's covering over us like the foggy covering over the woods this morning. It's beautiful and magical and quiet and peaceful and everywhere. Thankful for this day; it was good. 

Ziti, new yarn, rainy day.

March 25, 2020
Day 1,274

Thankful for:

baked ziti from Matt's mom for dinner tonight. It was delicious!

jelly beans.

lavender.

rainy, cold days.

our warm, cozy home.

walks down the driveway with my husband Higbee.

kisses from my babies.

being

 able to comfort Adelyn when she was having a hard morning.

salty tears.

the knowledge that I will be home with my loves until August. I know that the reason is not a good reason. I would much rather there not be a virus spreading around. But there's a silver lining. And I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for time at home with my loves.

new yarn to make a baby blanket for Oliver.

funny shows.

ice cream.

driving with Matt to pick up the trash cans at the end of our driveway.

all of us laying in bed together reading books before bedtime.

Bearenstain Bears. I always do all the voices.

phone calls with my mom and my sister.

a fine day.

God's gifts to me; I don't deserve them.

Helper, home, together.

March 24, 2020
Day 1,273

Thankful:

that Higbee was found. He ran away chasing after some deer in the yard today. It was a horrible feeling thinking he was lost.

good neighbors.

a bow tie the vet gave me for Higbee. I love our vet office.

phone calls with my mom, my sister, and Matt's mom.

prayer.

faith.

the hope that things will get better.

my husband; he's a helper. He's a firefighter and he's out there helping people. I'm so proud of him. I don't deserve such an amazing man.

my children; they make every day worth living and lovely and good and an adventure.

Higbee. He cuddled with me a lot last night after his adventure in lostness.

this space to write.

the hope that one day I might write for a living and people would want to read my words.

family.

Matt's mom made us a whole tray of ziti for dinner tomorrow night. She is always taking care of the people she loves.

I've become a YouTuber. :) I've figured out how to record videos and post them on my Google classroom for my students to watch me teach a lesson.

the feeling of missing my students.

the knowledge that we will be home and/or together until the month of August.

Higbee is so happy with all of the time we are spending at home.

for the good things.

God's blessings.

Cold weather.

March 23, 2020
Day 1,272

Thankful:

for another Monday morning working at home.

chats with my cousins.

chats with a friend.

Matt being home to help Tobin with his work.

Adelyn being able to do her work all on her own.

time to relax on the couch with Matt.

the way Matt loves me and our family.

hugs from my babies.

good days spent at home.

cold weather; I LOVE it!

walks with Higbee.

our gravel driveway.

Texts from my mom.

March 22, 2020
Day 1,271

Thankful:

for a great time at Patty's house.

junk food like pizza and chicken nuggets.

pie.

Jenga.

laughter.

naps on the couch.

movies.

time for the kids to play.

a great Sunday.

texts from my mom telling us how much she misses us.

phone calls with my dad.

Fire pit night.

March 21, 2020
Day 1,270

Thankful for:

time to paint the ceiling in our bathroom.

time to clean our home.

the feeling of relaxing in a clean home.

Matt's mom and sister and Mario came over for a fire pit night.

they came with loads of grocery bags; they always do.

Matt's mom and sister are the Leslie Knopes of gift giving.

a great time around the fire pit.

roasted hot dogs.

roasted marshmellows.

smores.

laughter.

sangria.

family.

My home workspace.

March 20, 2020
Day 1,269

Thankful:

that today is Friday.

I have guided my children through one week of online learning and they rocked it!

I get two whole days to relax with my family.

our backyard.

our driveway.

cool air in the morning.

my home workspace.

windows to look out at the world.

These words.

March 19, 2020
Day 1,268

Thankful for:

these words by C.S. Lewis:

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

Just the good things.

March 18, 2020
Day 1,267

Thankful for:

another day of working from home.

figuring out things I had no idea how to do before.

helping my students when they're afraid and unsure of things.

being able to post videos of worship songs to help calm them.

being able to pray for them.

my children.

my husband.

our home.

our backyard.

Working from home.

March 17, 2020
Day 1,266

Thankful for:

a good first day of online class with my students.

how soft and comfy the couch felt after a long day of sitting in a hard chair.

being able to connect with my students.

being able to help them through this hard time.

learning how to do things I didn't know how to do before.

working from home.

The feeling of hope on a hard day.

March 16, 2020
Day 1,265

Thankful for:

my sister helping me sort curriculum to send home with my students.

being able to watch The Office while we worked.

laughter. So much laughter.

inside jokes only she and I would understand.

the feeling of hope on a hard day.

Sunday family dinners.

March 15, 2020
Day 1,264

Thankful for:

the grace my family shows me even when I don't deserve it.

Sunday family dinners.

kabobs, rice, chickpeas and potatoes, parsley, onion, naan, and feta.

strawberry ice cream.

time to play outside.

a clean home.

Peace and quiet of the woods.

March 14, 2020
Day 1,263

Thankful for:

Saturday nights spent at home.

the peace and quiet of the woods at night.

another whole day of being home with my loves ahead.

time to clean.

time to enjoy what we cleaned.

He's good to me.

March 13, 2020
Day 1,262

     So this was a weird day. It was announced today that we will not return to school until April 14th. I will be teaching my students via the internet for the next month. I'm excited to be at home for a while. I'm going to work out in the mornings, have a nice breakfast and coffee, work from 9 to 1, then help my kids with their work, and then the rest of the day is mine. No commute. No getting dressed up. I think I'm going to enjoy this short season of my life. I'm looking forward to being home with my babies for a while. It's going to be good. I will miss my sweet students, though.

     Thankful for my online classroom. Thankful for the extra time I will get to spend at home. Thankful for a month off from our regular scheduled activities. It's going to be lovely. Thankful that it's Friday. I don't have to wash the dishes. I don't have to make lunches. And I get two days off to be at home with my loves. Thankful for time to talk with my cousins. Thankful for a fully stocked fridge. Thankful for good things in my life. Thankful for all of God's gifts. He's good to me.

Extremely good people.

March 12, 2020
Day 1,261

     I've been writing and erasing for a while. I can't think straight to write what it is I want to say. So when that happens, I write true sentences. And it always helps me gather my thoughts enough to put pen to paper, so to speak.

1. The weather was lovely today.

2. I love my job; my students are extremely good people.

3. I talked with Jeff today. It made me happy to hear his voice.

4. I've been talking with my cousins on the Marco Polo app. I love keeping up with the people I love.

5. My kids hugged me a lot today.

6. I love reading books to them before bed.

7. I made a delicious salad for myself for lunch tomorrow.

8. My home is the best.

9. Tomorrow is Friday.

10. I'm ready for this weekend. I can't wait to sleep in and not leave my house for two days.

Short list.

March 11, 2020
Day 1,260

Thankful for:

my husband.

our love.

our home.

our children.

our bed.

time to sleep.

time to write about the good things.

Peace in the storm.

March 10, 2020
Day 1,259

Thankful:

for friends who pray for me.

for peace in the storm.

for my home.

for showers.

for Higbee.

for an overcast and blustery day.

for tea.

for popcorn.

for soup for dinner.

for phonecalls with my husband.

for time to lay in bed and sleep.

for a new days tomorrow.

Fresh Mondays.

March 9, 2020
Day 1,258

Thankful:

fresh Mondays.

productive days.

my husband.

his hugs and love for me and our family.

our home.

easy dinners.

The sound of silence.

March 8, 2020
Day 1,257

Thankful:

afternoons spent outside listening to the sounds of children playing.

Higbee running around wild and free in our backyard.

a birthday party for my mom.

freshly picked daffodils.

a delicious meal.

a delicious cake.

Tillamook ice cream.

parsley, onion, and feta on naan.

a long walk with my dad.

listening to the sound of silence.

Pizza and root beer.

March 7, 2020
Day 1,256

Thankful:

a great Bingo event for school.

that we got to go out to eat for dinner with my family.

for delicious pizza.

for root beer.

for Saturday nights spent at home.

for a beautiful life.

Friday night.

March 6, 2020
Day 1,255

Thankful:

that tonight is Friday night.

that tomorrow will be a fun day.

that after tomorrow afternoon, I can relax for a bit before the next big event.

for time to sleep in bed.

for time to watch a show.

for things to be thankful for.

The things that matter most.

March 5, 2020
Day 1,254

Thankful:

that today was Thursday.

for things to be thankful for.

for sweet students.

for my job.

for my husband.

for my family.

for our home.

for good things in our lives.

for music.

for this space on which to write the things that matter most.

My mom's birthday.

March 4, 2020
Day 1,253

Thankful for:

my mom.

her birthday.

being able to go out to dinner with my mom and my sister.

Sweetwater.

going out to the movies with my mom and my sister.

laughing.

time spent with people I love.

The feeling of coming home.

March 3, 2020
Day 1,252

Thankful for:

Tuesdays.

time to write.

the feeling of coming home after a long day of work.

Cumin, tumeric, and curry.

March 2, 2020
Day 1,251

Thankful for:

a good day at school.

the fact that Addy and Tobin forgive me when I make a mistake and yell.

time to listen to music on the way to school.

time to write.

a delicious dinner of chicken with lots of cumin, tumeric, and curry.

rice; steamed carrots and tomotoes.

black olives.

pickles.

coffee.

hot tea.

The Office. 

no school for the kids tomorrow.

my husband.

time to sleep.

time to relax and watch TV with a mug of tea.

feeling very tired.

Cold breeze and warm sun.

March 1, 2020
Day 1,250

Thankful for:

Sundays.

our house in the woods.

time to clean.

time to crochet.

time to relax.

time to hang out with my babies.

texts with my husband.

time to hang out with family.

time to celebrate Casey and Shane.

Sunday family dinners.

pizza.

cake and ice cream.

time to sit outside.

cold breeze and warm sun.