1000 gifts

I have been following a few blogs in which the writers are practicing the art of being thankful. They are doing this by following the example of Ann Voskamp and her book “1000 Gifts”. I have yet to read this book but I have heard rave reviews. Essentially, the challenge is to change your perspective and cultivate a heart of thankfulness by making a list of 1000 gifts or moments you are thankful for.

I have been mulling over this idea for a few months. After a night of grouchy Sam, temper tantrums and pure exhaustion I found myself at my wits end. I resorted to yelling and being too hard on my sweet boy. After the shame subsided I quickly made the decision to change my perspective and start my list of 1000 gifts.

I thought I would share a few items from my list and maybe a few pictures along the way.

# 1 A healthy pregnancy

#2 Warm tea on a stormy night

#3 The messes of an active toddler

#4 Soothing a tired and cranky toddler

#5 Prayers for my sons future

#6 Being able to hold and love my sweet boy

This is just a start, but I can already see the change of perspective. Maybe you are not interested in committing to 1000 gifts. I challenge you to write down 4 or 5. It is amazing what a attitude of thankfulness can accomplish.

What else I am up to today...

• I am working at staying on top of housework while battling morning sickness and fatigue. Each day this looks different. Today it was setting a timer for 15 minutes, every 15 minutes I got up and picked up the house for 3 minutes. Sounds silly but it kept me moving and I had a sense of accomplishment.

Our Gift

I love seeing God work in our lives. I love being able to clearly identify where we end and His grace begins. Of course it doesn't always happen this way. I usually am confident that I have it all worked out my way and with my timing (yes, you can laugh).

In October I posted about the excitement and hope we had for what God was doing in our lives at that point. Little did I know, I only saw a small part of God's masterpiece. I ended this post saying...

“I can vaguely see the outline of where this road is going, and I cannot wait to get there. Although, if the road makes an unexpected turn or there are bumps along the way I can say that I will still enjoy the ride and I have faith that where we end up will be even better then where I imagine we are going.”

As I wrote this paragraph something stirred inside me. When I read the paragraph to Ryan I had tears rolling down my face. I had no idea why I was reacting this way but I knew there was something powerful about what God just wrote through me.

A week before this post we had found out I was pregnant. A week after this post I miscarried the baby. This wasn't my first miscarriage experience, but it never gets easier. I was naive enough to think that since I had Sam I was healed and would not have to deal with this pain again. As I processed the pain of loosing this baby God brought me back to this blog post several times. Each time I would revel at the clarity and truth of the statement. It truly was amazing, I thought I was writing about great promise and hope, yet God was writing through me the exact statement I would need to hear when I was in great pain. God is loving and powerful.

Much has changed since this post in October. Much has changed in the last few weeks. We continued to follow God down the road He was leading us. Unsure of where we would end up. He has again shown us his love and blessing through expecting another child!

We had our first doctors appointment earlier this week and they were able to confirm a healthy baby and we could see the little heartbeat! After experiencing the early loss of a baby I cannot explain the overwhelming joy we experienced when we saw that fluttering little heart. As if the moment wasn't emotional enough Sam contributed by saying “baby” and blowing kisses at the monitor.

I am very thankful for my little family and I am very thankful for God's love and faithfulness.