11 April 2011

Random Thanks

Some days life gets pretty routine. You get in a groove, and just do laps around the track - day in, day out. Those days typically go by the name of Monday. Yet, even in the midst of the ordinary ho-humness of daily life, there are a multitude of things to be thankful for - both large and small. 

51. Thankful for sleeping pills to counteract the caffeine I unintentionally had this evening.
52. Thankful that I was able to knock my inbox at work down by 400. Only 500 more to go!
53. Thankful for results despite struggles in my new path of good health.
54. Thankful for a Sunday afternoon rest - I'm getting closer to having a real Sabbath.
55. Thankful there is a community of people in Portland that support the Micah Project, even when they don't know it.
56. Thankful for a funny email exchange with the bro.
57. Thankful for nose-bleed seats at the Rose Garden tomorrow night for the last Trailblazer home game of the regular season. Hoping for scoring some play-off tickets too!
58. Thankful for sun breaks, rainbows, and especially for longer daylight! Summer is coming!!
59. Thankful I can go to the gym and move my body after sitting in a chair staring at a computer all day.
60. I am so, soooo thankful that I can move. I just past my 10 year anniversary of the start of the rheumatoid arthritis.  And it has been one and a half years since my back surgery. I'm still kicking! And plan to for some time to come.

06 April 2011

Gratitude in the Midst of Crazyville

This seems to be a reoccurring  statement for me but life has been crazy for the last two weeks. It started with a stomach bug, a weird one. I felt okay, just blah, until I ate and then I wanted to curl up into a ball and die. It would wear off as the food digested, just enough to fool me into thinking I could eat again and the whole process started again. Just as I was starting to feel better Sunday last I woke up to my roommate screaming. I laid in bed wondering whether or not to be concerned; she is an expressive person, a variety things could be causing her reaction. But when I heard the garage door go up I knew there was a problem that I most certainly should be concerned about. I jumped out of bed and looked out my window to see a rush stream of water going down my driveway. Oh, not good. I hurried down to the garage to see water shooting with force from the main water line soaking everything. Sarah was just standing there, I'm not sure what she was doing. I tried to turn the one valve and realized it was on the other side of the break, it was pointless. I reached over and turned the main valve and the water stopped spewing. Thus started my adventures in plumbing for the next week and a half which finally came to an end today. I now have a new main line coming down from the street to my house and into my house. Not how I wanted to spend the renovation fund that I've slowly been saving, but necessary.
Life is like that a lot of the time. We have to do things that are necessary, but not what we wanted. My life has been like that lately. Even so, I have much to be grateful for in the midst of all the craziness that makes up my life.

46. Thankful that my dad was willing to come to my rescue early Sunday morning and has been here everyday with the plumbers.
47. Thankful my plumbing situation wasn't as dire as first thought - still not good, but not as bad as it could have been.
48. Thankful that my job allows the flexibility to work from home so I could be here when needed; even though work is it's own crazyville lately.
49. Thankful that this plumbing fiasco has provided an opportunity to know a neighbor better.
50. Thankful that I have good clean water that I can drink straight from the tap.

It is really amazing how much we take for granted: the ability to flush a toilet, take a shower, move a handle and have clean water at our disposal.  One in eight people on this plant do not have access to clean healthy water. 1.8 million children die every year from illness they contract from unclean water.
I am richly blessed.

So in addition to being thankful, I want to point you to a couple good resources:
Living Water International
Blood: Water Mission