scenes from the weekend

this little miss spent a few days with us. a grand time spent with her is an understatement.

we played memory match up, she won mostly.

we played mexican train dominoes.

we rode horses and scooters.

we fixed each other's hair.

we ate lots of leftover halloween candy.

we went to a civil war reenactment.

we watched cars 2.

and then we had to give her back even though we didn't want that.

love this little girl muchly.

{giveaways! ma nouvelle mode, the color issue, much love illy}

the garbage buddy

i rinse a dish and place it on the towel laying by the sink. he rushes by with cap on head and a smile on his lips.

"wanna take the garbage with me?"

he grabs the plump plastic bag hidden inside the cabinet and ties it in a knot. heading outside with a spring in his step, i follow. drinking deeply of the fresh air, i slip on my well-worn boots as he chunks the bag into the overflowing plastic trash can on wheels. keys in hand, he heads to the truck with a whistle happily escaping his lips.

the hefty dodge roars to life with the turn of his key. i hastily open the tailgate and leap onto it. he pushes and i pull as we heave together the can up into the truck bed.

i contentedly crawl up on his tool box. he rolls down the window and cranks up the music.

the roaring truck rolls and my heart joyously skips a beat. he drives to the gate and it creaks as I open it. he pulls through and we ride. the music reaches my ears as the wind meets my face. hair blowing, mouth smiling. i duck and dodge tree limbs. we wave to the neighbors.

he sings along and dances as best he can while driving. i laugh.

the sun is sinking and the sky is blue. the trees are tall and the long shaded driveway is sandy.

the words from the stereo reach my ears.

life is a highway, i wanna ride it all night long.

if you're going my way, i wanna drive it all night long.

we reach the tornado ravaged spot. the trees are gone and so is a piece of my heart. i look down into the open window at the boy, my brother. green eyed, dirty blonde, twenty-one and he's not a kid anymore. he asked and she said “yes” and there's a pretty little ring.

it hits me. taking my breath away just as the treeless spot after the tornado. it's an empty place where trees once stood tall and my heart is empty too. he'll be going and our life as brother-sister in the same house won't be a highway anymore. he'll be starting a family and i'll be watching from a distance.

she'll take the spot riding with him on his highway. they'll be taking their own garbage can to the road.{and who will take ours?}

he yells up out the window at me, teasing and cutting up and he jolts me from my thoughts. he switches on his truck flashers because that's what he does to playfully tease.

in a haze, i help unload the smelly can as the music plays. the song ends. the sun goes down. and life makes it's turn before my eyes.

i love her and i love him... and i sure will miss taking that garbage can.

{the morning he was headed to ask his girl to marry him}

{giveaways! modern mayflower (tell them i sent ya on this one!) the crowley party, cubette's corner, cait. create. and love stitched}

when the thousandth gift is penned...

{via}

my list-dare was completed. the dare to list one thousand gifts (blessings).

over elation just doesn't describe it.

as i stared out that truck window after slowly jotting down that thousandth gift from God, the world looked bright. cars rolled by on that big ole interstate road and i ponder what the people inside them were missing.

had anyone else seen that pop of color in the bright orange excavator against those green trees?

had anyone else tasted the goodness of God when they tasted that free sucker from winn-dixie as i had?

had anyone also stopped to ponder how blessed they were to have such good friends that openly loved them?

do we realize what we're missing when we choose not to count the ways God blesses us every day? do we fear that if we begin to count the gifts that the list would end much sooner than expected?

but the truth i've so hungrily searched for and joyfully found is this: the gift list never ends.

because God is good.

because He wants to bless us.

He chooses to bless us by putting these joy-gifts in our day to day lives.

so i continue my search. and i continue the list. it won't stop at one thousand. or two, or five, or twenty thousand. as longs as eyes are open wide, the gifts will continually be there in my life and yours too. i will continue to write them, by His grace. will you?

1000. happiness counting the gifts brings to life

1001. sitting in the church foyer laughing with buddies

1002. good counsel

1003. reading a Bible verse in my daily reading that applies to my life at that moment

1004. finding a whisper mode on my phone and having no idea what it's for but using it just for fun anyways

1005. trying to group call buddies sitting right beside me

1006. having no worries

1007. brother and i playing jokes on each other

1008. tasty fruit

1009. a cleaned out purse

1010. getting the ironing done and earning some money while doing it

{via}

{giveaways! my junk drawer & gentri lee}

loved weekend {in pictures}

-hanging with these two sweeties, miss laina and miss bree

-feeding the horses at the neighbors and feeling tuff's winter coat so warm

-old gas pumps at Posey's store (i love)

-sitting on the bench at posey's with dad, talking to people going in the store

-laughing so hard at this funny boy i love

{lovely giveaways! love stitched, miss indie, cait. create., ma nouvelle mode, the color issue, much love illy, everything girly and beyond}

raining joy

as the seed is spread, so is joy.

i toss seed farther and longer, my smile broadens wider.

the rain comes down in sprinkles and the grass seed sprinkles through my fingers.

i count joys...

-sound of seed falling to ground

-raindrops clinging to horse hairs on barbwire fence

-color, color everywhere! {the glories of fall}

-nest up high in pine tree

i jump into a mud puddle and a giddy glee escapes me. i hold nothing back as i swing the red {more color!} bucket by my side. i beam and so do His blessings.

i scoop seed from brown paper sack and listen to the sound it makes hitting the bucket. in that old shed the antique blue {color!} '69 chevrolet rests beside me and it seems to smile. i smile back and time stops.

i am here, i am living, i am in this moment.

and i long for it to be captured. for this time-moment to forever be stopped in memory. i race to the house through showers of rain and grab it from it's shelf.

as i pull my beanie down farther over my head, i pull the gate open and back to the shed.

momma rain coat red against green field. click.

rain splattered on '69. click.

musty smell of the cab. click.

seed bucket half-filled. click.

as the camera stops time i etch these gift filled moments in memory. this is how life is lived. one grace-filled, gift-counted moment at a time.

{giveaways! classic and bubbly, lovely little rants, much love illy, the neesby lookbook}

the climb to happiness {it's within reach}



{via}

the book is finished and i am tense with the overwhelming. it's the second time i've devoured this piece of work. the beautiful book, One Thousand Gifts.
it keeps drawing me back. i long to call this book my own but i do not. the library owns it and i wait for weeks to grab it off it's shelf to read it.
i long to read this eleven chapter book in one day. but i can't because i must drink it slowly. let it sink down, down, down into my very soul. i must process it slowly, to read this book in a hurry would not do because i am afraid that i would miss something. as i mull over the words, my toes are crushed and i must write. jot down these revelations of grace and thanksgiving that stand out so clearly. if i do not, i feel as if i would forget. and then i would burst for the longing of this knowledge. i feel as if i must copy, or even memorize, the entire book layed before me.
the words call to me, beckon, to live a full life. a life of grace but more of thanksgiving. {thanksgiving precedes the miracle of grace as you'll soon learn.}
the dare is given to write with pen on paper a thousand blessings, gifts, that are daily within in reach. to live with palms upturned, wide open, to grasp each and every thing He gives, good or bad.
but nothing is bad because all things are His, hence all things yours, and it's in His hands. these truths awaken me just as cold water awakens the tired face.
so i grab paper and i write with gusto the gifts He gives in my very own life. the pen speeds faster across paper as i catch on and the eyes open to all gifts He's placed around me.

-feeling of acceptance
-finding the thing you needed for cheap
-driving the familiar backroads
-good hair day
-joy in helping stranger-lady get something down from shelf
-a listening God
-a healing brother
-random acts of kindness

... my pen doesn't want to stop and i have the feeling it never will.

{via}

daily- the list is added to. daily- my eyes are opened more to His gifts surrounding me. daily- the happiness grows higher.
and i can't help myself but to silently verbally give prayer-thanks. everywhere i go, the thanks to God is ringing.

thank you God, for a bustling kitchen full of the people i love.
thank You God, for a warm shower on a chilly night.
thank You God, for crochet projects coming along nicely.
thank You God, for helping me to understand math and getting it done early.
thank You God, for a mom who understands.
thank You God, for the hum of the dishwasher.

thank You, thank You, thank You.

just as the pen won't stop the mouth won't either and i am in love with the beautiful grace-filled world around me. because He has given it. He has placed me here.
i smile. and i pen another gift.

{via}

melissa might want to read this...

melissa from my soul is the sky won the one lovely journal giveaway! congrats!

{awesome giveaways! miss indie designs, carrisa @ lowercase letters, much love illy, sloanbook, the shine project, the crowley party, gentri lee}