A Gift Before Dawn, At Noon, After Dark

668. A Gift Before Dawn: This is a funny one!! I am NOT a morning person! Last week the husband had oral surgery. He always takes A. to school. I needed to fill in the gap for a few days…  Ugh.. It was hard to have a “cheerful heart” during the early mornings but I persevered! It’s a gift to have the privilege of being able to help rear another child. It seems as if I was born for this! I remember when the oldest grandson moved to live with his momma, I had had a child in the home for 32 years. Once he left, it was a strange feeling! But I enjoyed that time, too. So, God has placed another young one in my home. – or placed me in the home of another young one! I’ve enjoyed it! (most of the time) – I mean really, let’s be honest here – he is a teen after all! : )

669. A Gift At Noon:  Today at noon we were bringing our van home. We have a van and we often get to loan it to our youth minister to take kids to events. (when he has a small group)  He was able to take a few teens to a Christian Concert last evening and I am so very thankful we have a vehicle that he can use.

670. A Gift After Dark: Sunday evenings we always plan to watch “Downton Abbey” on PBS. Unfortunately, there isn’t much on TV that is decent to watch. We have found that many British shows are better suited to our taste. I’m sad to see that these younger generations have nothing (much) of value to use as entertainment as far as TV goes. It’s sad.

A Grace Borrowed, Found, Inherited

665.  We let our youth minister borrow our van for a concert tonight. It’s so fun to watch the kids and their excitement for “becoming” a group! Our youth minister has only been with us since September, so the kids are still bonding.

666. At the grocery store today, there was a $10 bill on the floor. No one was around so we picked it up. It is always a blessing when you find money!!

667. My curly hair. My Grandpa had curly hair – my mom had curly hair but hers has gotten straighter over the years. I used to think of it as a “curse” but now I’m learning that it is a gift given from God.

3 Gifts Blue

 It’s no secret that blue is my favorite color! All shades!
662. Well, my favorite “blue gift” would be my Bible.

663.  I took a picture yesterday for my photo-a-day challenge and last evening I mentioned to the husband how blue the sky was in the picture. We have had beautiful blue skies during this crisp winter weather.

664.   I have many “blue” accessories in our home.  They always make me cheerful and I enjoy each one of them!  Some were gifts from dear friends so that makes them extra special!

         

         

3 Gifts Found in Christ

659.  His words. I love having a “red letter edition” of the Bible because often if I’m just picking up my Bible to read a couple of verses, I love choosing the words of Christ.

Other than the commentary and the helps, these 2 pages are completely red. Completely the words of Christ. What a gift to me.

660. Jesus promised me eternal life. That heaven will open. That I will see heaven. He promised me that His Father has reserved a place for me there. What a legacy – what a promise. This is a promise that I stand on every day.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

661.  Jesus told us the Holy Spirit would be our comforter and our helper. I am so very thankful for this gift.

A Gift Wrinkled, Smoothed, Unfolded

 656. A Gift Wrinkled: Every time I look in the mirror I see changes. I hear of friends  having work done. – and I understand why. Often I’ve done that thing we women do – putting our hands on the side of our face and pulling back and up – Ah, there she is, the younger me. The one I remember most. The one I see in my mind. Then I pass the mirror again and am surprised that the Brenda in the mirror is much older and a little more rounded out than the one I picture in my mind. But then I realize I am exactly who God created. He didn’t intend for us to stay forever young. With age – and gray hair – comes wisdom. Why do we want to go against “life?” Well, it’s partly the times we live in. We constantly see the forever young – commercials, movies, even news. I’m shocked when I hear of a news woman that loses her job and replaced with a younger woman. Wisdom comes with age. I’m blessed to still be alive and I’m blessed to be who God intended me to be. – Even if I am shocked every time I see myself in the mirror!! : )

657. A Gift Smoothed: I love clean sheets! When I smooth them over the bed every Monday I am thankful that not only do I have a bed, but I also have nice clean sheets to sleep on. This is a luxury for some. 

658. A Gift Unfolded: In the corner in our living room, we have a basket with throws in it. So on these chilly winter evenings the husband and I will pull one out, flip it to unfold it and enjoy our evening cozy and warm.

A Gift in Sky, Water, Memory

653.  A Gift in the Sky: The Moon. I love watching the moon. God’s creation.

654. A Gift in water: I’ve never learned to swim. So water has never held much appeal for me. One year when we took the grands on vacation we took a boat out on the water. – Not my idea of a good time but the husband had done this every year and all the kids were excited. Well, we had a tube. – Again, not my idea of a good time. Did I mention I don’t swim… Well, A. was a pro at tubing:

Then of course The Oldest Grandgirl decided SHE wanted to try it. Well, I couldn’t let her go alone because I was responsible for her, A. wasn’t mature enough at the time to take responsibility and Randy needed to stay with the boat. I KNOW… 

Water was not a gift… 

I went out to that tube with tears in my eyes because I DID NOT want to do this…

No one told me if you have too much weight on the front of the tube, it sinks. We did okay. – for awhile. Then he stopped the boat to see if we were ready to stop. The grandgirl said "NO." So we were going to go around one more time. I thought I needed to scoot up on the tube. To do so, I pushed down on the front. You guessed it – we went under. I was very thankful for the life jackets. I was very thankful we were “saved.” But what still stands out in my mind is when we surfaced my sweet little grand said over and over “Are you okay, Grammy?” Now, that is my true gift in the water.

655. A Gift of Memory: Memory? Each of my children being born, while they grew up, loving them. Memories of my Grands. 

But one of my favorite “recent” memories is our wedding. We wanted to have a good time, we wanted our friends and family to be relaxed and have fun. After the reception many of our friends and family came to the house to continue visiting and having a great time. It was a blessed day full of blessed memories.

              

          

3 Gifts Close Up

650. I love my husband’s face. It is full of
character, kindness, goodness and love.
I am so very thankful for this wonderful man.


 






 651.  Reading. My favorite past time – right after blogging. I am so thankful I can read.











652. Blogging. My favorite past time. I am thankful for the opportunity.