Continuing on with my 1000 gifts from above ...

~ This morning I woke up to singing. Not like when I was younger and I woke up to my mom singing to the AM radio station. No, this was not really in tune. Not really quiet either. But Nathan was belting out roasting chestnuts on an open fire and then added some drumming and a cymbal noise (with his voice, not actual drums or cymbals). He is really talented in his own way. He makes up his own music and then adds words that someone else has already wrote. He later told me that it was hard to make up your own songs, you just gotta listen to the music and let it get inside your head and then you make up the words, they just kinda come to you. That's pretty genius if you ask me for a 2nd grader wouldn't you say? So, even though the music wasn't what I was used to I'm sure it was glorious music to Jesus' ears and it was a gift to wake up to early in the morning.

~ Sunday night, Nathan and Jenna spent the night at their grandparents house (Jason's family). Nathan took his phone with him. At 11:00 PM our phone rings. Jason flies out of bed because we are sure that it is an emergency (isn't it always when it is at that time of night?). It's Nathan making sure that he told us goodnight. He remembered us, even though it was probably pretty chaotic there with 9 people staying the night in that house. Yes, it was an emergency, but it was a different kind of emergency, one that was a total gift of love.

~ Cats. Have I ever said how much our cats make us laugh? We have a HUGE cat and a normal sized cat and then a kitten (6 months old). Hercules chases our middle sized cat (Pumpkin) around the house because he likes to torment her. When he gets done tormenting her our kitten (Si) will crouch real low to the ground and then sneak up on him and pounce on him and grab him by the neck and try to wrestle him to the ground. A lot of the times, Hercules will just get up and start walking off, and Si will just be hanging on and biting at his neck and eventually fall off. Imagine a 2nd grader attacking a professional football player and the football player could just walk off with the 2nd grader hanging on for dear life continuing the fight. That's kind of how this scene is played out and it happens often. This is something that can make even the saddest person crack up. We find laughter in our house a huge gift from God.

~ This year Jenna made a gift at school. We always get the gifts of pottery or whatever else and this year (on her own doing) she has decided to give it to someone else who is more deserving of it apparently. It is a gift of God that she has continued to have a heart of giving.

I have many more and I really should write them down as the day goes on but I always forget. Old age ... is that a gift? I can't remember.

* Amazing moments. I had an awesome amazing moment tonight. My son, whom the school psychologist is trying to get me to medicate, just proved her wrong once again. He has proved her wrong time and time again but today, it was so bittersweet. She said that he can't focus on anything long enough to read a book ... baloney. He read a book, knew the words and all, of a 65 page book ... I'm not talking one of those books with 5 words on each page. It had probably 15-25 words on each page and he read every single page without hardly any mistakes. He wouldn't stop until he read it. He was so proud of himself. I'm so proud of him. So that was an awesome gift ...

Here's a picture of Jenna too ...

* Science fairs. Even though it is a royal pain in the backside ... the girl is learning a lot. The beans are under their lights and kind of growing. Funny thing though, Nathan gets up early this morning and you hear him trying to wake Jenna up. Finally he and Jenna come in and here is this bean sprout (it once was quite tall) bent and half of it gone. Nathan said that he came out and stood by the fire place and the cat had a piece of bean sprout in her mouth. Jenna was about ready to cry. Luckily we did 6 plants instead of just 5 and we need 5 so it worked out okay. Note to anyone out there doing science fair projects ... don't do plants. They are a pain and especially if you have secondary things that disrupt their progress. There is no way to make sure that they all have equal growth opportunities before they are actually to be started in the science fair project. (It'll be a gift when this will be over.)

S*W*I*M*

Another swim meet today. The kids did great. They each swam 5 events plus a relay and they had qualifying times in the majority of their swims meaning that come spring time we will be headed to state!

Jason has 2 more meets to go to before he officially is an official and then he can work on his ref position. He said he liked it and it was pretty easy but we have timed the meets so much that it's pretty easy to spot something "illegal".

Time for more noticeable gifts from God ...

* Quiet. The quiet after a meet in the car is such a blessing. It's that time when everyone is settled into their spot and are relaxing and it's great to have some time to reflect on the day.

* Friends. Every year Nathan has this one friend who is a girl he sees every single time and they haven't seen each other in a long time but they sure do remember each other. They don't know each others names but it's kind of cool how they remember each other. He also has another friend that is the same age as he is but he towers over Jenna and is a bit rounder and then Nathan is short and thin. It's like a giant and a mouse but they are the best of friends when it comes to the meets. I believe his name is Zack. It is a gift for Nathan and in return a gift for me for these friends to know him and be good friends to him.

* Friends. I better put Jenna's friends in here too because she has friends from all over the state too and it is a true gift to have them in Jenna's life.

* About half way home we turned on the radio. Of course Jenna is still awake, Nathan is out like a light. We have Serius radio and we had fun listening to the different channels. I just don't like it when the radio says "Classic Vinyl" and it is something that I really like and know all the words to ... however it is a gift from God these moments we get to spend with each other making each other laugh and sing and bop around (yes Jason bops around).

Well, that's my day. I don't think I took any pictures. I had my camera but I was busy with timing and looking for everyone else's kids to get them where they had to be. I didn't really have time for pictures. We have more meets coming up so I'm sure more pictures will be coming! :)

1000 Gifts ...

I started a list of 1000 gifts on my previous blog and never finished it. I also didn't save it so now I have to start a new one. The idea of this is to make one stop and really be thankful and content and think about the many many gifts we are given daily by God. We often don't stop and think about it enough and it's time I start especially during this time in my life. So here we go ...

* Yesterday, when not feeling so great about things, our cat (Pumpkin) decided to take it upon herself to sit right on my chest and lick my face. I let her because it felt good to have love from a cat -- sometimes you don't get much love from the cat unless it's her idea.

* Rain. The neat design the rain makes as it drizzles down the window and the sound it makes as it hits the tin roof outside. I'm not sure why but it makes me want to sit in our big reading chair and read a book with some hot tea for the rest of the day.

** The fact that I have not listed God, husband, kids, family, friends, home, etc. doesn't mean that these things I am not grateful for. I am extremely grateful for them but those are the OBVIOUS things, I'm looking for the not so obvious, it makes one stop and think through their day what they missed because they weren't looking at the more important things that happened because of what God, husband, kids, family and friends might have done, make sense?**