Day 1 - My BFF

I always wished for a sister. 


Four brothers is what I have. Now, I love my brothers, don't get me wrong. And they have taught me a lot. Some of my earliest memories are changing poopy cloth diapers and being careful not to poke the baby with the diaper pin. I have poked myself many times, but never one of my little brothers. I babysat for them. I cooked for them. I cleaned the kitchen because I was the girl. So having four brothers has taught me many things about caring for others and house keeping. For that I am truly thankful. But they're not a sister.


My deep gratitude today comes from having the sister I always wanted. We share deeply. We laugh at little things. She gets me and I get her. Today we were laughing because she wanted to buy shoes (which she generally hates doing). When she was trying them on she complained about having on her thick socks, and then realized they were a pair she "stole" from me!! We cracked up. Then she got her new shoes for a really great price! 

Thank you, God for my "sister." Thank you for bringing her into my life and allowing us to share on so many levels. 

A New Day

Ok, so at the beginning of the year I thought it would really help me to write a thank you note to someone every day this year. I have so much to be thankful for and yet I'm pathetically ungrateful. So far, I've written exactly two thank you notes. Yeah, my progress sucks. However, my niece has begun writing on her blog about what she's thankful for every day and maybe that is something I can do, too, so I'm going to try.

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Well, after a 14 year hiatus from theater, Suzanne has rejoined the ranks and is in the pit for The Bon Ton Room's musical version of this amazingly hilarious show. She has been extremely busy but enjoying it immensely. It's  been fun to catch up with old acquaintances and meet some new great people.

Stan is spending a lot of time these days at Western's auditorium, too, and tonight was the elementary performance of "The Wizard of Oz."

Hannah is keeping everyone on their toes...she's becoming an expert at Bananagrams and Scrabble!!! Watch out, Mom, you've got some stiff competition coming up!!!

January Birthdays

What a great day! We have this wonderful tradition of celebrating all the family birthdays on a Sunday afternoon here at our house. This month it was for Lisa, Breslin, Stan, TJ (Jessie's boyfriend), Evan, and Hannah. With an amazing Mexican menu to which everyone contributed, we ate to our hearts' content and hung out. Unfortunately, Jessie and Teej had to leave around 3 so Jess could go to work and James, Lisa, and Mark had to leave a little later, just when Alaina got here after a much-needed nap!

Anyway, it's pretty terrific to have such a wonderful family. I have much to be thankful for.

It's Christmas Time!!!

I love Christmas, but I can't stand the weather.
I love finding the perfect gift and the anticipation of giving it.
I love the music that surrounds this season.
I love the fact that God lived a real human life and knows what we deal with from experience.
I love that my parents wisely taught us that Santa is a fairy tale, just like Cinderella and Jack-in-the-Beanstalk.
I love the memories of childhood Christmases that were filled with wonder, tradition, and surprise; with laughter and love.
I love my dad for what he's given to me.

A Gift of Love

This morning I was awakened by the sound of Hannah coming into our room cheerfully saying, "Breakfast is served!" She had lovingly prepared scrambled eggs and toast for us, along with juice and toppings for our toast.

Later when we went to Westwinds, Dave talked about the spiritual gift of serving, expressing it as "seeing value in the most simple things."

Hannah truly has this gift, along with a huge dose of compassion. She is one of the most compassionate people I know.

It's so cool to be able to see God's gift in her already and to watch her use that gift to make the world a better place. I know she made our day brighter with that sweet act first thing this morning!

Her act and Dave's talk reminded me that God's gifts are meant to be used, so this week I'm going to try to follow my daughter's example and bring some joy to others every day in "the most simple things."

Soccer Mania!

Okay, so last night Hannah came home elated because she scored THREE GOALS!!! Wow! She was still talking about it this morning as she was getting ready for school, saying, "Mom, as soon as the other team kicked off, I took the ball and weaved in and out and took it all the way to the goal!"

Yep, she's pretty geeked! :)