This Morning

We woke up to a beautiful new blanket of snow!

I'm thankful for so many things today...  Coo's soft red tie-dyed blanket, and the thoughtful brothers who gave it to her for Christmas.  The sound of children upstairs having fun with a game and learning maths in the process.  Hearing my noisy wonky washing machine still working even though it's sounded like death for quite a few months now!  Planning and thinking about impending visits: friends first, family in a few weeks.  Babies arriving in the next few months: new nephews or nieces and a soon-to-come-sort-of-nephew whose life we prayed over and blessed aloud together last night.  

I'm thankful for tiredness after a busy weekend, meaning I'm choosing to sit down and write and think instead of rushing about trying to put everything right.  I'm thankful for the hot black coffee I'm drinking right now and thinking about the Guatemalan coffee farmers who will be struggling after losing seventy percent of their crop.  The worst it means for me is higher coffee prices; for them, it's devastating.  I'm thankful to pay higher prices if it means they will be able to sustain a livelihood.

I'm thankful for a small son who draws constantly and blue-tacks his drawings to walls everywhere and thinks he's making a movie next year and leaves Hobbit action figures on the floor for me to step on and likes doing chemistry experiments.

I'm thankful for a little daughter who is learning to eat well [more than just cake, fruit and nuts] and loves to put pretty outfits together and also draws and creates all the time.

I'm thankful for Righty who probably needs glasses but is so good at both connecting with people and thinking outside the box and loves his food and wants to grow up to tornado chase during the week and play in a band on the weekend.

I'm thankful for Lefty, living in his black and white world, who is very good at understanding complicated ideas and writes so well and acts grown-up and loves to help practically and will probably grow up to be a lawyer or a politician even though he says he wants to be a tornado chaser like Righty.

I'm thankful for my husband, who works diligently and also supports and helps with the kids' learning and the housework and yet still makes time to read my book draft and tell me what he thinks even though it's like nothing he would usually read.

I'm thankful for leftover roses, and bunting.

I'm thankful for much-needed surprise family time spent together after a few difficult and busy days.

I'm thankful for the music and the friends and the good food and the fun that usually fills our home.  I'm thankful that we do not need all of this to be happy, and yet we have it, right here, right now.

Thankful also for Mumford and Sons and The Civil Wars, who just received the recognition they deserved by winning Grammy awards last night!