Gratitude Friday

Gratitude Friday: Likely Miracles…

As we were driving to church Sunday morning, my son threw out the theory that IF he laid perfectly flat ...

Gratitude Friday: Oh Medical Boot, Oh Medical Boot…

I sprained my ankle. In bed. (STOP IT) (Had I been doing something salacious and fun it would not have ...

Gratitude Friday: The Tart and Sweet of this Season…

Yesterday, I didn't do a whole lot. A good, warm-bath-certified, day of rest. Got up, packed Skillet's lunch, and made ...

Gratitude Saturday (because Thanksgiving): You Have Permission to Not…

For our Thanksgiving meal, I found the most A.DOR.ABLE paper plates and bowls from the Pioneer Woman's line at Walmart ...

Gratitude Friday: Navigating the Sacred, Holy Tension…

Yesterday morning as I was fixing lunches for the day, I had one of those moments of panic when you ...

Gratitude Friday: The View from a Tractor…

Not sure how you handle overwhelming days, but I self-soothe with HGTV. Yesterday, I came home after some Christmas shopping, ...

Gratitude Friday: All That Sparkles…

The mat in the guest bathroom sparkles. Several weeks ago, I discovered gold glittered nail polish on the bathroom tile. Of ...

Gratitude Friday: That Time I Didn’t Win the Lottery…

So fess up, did you buy a lottery ticket? Because I confess, we did. A few. More than a couple, ...

Gratitude Friday: The Calcium Supplement Birthday…

I am now, "Are you taking your calcium supplements?" Years Old. Did y'all know that was a thing? Because it ...

Gratitude Friday: People and Mosquitoes…

Well, October arrived. In a flash of 90-degree heat, neighbors, and National Night Out glory. We had a lot of ...

Gratitude Friday: Self-control and Gratitude…

I like Peter. He messes up, puts his foot in his mouth, swears he won't do something and then does ...

Gratitude Friday: Our Nothing Fancy, Second-hand, Messy Outsides…

During our drive home to spend the long weekend in Alabama, our car hit 140,000 miles. The car turned ten ...

Gratitude Friday: The Ministry of Ordinary Places…

Several years ago, I realized my life was full of voices repeating the same things. Over and over and over ...

Gratitude Friday: Stuff My Kids Said…

My son came home from school one day this week over-the-moon excited about his day. It had been a PE ...

Gratitude Friday: The List Where I’m Just Too Tired to be Holy…

Listen, I'm not sure if there's some sort of world record for this kind of thing but I am already ...

Gratitude Friday: Holding on for You…

While sitting at the indoor bounce house place this week, listening to a podcast, and enjoying the 90 minutes of ...

Gratitude Friday: Go Back the Way You Came…

Last week, I learned a valuable lesson. 40-somethings probably shouldn't be racing their six-year-old at the trampoline park. Ankles tend ...

Gratitude Friday: Loving Extraordinary Teachers in Ordinary Ways…

My great grandparents worked in the mills in their small southern town. Neither of them made it out of elementary ...

Gratitude Friday: How NOT to Pray for Friendship…

One Friday a couple of weeks ago, the kids and I loaded up for an all-day adventure. We had a ...

Gratitude Friday: The Thief of Expectations…

One day this week, we loaded up for the water park after lunch instead of first thing in the morning ...

Gratitude Friday: The Ordinary, Miraculous Mundane of Summer…

Not sure if I've mentioned this or not (possibly 24 times) but we spend a good many of our summer ...

Gratitude Friday: Catching Moments Like Fireflies…

During the summer, Wednesdays are my day off. Now that band camps are over, Dr. Band Geek isn't teaching but ...

Gratitude Friday: The Blessing of Summer (and it’s not what you think)…

We wrapped up our first day at the waterpark this week. Because it was our first day, we stayed longer ...

Gratitude Friday: In the Delighting, Deliverance…

The past two Sundays, the kids and I have attended my childhood church with my parents. I lovingly refer to ...

Gratitude Friday: Family Quirks, Traditions, and Oddities…

We cooked a Thanksgiving feast this week. My uncle came in town (he's a certified Yankee now) (it's fine, we ...

Gratitude Friday: The Hard Right on I-20…

Last Thursday, we did something we've never done as a family. Took a right-hand turn off I-20 in Jackson, Mississippi ...

Gratitude Friday: Nothing You Can Do About It…

My son appeared in the doorway shaking and crying, "I did something awful." This was the third time he'd come ...

Gratitude Friday: The Slow, Unscheduled Magic …

Not sure about y'all but we have exactly three days of school left in this year and then, summer begins ...

Gratitude Friday: Question Authority, but Raise Your Hand First…

Last week, I hugged nine little people for the very last time as they left our bible study class. They ...

Gratitude Friday: My So That Gratitude List…

My journey to building a grateful life rooted in Jesus began with a simple question, "Are you grateful now?" I ...

Gratitude Friday: The ‘So That’ Provision of Purpose…

This past year, our Bible study group has been working our way through Romans. Honestly, it hasn't always been fun ...

Gratitude Friday: The Discipline of Small…

Listen, can I just be honest here? A small, tiny, raw confession? I have no plan for April. Or May ...

A Grateful Easter: Finding Your One Thing in the Unimaginable…

During the months between our full IVF failure and whatever would be coming next, God performed a miracle in my ...

A Grateful Easter: Finding Your Everything in the Unknown…

After our full IVF failed in March of 2009, I really wasn't sure what to do next. I thought IVF ...

A Grateful Easter: Finding Your Something in the Unexpected…

The very first gratitude list I ever made included a Honeycrisp apple, a ginger peach water, and a Beatles song ...

A Grateful Easter: Finding Gratitude in the Uneasiness…

In December 2006, I traveled with Dr to Chicago for his annual gigantic band conference. The plan being while he ...

Gratitude Friday: Aubrey Kate and the Ministry of Growing Families…

Two years ago today, one of our daughter's namesakes, Aubrey, died tragically and unexpectedly. That night, I sat down to ...

Gratitude Friday: A Call to the Ministry of Leftovers…

Valentine's Day and every day since we watched the news coverage of the Parkland Florida high school shooting. My heart, ...

Gratitude Friday: The Ministry of Not on My Watch…

Monday morning, I spent some time assembling bags filled with supplies for reading games. Index cards, poster board, markers, glue, ...

Gratitude Friday: The Ministry of Buying a House…

When we look for a house, and we've done that a lot, we look for a house we can resale ...

Gratitude Friday: The Ministry of Zero…

In April 2013, my dad retired after 44 years with his company. Dad's team hosted a retirement reception for him ...

Gratitude Friday: Our If You Only Knew Stories…

One morning early on in our marriage, I woke up and thought, "BLAH. This marriage is not at all what I ...

Gratitude Friday: This is Me and This is You…

I'm about to confess something to you. Something that makes my husband say, "Because you're dead on the inside," (a ...

Gratitude Friday: Our Bag of Quarters…

When I opened up social media one morning this week, the first three posts were by friends fighting some of ...

Gratitude Friday: What a Battle Between Kylo and Luke Taught Me…

We are Star Wars people. The kids have been watching Rogue One on Netflix repeatedly plus we own the original three movies ...

Gratitude Friday: New Year, New Language, New Perspective…

We are relatively new to the contemporary church thing. I remember the first time we attended the worship service of ...

A Grateful Holiday: On the Arrival and the Acceptance of Our Savior…

Dr and I celebrated 17 years of marriage last Saturday. Please enjoy our baby faces in our wedding photo. Bless ...

A Grateful Holiday: How to Serve a Humble Savior in a Light Up “Happy Birthday Jesus” World…

This past Saturday I headed up to "The Walmart" for a couple of items I neglected to purchase the day ...

A Grateful Holiday: God Sends Rescue…

In our family, we spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family and Christmas Day with my husband's side ...

A Grateful Holiday: Where You Are Right Now…

A couple of years ago, I gave my daughter a storybook about women of the bible. We read a children's ...

A Grateful Holiday: The Lie We All Fall For…

Happy Day After Thanksgiving! Hopefully, Y'all had a wonderful day of family and friends and football. We ate a lot ...

A Grateful Holiday: Everything, Everywhere, Sacred Ground…

Almost a decade ago, I had finally saved enough money to purchase my dream dining room table. The one I'd ...

A Grateful Holiday: The Plumb Line in Our Ordinary…

Last week, our little family fell victim to a random, ordinary flu-like virus. High fevers, coughing, headaches, loss of appetites, ...

A Grateful Holiday: Finding Our Beginnings…

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line ...

Gratitude Friday: Grateful for You, All Four of You…

An email just popped up on my screen as I sat down to write this. Subject: In the mood for ...

Gratitude Friday: Take Captive Every Thought…

For several weeks, I had been deep in the first three chapters of Romans. Up to my eyeballs in storing ...

Gratitude Friday: A Prayer for the Emptiness…

Father, we come, I come, today, with a heavy heart and a burdened soul for the women waiting for you ...

Gratitude Friday: Trading Striving for Rest…

I started dance classes at the geriatric age of 10. That's even older now then it was then. We moved ...

Gratitude Friday: The Spiritual Infomercial Before and After…

This week, we taught our little two-year-olds about King Nebuchadnezzar. Well, we left out some parts. Such as him eating ...

Gratitude Friday: The Charts We Keep On Ourselves…

Saffron came home with a new set of sight words last week. Her teacher created this adorable folder with a ...

Gratitude Friday: Gratefully Giving of Ourselves…

This week, I witnessed drop off stations for Harvey relief overflowing. Our usual spots, our elementary school and the ALDI, ...

Gratitude Friday: Friday, Y’all, Just Friday…

Goodness, y'all. If ever there was a week to say, THANK GOODNESS IT'S FRIDAY, this is it. Because...this week? Ugh ...

Gratitude Friday: The Invitation to March…

In 1965, a tall, slender white man with a full head of jet black hair arrived in Selma, Alabama expecting ...

Gratitude Friday: Let’s All Just Simmer Down Here…

So this is how the first day of school went for us. We all walked cheerfully and excitedly the half ...

Gratitude Friday: The Teenager…

This week, I am grateful for teenager Robin. Which sounds incredibly odd, except, if you knew how much I have ...

Gratitude Friday: Cookies, Water Parks, and Motherhood, Oh my…

We ate steaks last night. I feel like I should confess that after Tuesday's post when I claimed my son's ...

Gratitude Friday: Community Builders…

Well, my baby, Skillet, turned five yesterday. Officially, he turned five ten days ago but we played the parent card ...

Gratitude Friday: Summer Might Kill Me…

Y'all. Over the course of this week, I have written around 3,000 words trying to fit a round orange slice* ...

Gratitude Friday: Front Yard People, Y’all…

Well, friends. It's done. Our front yard seating area came together like a charm. And. We hosted our first get-together! ...

Gratitude Friday: The Bicycle Perspective…

We are not a bicycle riding people. Pumpkin is horribly afraid she is going to fall off so she rides ...

Gratitude Friday: “Lucky for you, it’s just me”…

This week, I'm sharing a post from May 2014. AKA, three houses and a bazillion years ago. Skillet would have ...

Gratitude Friday: The 45th Anniversary…

Twenty years ago, I painstakingly cross-stitched my parents a letter for their 25th wedding anniversary. The fact that thing continues ...

Gratitude Friday: No Mo’ Woe…

Well, it has been one month since we launched this new space to my social media folks. I know y'all ...

Gratitude Friday: Summertime Friends…

Summertime is here, friends. And, OBVIOUSLY, that means my daughter has been waking up somewhere around the time the sun ...

Gratitude Friday: How to Begin Building a Life of Gratitude, Week 3…

Y'all, I'm going to start off by telling you this has been a hard Gratitude Friday to write. Not because ...

Gratitude Friday: How to Begin Building a Life of Gratitude, Week 2…

Hey, friends!  How did last week's Plumb Line beginning go?  Did you get the work started?  Did you picture Jesus ...

Gratitude Friday: How to Begin Building Your Life of Gratitude…

A couple of night's ago, after I released this little dream of mine into the world, my small group leader ...

Gratitude Friday: My Little Church Lady…

Happy Mother's Day weekend, y'all! I have approximately 2, 481 draft Mother's Day posts written but I can't manage to ...

Gratitude Friday: Teachers…

Couple of things. One, how adorable is that photo???? Snapseed. Y'all. I made that! I have been having just the ...

Gratitude Friday: Teach the Children Well…

Several weeks ago, after my regular bible study meeting, my leader asked me to consider becoming a leader myself. And ...

Gratitude Friday: Spring Break Edition…

Ahem. Welcome to the end of Spring Break. Basically, we have spent all the money and had all the fun ...

Gratitude Friday: Legos…

Welcome to the week of meltdowns. Sweet mercy. Yesterday, it was my son over his legos.  He couldn't make them ...

Gratitude Friday: Mothering…

I promise it did not go unnoticed that the last two posts described the opposite personalities of my children. The Ying ...

Gratitude Friday: My Son…

This was one of those weeks where I felt like God wasn't doing a whole of a speaking to me ...

Gratitude Friday: Us…

Last night, as we were watching the 20/20 special on the incoming first family, my husband threw out this question ...

Gratitude Friday: The Surprising Words…

Do you ever say something, out loud, and surprise yourself? You discover, just as the words are falling out of your mouth, their ...

Gratitude Friday: The Beginning…

Years ago, God invited me to begin a journey of gratitude. We were smack in the middle of our darkest ...