30 Days of Thanks #26

I'm thankful for the sunlight that spills itself across my bed on sunny days. I might not be able to nap in it, but I try to let go of the thoughts that haunt me and allow it to warm my soul.

30 Days of Thanks #25

I'm thankful to know that we all will die, eventually.

Lucy's death was not an anomaly.

The time will come for each of us.

I'd like that time to come for me much sooner than later most of the time.

I'm lucky to have her waiting for me.

How much longer to do I have to wait?

30 Days of Thanks #24

I'm grateful for delicious food.

30 Days of Thanks #23

My Family.

I miss today.

30 Days of Thanks #22

I'm thankful that today is over.

I'm thankful for new beginnings.

30 Days of Thanks #21

LAUGHTER

Sometimes I laugh so hard ("laugh attack") that I start to cry. Or pee my pants. Or make hideously ugly faces. My sister and I are notorious for our sudden outbursts that seem to have no end (and no reason for beginning). My friend Emily and I are also known for unending laugh fits. We once stayed up for HOURS at a host family's place (touring with Young Ambassadors) laughing in bed together. We could NOT. STOP. The best part was that the family's teenage daughter was sharing the room with us. I truly think she thought we were drunk or completely deranged.

This last weekend Vic and I experienced a laugh fest over the phone. The story goes like this: It was discovered that not only had Vic read the Twilight books, but so had his friend Brad Hale. (Now every time Doctor Hale's name gets googled people will find out he read the Twilight books :) And though Susan (Brad's wife) and I find them equally painful and cheesy as our husbands, we dragged them to the premiere of Twilight. It was pretty painful. (Sorry to any Twilight fans out there. It does have its place. I couldn't put down the first book). But by the fourth book--stick a needle in my eye.

Then Vic had a birthday. What did Brad get him? The Special Edition extended 2 disc Twilight set! Oooooohhhh. Yessssss. And then strange little Twilight paraphernalia kept showing up around our house. A magnet puzzle (The Lamb and the Lion! Edward and Bella...Forbidden Love), a poster, Brad even flashed the special New Moon People issue at us in the middle of Sacrament meeting.

A promise was then made. We were told if we dressed up as vampires, they would treat us to dinner at Ruth's Chris, Stein Erickson, or any place of our choosing. Tell me if you've ever seen me turn down free food.

It was so on.

But they didn't realize what we had up our little vampire sleeves. We took all the crap they had given us and doused their room in all things New Moon. After making it through the film (I'm sorry, but I could not stop myself from loud commentary throughout. Is this over yet? Are you kidding? Oh...stop!), they came home to this:




And when we answered our phone at 11:30 p.m. all we heard was laughter. And then we laughed at them laughing. And they laughed at us laughing at them. And we laughed some more about some of the genius phrases from the book that we hung on their wall. GLOWER. BLOODLUST. HAIRY VS. SMOOTH. EDWARD IS A GOD. BELLA IS A SWAN.

I'm so thankful for laughter. Can't get enough of it.

Can you guess who we are?

Al and Ed out on a brother/sister date.

The whole gang.

Bwahahahahaahahahaha.

ROTFL

P.S. Great new post on A Good Grief.

30 Days of Thanks #20

I'm thankful for great books:

Jane Eyre
These is My Words
Little Women
Chronicles of Narnia
Princess Academy
The Book Thief
A Thousand Splendid Suns
I Capture the Castle
The Hiding Place
Prince and the Pauper
Goose Girl
Ender's Game
Ender's Shadow
Charms for the Easy Life
Everything is Fine
The Last Lecture
Man's Search for Meaning
A Little Princess
The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency

"There's more to life than books, you know. But not much more."

There is NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING, like losing yourself in a good book.
Tell me your favorite book.

30 Days of Thanks #19

Ah, sweet liberty of life at last I've found thee!

We closed on our condo today!


Yesssssssssssssssssssssss.

I.am.so.thankful.

The stars aligned for us when we bought our condo at a fantastic price. Now, 5 years later, the heavens smiled upon us again as we found a great buyer, got a good price, and did away with the middle man. (The perks of being married to an attorney). I won't go into much detail here of the incredible burden this will be lifting from us. But let me give you a few words--
Pepperdine.
Law School.
Loans.

Be gone from my life forever!

Sure, Vic deciding to go to Pepperdine and live in Malibu--surf, spend a semester of law school in London, and drive around his cute little C-J 5 that he wooed me in, was a grand idea. And we had loads of fun. (I met him AFTER he finished law school so I missed out on a lot). But if I would have had my wedded clutches on him back then...we may have done thing$ differently. But as it is (and it is what it is), we GRATEFULLY and humbly thank the heavens above for this recent and most wonderful blessing.

Amen!

30 Days of Thanks #18

I'm thankful for the internet. At my former job, as Director of the Boys and Girls Club in Park City, we had an internet safety program. One of the cute characters who taught the kids to avoid spam, pornography, identity theft and so forth, was a little gal named Nettie. I loved that program and felt it taught the kids extremely valuable tools to save them from horrific addictions and other very real dangers. I now always think of the internet as Nettie. I'm so thankful for her. Through Nettie, and her incredible gift of NETworking, I have met all of you. Through Nettie I have been strengthened, entertained, blessed, connected, inspired, touched, informed, and reminded. I hope you enjoy what Nettie shared with me this morning:

Sooo....you heard it. What are you thankful for?

30 Days of Thanks #17

I see here that I'm two days behind.

I'm also two behinds a day. (Peter and I)

That was pretty dumb.

Speaking of behinds,

I'm thankful for my body.

Not because I have a great behind. Oh, contraire!

And hating my booty is what led me to realize that I'm actually thankful for my somewhat flat/white/mommy behind.

See, I complained all day yesterday about how crappy I feel. How crappy I look. How can I suddenly look 5 months pregnant when I'm not? How did my butt and thighs grow overnight like that?? Augh!

As I waited in the parking lot of Willow Creek Park for my fabulous friend and running partner, Becca Janzen, I started thinking...

Ok, so I have problems sleeping. I feel like rubbish. Today is a fat and ugly day. I'm sluggish and weak and cloudy in the head. I feel out of shape and unattractive.

BUT MY BODY WORKS. I can hold my baby. I'm relatively healthy. (I would say QUITE healthy, except for my sleep issues.) I can still do the splits, back walkovers, cartwheels, back flips, pull-ups, and if I HAD to run 9 or 10 miles tomorrow--I could. I'm not sure how useful any of these skills are (they do come in handy when entertaining a child) but they are there in my back pocket if I ever need to pull them out.

And I remembered NieNie. And I remembered her saying to not take your health for granted. And I thought of so many others who struggle with health problems and aging. Even some of my readers.

And I thought, "I may be a zombie, but I'm a zombie with skills."

I'm thankful for my zombie-like health.

Now those were the days of health. Check out my glasses. I guess you can't have it all. The ability to sleep like a baby back then but lacking in the fashion department. You win some, you lose some.