Count 'em up

It's official. Today is my last day of summer break.

I feel nervous (as usual) for school, anxious about getting back to schedule (everyone dressed and in the car by 7 a.m.), and like I'm spending more time adding items to my to-do list than accomplishing any of them.

But, first...

Inspired by the writings of Ann Voskamp, this summer I have begun the practice of recording blessings – not just making mental notes – but actually taking pen and paper and writing down the gifts, the small, quiet joys.

So, before I move forward, I'm stopping to give thanks by rewinding to remember just a few of the many, many summer gifts I've been given.

"And when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make place for God to grow within me." - Voskamp, in One Thousand Gifts.

Time away. Just the two of us. 

Afternoons that ended like this.

Time to putz around. 

So many firsts for this guy. And smiles. 

Getting everyone together.

Babies. Cousins. 

Did I mention babies? cousins? And aunties too. 

Campfires and s'mores.

Fresh veggies, shared by a friend, picked with our own hands.

All the poor frogs who encountered our kids.

The good kind of missing that happens when life changes. And cell phones and text messages and email to Albuquerque.

She Reads Truth. A community that has helped me get in and stay in the Word.

A Jesus-loves-us-anyway kind of GRACE.