The Journey of 1000 Gifts

I'm sitting on the grass in Coronado overlooking the city I live in. {I really need to do this more often.} 

In this moment, I choose to be thankful.

- Thankful for the two puppies happily lying on the grass in front of me.

- Thankful for the cool green blanket of grass I'm sitting on.

- Thankful for the crisp blue water, calm in front of me.

- Thankful for cultural music playing in the distance.

- Thankful for the people working hard in the buildings high in front of me.

- Thankful for a couple hours on a Thursday afternoon to sit and be.

- Thankful for black and white frappuccinos and hot dogs with pineapple relish.

- Thankful for the vastness of the ocean to remind me how small I am and how big God is.

- Thankful for what God showed Ann Voskamp and her vulnerability to share with the rest of us through her book, One Thousand Gifts.

- Thankful for the scattered clouds in the sky and the tweets of the birds soaring high through them.

- Thankful for a thankful heart.

- Thankful for the freedom to trust Jesus.

- Thankful for grace when I forget.

- Thankful God's vision is far more perfect than mine.

- Thankful my Savior is not trapped by time. And thankful He knew I needed to be.

In One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp shares about her journey to a heart of gratitude through the initial simple concept of keeping a list of 1000 gifts, great and small, good and bad. In doing this, she learns the concept of thankfulness, among other things. I highly recommend this book. I've started my own list of 1000 gifts. I'm on #70. I keep waiting for the moment my mind will change and I will suddenly be thankful for everything and trust The Lord in each moment.

Then I remember I'm human and my tendency is to doubt and to stress and to be less than thankful for circumstances. 

But moment by moment, I will choose thanks. I will choose gratitude. I will choose to remember the gift of salvation my God has given me so completely.

I don't understand why bad things happen. I make mistakes. I sin and I doubt and I am anything but perfect. And I have a less-than-thankful heart too often. 

But in this moment, I will choose gratitude. I will choose to be thankful. I will choose to trust The Lord and I will choose to remember His gift. 

{ps: I'm blogging from my phone for the first time, using an app called BlogGo, so I have no idea how this will look on a computer or how long this will take to publish!
update: It published kinda weird looking, and it published twice, and it needed wireless to publish, which I didn't have... all that to say, I'm trying to make it look a little better. I'll have to practice with the app more before giving it a good or bad review.}

Wings like eagles

"Even youths shall faint and be weary,
   and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
   they shall walk and not faint."

 [Isaiah 40:30-31]

Happy Thursday!

Glimpses of Spring

So thankful for new life.

Happy Saturday!

Capture the moment

my friend, mr. squirrel, at a recent trip to the lake

How do I love San Diego?

Let me count the ways.

1.

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

Although there are times I don't love the weather and want something new...

visiting Point Loma and the harbor, watching the seagulls nap, the boaters boat, and the sea be still

reminds me how blessed I am to live in such a beautiful place as this.

Camping Adventures: After Dark

We pretty much counted down until we could start the fire. Because really, the fire is the fun part :). 

In the meantime, we cleaned up shop...

and collected some firewood. With our mini ax. Which was quite amusing.

(no... unfortunately, we didn't chop this one)

matching lumber jacks!

 love her.

  

Mark got our fire started. He was our professional fire-maker and sustainer.

The doggies got to wear their new jackets for the first time. 

We had hot cocoa and s'mores. of course :)

We talked and enjoyed the night watching the fire and the stars.

Holy cow... there are a lot of stars in the sky we don't usually see in San Diego!

Then, bedtime :)

In the morning, the pups ran around a bit and 

poor Emma bear found a swarm of bees... and got stung... a few times.

Thank goodness for Benadryl! And her bed.

 Baker hung out with us while I packed up.

 It was truly the funnest trip. I had no idea camping could be so fun. 

Thank you, Mark and Katie, for helping create such a special experience for us.

Let's do it again next year!

Camping Adventures: Nature at it's finest

Last Saturday, J and I loaded up the car and the pups and headed to the mountains for a little camping extravaganza. Katie and Mark were already up there, along with Frankie, and truly made it so easy for us. 

We brought clothes, blankets, and stuff for the dogs. They brought that... and everything else.
And our cars were just as full... rookie mistake :)

We are so incredibly blessed to have such amazing friends.

We started off with a nature hike around the site.

[Disclaimer: I hope you like Emma and Baker. Because most of the pictures are of them...]

Emma and Baker loved it.

We found some cool pinecones that we filled many bags with to bring home. 

evidence of the woodpeckers

 The dogs all had fun sniffing, running, and exploring.

 Frankie had already taken a few hikes that day, so mom held him for a bit :)

I. Love. Nature. Seriously, I'm addicted. It's a new thing for me. 

Family photo time!

the McGoverns

and the Ritters

Headed down the mountain...

 Stopping for a drink. Running is exhausting!

 I can't remember if I said I'm amazed by God's creation yet. Honestly, these trees were majestic!

walking along...

 Frankie loves his daddy!

 Yes, we got to walk on trails like this.

and even see a few horses :)

Final family photo on the logs before heading back to camp

More to come of us back at camp!