One Thousand Gifts (the first 100)

[More coming in future entries]


#100: Our beautiful, comfortable canopy bed and soft cotton sheets

#99: Potatoes

#98: Deliverance

#97: Fierce family loyalty


#96: Despite Distance

#95: Books to read

#94: Matt's funny impressions

#93: Laughter at the dinner table

#92: Steve's touch

#91: Katelynne Hayman is feeling better

#90: My new black canvas bag from Steve

#89: Eucharisteo

#88: Snuggle fabric softener

#87: Random Mattie back-rubs

#86: Life lived slowly, savored

#85: Hope that springs eternal

#84: Candles in homey scents

#83: My wedding rings

#82: Photography

#81: Mid-70's in winter

#80: A low electric bill in February

#79: Cold Pepsi

#78: Safety

#77: Second chances

#76: Bev Brandon @ The Fray

#75: Giving thanks gives me time.

#74: Calls from my love

#73: Matt's home tonight.

#72: Time spent talking with Rosie

#71: Fuzzy jammy pants

#70: Spiral honey ham in the crock pot

#69: Coffee

#68: I found our Easterling Family Journal

#67: Rosie playing with my hair

#66: Cookie dough

#65: Jeff's 30th birthday party was epic.

#64: My Suburban running well

#63: My cell phone

#62: My computers

#61: My cameras

#60: Good health

#59: Prayer

#58: People who read my blogs

#57: Steve's goodnight kiss

#56: Christo's Restaurant (and staff)

#55: Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts

#54: Steve's help with the pots and pans

#53: Rosie's help with cleaning this morning

#52: Remembering things the kids said when they were little

#51: Family dinners

#50: Broken places mended.

#49: Warm bodies snuggled in a giant canopy bed, its pillowy softness cradling, soothing, surrounded by soft brown mosquito netting like in a movie.

#48: Chocolate pudding, smooth and creamy, in big spoonfuls with silly faces from internal kid.

#47:Phone calls from long lost friends who still love us.

#46: Two beautiful people we don't know yet, a girl for our boy, and a boy for our girl. He already knows who to bless.

#45: Beautiful "daughters" being added to our family one by one, woven into the family and sewn into the lives of our beloved sons.

#44: Big bags of chips, my favorite kind, dipped in queso and fresh salsa.

#43: Teens still innocent blushing crimson at mentions.

#42: This book. Oh, this book.

#41: Music loud rehearsed with stops and fixes and tries and laughter and retries and high-fives and up-late family time together.

#40: Third son, middle son, fulcrum son here for the night.

#39: Sweet little pale baby bellies with outie belly-buttons.

#38: Chipped beef with brown gravy over toasted Ciabatta.

#37: Bagfuls of red, green, and white party supplies to celebrate the 30th birthday of the child of my childhood.

#36: Warm coffee mugs in cold hands.

#35: Our Suburban responded quickly to my stomping on the accelerator pedal today, and we missed being broad-sided by the semi-truck that couldn't stop for the light.

#34: Our firstborn son turned 30 today. God, you saw him, didn't you, that day I stood shivering by the car, 16 and pregnant, clinging to Steve so I didn't slip from consciousness? You saw him ten years later and twenty and now thirty, strong and brave and faithful. You saw him reaching millions of people through education, and saving the lives of two toddlers, and bringing light to more lives than we can count (but you have numbered). You knew it would all be okay, even as we stood there unsure of how it would all come together. It did, and I am grateful. Eucharisteo.

#33: Dark chocolate sensation hot cocoa mix with dark chocolate cream coffee creamer added for the perfect touch. This is good stuff.

#32: I am so grateful to have discovered Ann Voskamp. I don't think I could ever get tired of reading what she writes. I found out today my book has been delayed, but I'm praying it won't be for long.

#31: Having a dishwasher is something I did without until about until about 3 years ago. Now I can't imagine life without it. I'd be okay without one, of course, but I really love having it. It does save a lot of time and energy, and the dishes (usually) get really clean and sanitized.

#30: My mother's bird clock chirps away marking the hour, hanging on the wall just above and to the right of my desk. It needs to be reset, though, because it's two hours off what it's supposed to be, and my internal bird recognition goes haywire with the wrong bird chirping the specific hour. A small thing, but it needs adjusting. I've grown accustomed to the chirps every hour, but I always, always think of my mother.

#29: I love Papermate stick pens. The plain ones that you can buy for 10/$1. They are the smoothest-writing pens available, I think. Why do I even bother with more expensive pens?

#28: We've only had to turn the heater on once in the past week, for about 20 minutes just to get the chill out of the house. That saves so much money on our power bill, and I am loving the warmth of FL winter. The truly cold (what most people would consider cold, since anything below 60 is cold to me) days have been very few in number thus far, and I am truly grateful.

Note: I ordered my copy of One Thousand Gifts today (Jan. 26). I can't wait for it to arrive. I also joined the Bloom community so I can do the book study with women from all over. Several of us at the Haus are participating, so we'll be able to talk about it in the group. It starts Feb. 6.

27: Wal-Mart is close to our house. As in just over a mile away. It's a small thing, but having it so close is really convenient.

26: I could listen to my kids make music for hours on end, day after day. I love that they are all musicians and that music is woven into their fabric. Steve says he is the only "hack" in the family, but I scowl at him when he says that. He is not just the roadie. He is their daddy, and I refuse the idea that they got all of their musical talent from me.

25: Watching my daughter dance is one of the delights of my life. For the first 12 or so years of her dancing, I watched nearly every class. I would be standing at the viewing window for three or four hours at a time, taking in everything she did, every correction, every smile, and sadly every time she was overlooked. I wouldn't trade those hours watching her dance for anything. 

24: My Suburban, Jack. How I love that car! He saves us so often, and he's such a workhorse I don't mind that he needs so much fuel.

23: Pens. I love them, and I collect them. Fortunately my husband doesn't mind, although he does tease me quite often about it. I may have actually already mentioned pens, but I'm thinking with listing 1,000 gifts there are bound to be repetitions.

22: Kitchen gadgets of nearly every description. See #21 about me inheriting my mother's "thing" and her supply.

21: I am blessed with a variety of staplers, hole punches, and tape dispensers. I'm pretty sure I got my thing for office supplies from my mother, and now I have hers as well as mine.

20: I love photographs so much, and I am surrounded by them. On my computer, in little stacks and in bins around the office, and a few even in frames around the house. I'm really bad about framing, and I don't think we've hung a picture in the last three houses we've lived in.

19: Hershey Kisses are one of my favorite comfort candies, and Mattie and Steve usually keep me supplied. Mattie even helps me eat them.

#18: He delivers us from evil in many ways that may not at first seem so obvious.

#17: There are few people I trust with my whole heart. Valerie is one of them.

#16: Clarity can be danged painful to acquire, but Truth is always preferable to lies.

#15: My Kells makes my heart sing, and it sounds kind of husky and low with a slight accent.

#14: Photographs are beautiful reminders of cherished moments in this life.

#13: Bagels.

#12: Ciabatta is lovely daily bread.

#11: I have all the ingredients to make Teriyaki chicken.

#10: I'm pretty sure my sweet little granddarling, Belle is the most beautiful baby on the planet.

#9: The time I get to spend with my beautiful granddaughter, Morgan blesses and enriches my life and reminds me what a treasure it is to be a grandmother.

#8: I so love chocolate.

#7: God's patience with me as I grow and learn (I think He mostly uses my kids to teach me) humbles me.

#6: My precious baby girl, my Rose who turned my world pink and my sky completely, beautifully blue, stunning and brave and wise and witty. You hold us up.

#5: My baby boy, Mattie, superhero, knight of the great kingdom, mama's boy and proud of the title. Man of honor in every word and deed, a sage old soul in the body of a teen with a Zippo and a pocket watch, ready to help, ready to forgive, ready to rescue, ready for anything.

#4: My middle child, the fulcrum of our family, Trevor. My Sam, my counselor, my friend.

#3: My sweet, gentle boy, Luke Steven. His compassion and wisdom warm me to the depths.

#2: My lovely firstborn son, Jeffery Morgan. How I love him and totally dig him and the way he lives out loud.

#1: I have the most beautiful man imaginable by my side for life. Thank you, God, for the treasure of my heart.

One Thousand Gifts

This week I came across the book One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. It took me a little while, after reading the first chapter of the book online, to even begin to try to word my response. I'd like to try to utter it, though, somehow.

I will say more about that later, but for now I just want to say I want to start regularly listing gifts of my sweet Abba. Call it part of my "Simplify", my "coming home", or something like that.

I have a gift card to Barnes & Noble that Trevor and Amanda gave me for Christmas. I was saving it until something really special came, feeling I would know it when it came. This is it. I wish the book was in the store now, but I can wait another week.