Day 24 - Just Tired

I'm just grateful the day is over. My back hurts. I'm tired. It was a long day at work. And it's over. Tomorrow I will be 1/4 of the way since I started this whole hundred days thing and that means that baby time is getting closer and closer!! Wahoo!

Day 22 - Holiday Excitement

Today, I am just grateful that September went by so fast. I mean it's almost over! Hooray! We are literally on the doorstep of the HOLIDAYS!! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas! YAY! And that also means that baby is closer to making her grand appearance. So... 2 1/2 months now.

It doesn't feel like I'm going to be a mom. I can't really even fathom that. A new adventure I guess. So, I'm just excited for the holidays and a little nervous but excited about taking on a new role in life.

Day 18 - Communication

Today I am grateful for communication. I’m grateful for the ability to talk to people and work out problems. I’m grateful for friends and family who listen before jumping to conclusions. Learning how to communicate effectively has got to be one of the hardest things to do and also one of the most rewarding. Instead of becoming frustrated because you are stuck in a world of misunderstandings and assumptions can be extremely disheartening. I love being able to be on the same page with people. I love feeling connected with the people I am openly communicating with. I love having a mutual feeling of understanding. I love that someone can understand how I am feeling emotionally and empathize with me.

Words are powerful tools. They can eloquently fabricate an entire universe in literature. They can meticulously lay out a process. They can communicate feelings and hopes and dreams. They can also destroy trust, disappoint, manipulate and falsify.

I am grateful for the gift of words. And I am even more grateful when words are used to bless rather than tear down. I love the people in my life who use words to uplift and give hope and communicate effectively. I am grateful to them for their sincerity and honesty. If we are friends, you can know that I am talking about you. Thank you so much for using words the way God intended them to be used.

Day 17 – An Eternal Perspective

I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out what to write about. I could write a list of things I’m grateful for, but I don’t feel like that adequately expresses what I’m feeling. I think today, I am grateful for an eternal perspective.

I go through life sometimes and I am so tired, so worn out, so fed up with things, so irritated, do annoyed, so ready to give up. And sometimes I want to. I think, if I give up, then I don’t have to care about all of the things that are bothering me. But, that’s not a way out. It’s a way to ignore. It’s a way to escape.

As a human race, I think we have developed an innate ability to escape our problems. There are all kinds of escapes. There’s alcohol, drugs, shopping, running, sleeping, depression, suicide, pornography, sex, video games, television, movies and so many more. It’s whatever we do to make us forget. We subconsciously seek for things that will allow us to escape our lives momentarily. Not all of the things I listed are inherently bad. In fact, many of them are good. I’m sure I’d have a lot of athletes who would be up in arms at my suggestion that running could be an escape. But, we all do things to try and eject ourselves from a bad situation. It’s the fight or flight response.

I am grateful that when those hard times come and it feels like the whole world is crashing down, I can remember that there is so much more to look forward to. This little moment is just that. A little moment. It’ll pass. I’ll have the rest of eternity to live in peace and prosperity. When I want to run away from the hardships of my life, I remember that I can deal with it because I’m made of the stuff for eternity. So, I know that I don’t need to run. I don’t want to run for eternity. Because I know that there’s more to life than just this life, I can face my problems more directly. I can deal with them as they come. And I can be grateful when they’re over and I come out a better person.

Day 15

I'm grateful for a husband who listens to me and helps me work through my issues. And I'm grateful for family who loves and supports us.

Pursuit of Perfection - Day 14

How ironic that the journey to perfection will never be
perfect. The very act of trying to achieve something
better will always require efforts of a lessor being.

It's been awhile. I missed a couple of days. And let's be honest, I wasn't the most grateful during those days. When I first started, I had all of these things that I wanted to be grateful for. I was excited to get it started. And while I would normally just give up because I lost my perfect streak of days in a row that I had written in my gratitude blog, that is what I am trying to overcome.

It would be easy to just not right in it again. There are so many things posted on the internet that no one would really pay attention if I had stopped writing these. But, I would know. And just like working out, eating healthy, saying prayers and any other good habit I try to establish, it will inevitably fail at some point because I don't have the resolve to do it every single day perfectly. I'm just not perfect yet.

I've started to learn that in my quest for perfection, it is not about being perfect all the time. It is trying to be perfect again and again with the knowledge that I will fail. I know I will fail because I am not perfect and cannot attain perfection in this life. So, in order to begin to achieve this idea of perfection, I have to first accept that I will fail again and again and that is okay. Every single time I fail I have to decide that I am going to try again knowing that I will fail again. I think the major component of being successful is learning to embrace failure and all of the learning that goes with it.

So, while I have neglected to write in this blog I am trying it again, despite my failures over the last couple of days. It's time to have a go at it again. And you may see another blog like this in another couple of weeks where I am having to motivate myself to have another go at perfection.

My gratitude

• Austin and I went out to dinner with my branch last night. We had our dinner paid for and enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with my coworkers. 
• I have learned what is important to me. 
• I've thought of this amazing idea for how I want my future gym to be in my home. 
• We didn't watch any TV last night and Austin and I just got to be together. 
• My bonus is officially maxed out. 
• Our house is cleaner than it normally is. 

And that's it for now. 

Simple Work - Day 10

The ability to work and get paid for it is something I’m grateful for. I may not always enjoy being at work. It’s true that almost every single day, I glance to the bottom right hand screen on my computer and calculate exactly how much time I have left starting after lunch.

Speaking of lunch, I’m grateful for late lunches. Today I had a welcome lunch from my district manager and that was great. I enjoy being taken to lunch and feeling valued as an employee, but the lunch started at 11:30 am. I usually take my lunches around 2:00 pm because it makes the day go by that much faster. So, the afternoon may have felt a little longer than usual.

I’m grateful for the brownie my boss gave me. I’m always up for a good treat. Speaking of… I still have a Snicker’s Ice Cream Bar in the freezer at work that I’ve got to eat one of these days.

I’m grateful that I hit my bonus! However, I’m also not really sure what to do with the next two weeks because I’ve more or less hit my cap and so…

The Invention of Crepes – Day 9

I don’t give the French enough credit I suppose. I studied French for 7.5 years, and just never really picked it up. That may or may not say something about our education system in our country, or perhaps it just says something about me. But the people of France did some things right.

Brie cheese-Right! The romantic sound of the language-Right! The pronunciation of the Champs Elysees-Not so much. At least for Americans. Most of the time, we can’t handle stuff like that. But, perhaps their best contribution to the world has to be the invention of… THE CREPE.

There are so many things to be said about “the crepe”. We’re going to go over its versatility, its taste and its convenience.

VERSATILITY

The best thing about “the crepe” is that it can be sweet or savory. You can slather on some barbecue sauce, chicken, cheese and cilantro and you have yourself a delicious savory crepe. I don’t know if the French would approve of my putting barbecue in “the crepe” but if they tried it, they wouldn’t be able to deny its flavor either.

You can also make the more common delicious sweet crepe. Now, the French do things like jam or perhaps lemon juice with a little bit of sugar. But we Americans have found a way to really fatten this thing up. Nutella from Switzerland, strawberries from fields of a strawberry farm (or wherever strawberries come from) and whipped cream from the factories of good ole industrial ‘Merica. Put it all together, and what do you got? One deliciously sweet crepe!

TASTE

“The crepe” itself while delicious is more of a palette for other succulent foods. It really just accentuates and enhances any food that it comes in contact with. Whether that’s pesto from Italy, barbeque sauce, caramel, chocolate, even mustard… if that’s your thing, “the crepe” will take that food to a whole new level.

CONVENIENCE

“The crepe” has so few ingredients and is so easy to make that it makes a perfect meal. Because you are making the dinner and the dessert at the same time. No further preparation! It’s flour, salt, milk, eggs, and love.

THE REASON

I am grateful for “the crepe” because I couldn’t think of anything else to feed the missionaries for dinner tonight. And then it came to me. So simple, so pure.

I’m also grateful that I got a lot of solutions at work to help me hit my last bonus goal.

I’m grateful for my bed. I’m grateful that I get to go to sleep tonight and I’m hopeful that Austin doesn’t want to stay up too late.

The Smartest Man Alive – Day 8

I am grateful that I literally have the Smartest Man Alive as my husband. After church yesterday, Austin wanted to show me some of his childhood scholastic conquests. So, I was thinking some pictures, maybe a little story here or there.

Little did I know that his school creative writing assignments were more like the logistical fine print of all of the aircraft he was referencing and that his childhood drawings looked more like engineering schematics. There were some things that I still didn’t know what little 12 year old Austin was trying to communicate to me. I can’t imagine being one of his teachers and just looking at his work in disbelief.

Little did I know when I got married that I had snagged a man who's brains
exceeded my comprehension, even when he was just starting to hit puberty.

Perhaps that’s just how little boys are. I know I never drew cars or knew the specs of cars when I was that young. I was too busy learning the words to my favorite Disney songs and auditioning for the school play. I was trying to write the beginnings of a novel and seeing if I could draw a picture of my sister.

So, something I learned during my journey through Austin’s childhood and possibly the programming of his brain is that there are MANY different ways to look at the world. It’s no wonder there are so many different opinions and beliefs. I feel like I just put on a pair of Austin glasses and while my eyes hurt and I felt a little dizzy afterwards, I gained a greater appreciation for who he is.

I also have learned, there are different kinds of smart. I may not have the mental aptitude to immediately draw out the architectural design for my future home, but I think there are some people who have a hard time understanding music or how to make something beautiful. Some people know how to make others feel instantly included while others know how to give someone the space they need.

There is so much that I can learn from people around me because we are all so different. I’m grateful that my perspective has been expanded and that it can continue to grow and expand.