My first self-portrait, so to speak

Perhaps you have picked up on the fact that I'm not so much a fan of the pictures when they are of me, and therefore I post very few.  Pictures that I take of myself with my arm held way out looking like a goober are even more rare.

In fact, the one I've posted below is the first ever that even remotely had me in the shot.  Obviously I just got lucky because of course I only cared about that baby boy - whose expression cracks me up!  For whatever reason we were alone (because never ever would I have been doing that with an audience!) and I wanted to try to get a pic because, well, believe it or not I actually tried to look presentable. 

sigh.

Anyhoo... I kinda like it because of, you know, the cute baby boy.

He clearly thinks his Naynay has lost her mind.

Happy Tuesday!

Renee

Feeling thankful

I'm thankful for laughter.  What a gift God has given us.  Laughter is soothing like nothing else...and it's even more wonderful when it's the ones you love doing the laughing.

I'm thankful for my sister...sharing bloggy-talk...remembering days gone by...looking toward what will be.  With my sister I never have to think about how I look, or what I'm wearing, or what kind of mood I'm in.  She's seen it all before...and it will always be okay.

See this beautiful girl on the right?  That's our bethany.  I love that girl!  Only yesterday she was snoozing in my blue recliner, all sweaty and little and perfect, curled up beside that beautiful girl on the left.  and now she's getting married.  She's marrying Nick.  I love that boy!  I have no words to express how grateful I am that yet another of our girls has found a man who loves Jesus with whom to spend her life.

I'm thankful for floors wearing the spills of sweet audrey and I'm thankful for freshly-mopped floors all sparkly and clean.

I am also thankful for the lovely, springy view from my front window in the morning.  I'm thankful I have such a beautiful home in which to live. 

It's been a bit of a tough week in the I kind've need some things but can't afford them department.  Even though things are a little hard, I am so grateful that I can't remember the last time I awoke in the morning all knotted up, wondering how on earth I was going to be able to pay for....whatever, by the end of that day.  There were so many of those mornings, for so long.  (Thankful for the hard things!)  I'm thankful that because of Jesus, having barely just enough is all I could ever need.  and I'm thankful that the hard right now is a little bit less hard than it used to be :)

I am so grateful that God blessed me, and my family, and my people with one more week of good health. 

I am ever thankful for my dear, dear Tana, and today I'm thankful for the all-is-right feeling of knowing I will see her in a matter of hours.

I'm thankful that tonight I get to spend time with several of the ladies who have been a blessing to me through the years...friends I love and who love me.  I'm also grateful that there will likely be Panera Fuji Apple Chicken salad hold the chicken in the picture.

I'm thankful that I have my dear Cheryl in Cincy to miss with all my heart. 

(but I still wish she was right here)

I'm thankful that sometimes He knows I need to SEE that He hears me, and will then give me something I asked for in such a tangible and specific way that all I can do is tell anyone who will listen.

I'm thankful that I found this little website months ago, and that I decided to officially begin counting the blessings in my life.  I always knew they were there, but oh the JOY it gives me to see them all written down.





(A thousand gifts #425-439)

God bless you on this lovely Monday!
Renee

Five Minute Friday: A few of my favorite things

Yippee for Fridays!  Here in my little corner of the blogiverse I have fully embraced the whole five-minute experiment that Lisa-Jo started a while back.  This day each week I take her suggested topic and write about it for five minutes, run one quick spell check (what can I say, I can't sleep at night if I'm all worried that I might have misspelled something like, you know, the) and then I hit publish and call it a day.

It's wonderful!  It's liberating!  It's a littlebit scary!  And perhaps best of all...it requires a minimum of what precious little energy I have left at this point in my week.  I then spend bits and pieces and chunks of my weekend visiting all my new friends and reading their submissions. 

I'm telling ya it's like a party but I get to stay in my sweats.

This week's prompt?  A few of my favorite things.    Already I can feel myself with too many words.  Time to set the timer!

{Start}

my grandchildren's arms around my neck

listening to my children laughing, or praying, or sharing about how the Lord is working in their lives

time...any time...all time that I get to spend with my family.

taggie, puppy, and sippy cup snuggles with Audrey

just being with people who have been friends for so long they crossed over to family years ago...when there's no agenda, no schedule, no chaos.

sitting in my beach chair right where the waves hit my feet, with my iced tea, my sunglasses, and a good book

my black blanket katie gave me years ago for christmas

my picture with kari with the letter she wrote to me on the other side

Keith Green singing Lord, You're Beautiful or Asleep in the Light

Rich Mullins' Songs

My old Bible that I bought off the clearance table at Lifeway when my babies were small and life was mostly about hope...thumbing through the well-loved, and tear-stained, and thoroughly marked pages, and remembering

the early morning sunlight streaming through my kitchen door and the smell of clean laundry, and driving south on 220, and Kari-hugs and Katie-chats, and watching Jeremy being a dad and watching Drew at "work"

talking with my Savior all alone, just the two of us

{Stop}

Seriously, y'all.  This would be much easier if Lisa-Jo would pick topics such as what's your favorite color? or maybe how do you like your chocolate? 

And hey - would ya leave me a comment and share one of your favorites?

Happy Friday!
Renee