Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Gladitude:

Howdy...Without further ado, here are some happy-doggone-good-glad-making things in my week:

10. Well, I know I'm the very last person on board, but I lurve these little free bloggy backgrounds. Even I could cut and paste that. Not bad!

9. Glad that we're back home and our weekend was filled with crispy cool fallness. Beautifully sunny days with brrrsy temps in the mornings. Big even had frozen dew on his car this morning.

8. Glad for a kick-butt church service, discussing Luke 5:27-32. Our pastor goes r.e.a.l.l.y. slowly because he really wants us to understand the 1st Century history--e.g. what being a tax collector really meant in that society--and the Greek undertones of the text. He also ended with us thinking about how we might judge "sinners" in our lives. Get it? We're all sinners. There is no salvation by segregation (his words, not mine--I assure you. LOL).

7. Glad for the very superficial fact that my nails are all about the same length. Yes, short! But all the same shortness. I even have a sassy daaaaark plum on them.

6. Glad that God is prompting me towards some more self respect. I have really been feeling the nudge to shower and make up and dress nicely (even if my nicely is somebody else's ick) as I start my day. I've been a bit more intentional about my quiet times, too. Now, I know (because I read this great post) that I don't h.a.v.e. t.o. do those quiet times. But I do think there's nothing like starting your day with them if possible. Sometimes as I read thru my Bible, I tell God I just don't get what he's saying, and I apologize for being distracted or (ahem) bored at times. But it's funny. The second I repent and ask for help, I see something incredible in the text. Right now I'm nearly finished with 1Chronicles. As I've mentioned before, I've never read the Good Book from one end to the other, so this is an exhilarating challenge. I don't get very far in each setting--I started this in July--but it's so very cool. I guess I really hit a rabbit hole on this #6. Oh, well.

5. Glad for the beginning of a feeling of settling into a new routine. For the past two months, we've been in process and upheaval. While Stella Gretchen still doesn't quite have her groove, it's coming. That's comforting to an anxiety-ridden former control freak.

4. Having new visitors to this blog has made me glad. I have to admit, I'm like a kid waiting at the door for a visitor on her birthday, so when I see new folks and my more regular blog friends, it makes my heart sing.

3. Glad that Big and I are going to challenge each other for fitness. Tomorrow, we're picking weightloss goals for the next 2 months. We can both win. If we achieve our goal, we get a massage. If one person does it, s/he gets the massage, but we thought we'd both be incented to encourage each other if we weren't directly competing. Plus, if you know anything about how men lose weight...sigh...it's just one of the many things which is unfairly biased and slanted in this world! :)

2. Glad that Big and I have voted! Woohoo! We only cancelled each other out on a few things, but voted for the same president and governor. I'm thrilled to have the rhetoric and meanness behind me. I don't have to listen to one more political ad or commentary. Done! Glad for the right to vote my conscience and my heart in a free country.

1. Had breakfast with one of my dearest friends on the planet on Saturday. We met at 7 which is a testimony to how much I love her to avoid conflict with child activities. But it was glorious. All manner of pig and chicken fatty goodness from the earth now courses through my veins. And never forget the bean of life: coffee. This is probably the direct reason for #3 on the list. But I don't care. Good eats. Good chats. It was awesome.

Hope you have a t-double-e-double-r-double-i-double-f-double-i-double-c-c-c week.

Soli Deo Gloria!
Gretchen