11/25/10

Filled up with Thanks

 Even though  I ate tacos today instead of Turkey and the American favorite "green bean casserole" (a dish that I have never made or eaten in a Canadian thanksgiving meal)  I am thankful.  We did not celebrate a holiday today in Canada but I did have thanksgiving on my mind.

 I have felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and blessing during the last couple days.   Despite my griping about the bitterly COLD weather, the squeaky blowing snow, the biting wind and the car that doesn't heat up properly I am actually thankful.  Despite my " it takes us forever to all bundle us all up like Artic sled dog racers before we go anywhere- overly scheduled -driving in horrible weather-11 appointments in various towns in 4 days" week of whining....

I am feeling very blessed and humbled and thankful.  I am overwhelmed with really feeling thankful...not just forcing myself to be.
I love my home.   I  appreciate my warm  house, my fireplace, and my cozy couch.  I am thankful for my husband curled up with me on it in the evening as we relax with  the humor of  shows like Modern Family or Big Bang Theory.  We are people of simple pleasures.

I look at my kids, who sometimes are so irritatingly  LOUD I want to rip the ears off of my head, and feel overwhelmingly blessed.

This afternoon was one of those moments.  Silas was napping ,  Roman was out trucking grain with his Dad,, and it was just me and "The Girls" making tortillas for supper.   In the peace of that moment I absorbed the scene.   I have two daughters.
One is on the brink of adolescence.   She now wears deodorant (out of necessity not desire), she has had a few pimples and she will be looking me in the eyes before long.  These things remind me that the years are fleeting.   This "brink of adolescence" stuff has kind of snuck up on me this year. She is still  a little girl in many ways but she is on the verge of being a young lady.   She has a ridiculously thick mane of light blonde hair. She has big round sky blue eyes.

My other daughter is 9 years younger than her sister.  She has silky,  shiny,  black hair.    She has gorgeous almond shaped dark brown eyes.  She is discovering the joy of banging objects together and that she has the power to make her daddy smile.  The two are like  book ends in our family.  My oldest and my youngest.

As I rolled tortillas, I watched my big girl standing at the stove cooking and flipping the tortillas,  an almost unbelivable image.  It made me smile to think of all the years we will be standing in a kitchen cooking together in the future.



I looked at my little daughter playing with measuring cups in her highchair.  It made me smile.  I didn't expect to be blessed with another daughter.  She is like the cherry on top.   The icing on the cake.   How were we ever complete without her?   Someday she will be standing at the stove helping me make dinner.   My heart dares to dream....

Two very different little girls.  
 One was  formed in  my body.  One was an unexpected gift handed to me as a tiny bundle.  
Although they came from different sources, I realized recently  that both of my daughters came in similar ways. 
Their arrivals were both proceeded by loss.    Both required an  unknown time frame of learning to wait. I struggled with fear as I loved them.   My daughters taught me how to surrender and hope at the same time.  
They are both my beautiful treasures.  

(And I have a new stove to be thankful for!!...see above photos to ooh and ahhh.
I am thankful to have a stove that has more than one rack and has a shutting door.  Loving the smooth top!)   


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