He Keeps Giving and I Keep Counting

Another week has come and gone and I am counting on, sharing graces, noticing with an attentive heart the ways God shows us His love very day. In a life that can sometimes feel lonely, it is a grace to give thanks, always turning my heart back to Him who loves and gives and is ever present, never leaving me to myself, always drawing me out, drawing me up, to think on things good and holy and lovely and eternal.

These photos are from our Sunday play at the river, just a stone's throw from our front yard.

25. For a change of pace just when my heart cried for it most.
26. For the man who loves enough to see my needs and meet them as best he can.

27. For the determination of little boys to do what they set their minds to.

28. Especially when the things they set their minds to makes a momma smile wide (Kolbe was determined to walk around the river in these fins. He did not give up easily. I could not stop giggling.)

29. That I have a friend here I like enough to miss.

30. And that she came home today.

31. For the conversation and laughter shared around her table this morning.

32. For the Lord's provision for transportation. Always there is a way to get where we need to be when we need to be there even without a car of our own.

33. For constant invitations to be somewhere.

34. For the gift of song and the way it lightens my heart when the daily duty seems redundant and tedious.

35. For boys who sing the hymns of faith loud and clear and confident in morning prayer.

36. For a long walk with my group of girls that opened the door a bit wider than shy smiles and awkward giggles. For the hope that real relationships will grow there.

37. For the Sign of Peace at Mass where everyone travels, everyone embraces. No one  nods or waves or looks the other way.

38. For e-mails and messages that encourage.
39. For a God who lives and breathes and speaks -- in His Word, in His Eucharistic presence, in His Church, in His people.

40. For an evening walk that we called a date that lingered on into the dark of night.

41. For a glass of wine offered and sip slow, savored.

42.  For a calendar gifted and filled with dates and activities scribbled in Spanish -- in my own hand. I am ever amazed that He has taught me this.

43. For a walk in the rain and a stop for ice cream -- the laughter at the irony of it all.

44. For the Super Bowl on TV and how ESPN International call to mind a friend I miss so dearly and brings her just a wee bit closer in my heart.

 45. For boys who jump bravely and smile wide at their valor.  And for their excitement at being caught in midair.

 46. For all things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small.

47. For eyes to really see those things and recall that Lord who made them all.

48. For morning glories blooming bright on the birthday of a friend who bears their name. For the quiet celebration of her life I had in my heart.

49. For a to -do list that filled only with ways to love, ways to serve, ways to really live.

50. For the people who give and pray and love from afar so that we have the grace to count on.