Gladitude: Simple Pleasures

I don't usually do gladitudes in a thematic manner...just the fact that I'm glad is typically theme enough for me. But today...something different. I'm feeling a mix of melancholy and excited anticipation for our upcoming fall season. Unlike most of my fellow blogsters, my children still have about 2.5-3 weeks left of summer. But for some reason...maybe it's the fact that we can't go any where without seeing the signs of fall decor and Halloween candy. Maybe it's the back to school shopping and the fact that both of my children have received their class lists, etc. Maybe, it's that all of our "fun things to look forward to" are over for the summer season, and we're looking forward to fall. I don't know. But whatever I'm feeling...an appreciation of simple pleasures seems just the ticket.

10. I'm glad for playing card games with my daughter and Pictionary with the whole family. Note to self: our Pictionary is ooooold. There were words in there like "Kirk Douglas" and "Chernobyl". Now, David knew Chernobyl, but he and J both wanted to know who KD was.

9. Grateful for a drive doing quick errands with my hubby. We appreciate being with our children, but what a blessed break to have an hour of "found" time, just tooling around, returning movies to Blockbuster and getting WD-40 at Lowes. The kids didn't care to be interrupted from their trampolining and computering, and Big and I had uninterrupted conversation. We even discussed a book he'd read (before we dropped it off at our library--our 2nd to last stop).

8. Grateful for cereal for dinner. Grateful for a husband who loves home-cooked meals, but who realizes that making dinner is not my love language, especially when I'm tired, and so he suggests things like cereal. Love him.

7. Glad we visited the Taste of Edmonds Festival today. Can you say, "Elephant ears"? There, I thought you could. Yes, it was totally a bomb in the wallet--$4 for this, $7 for that, but to enjoy all that nummy food in the summer sunshine, whilst listening to a local band play songs like "September"... Just not so bad at all. I had a picture of me enjoying a roasted ear of corn (what is it with the ear thing?), but my muffin top is showing, and I never show it volunarily, so you'll just have to imagine. :)

6. Glad for praying with my kids and learning/sharing lessons God has placed on our hearts. J. has been very thinky lately, and a little bit scared. What a privilege it is to talk to her about her fears and to pray over them together at the throne of God. It's a pleasure to hear her murmuring Psalm 139 (the assignment I told her to read) as I head up the stairs to bed.

5. Gladaciously glad for the opportunity to sing on worship team this week. We had extra long sets and a pre-worship set, so though my voice is shredded, I feel so humbled and thrilled to serve in this capacity. I cannot believe I get to do this.

4. Glad for nude/pink nail polish. I like that it doesn't chip too badly. Red or bold pink/raspberry/plum for the toes, but light colors on the hands, baby.

3. Glad that I am a "dog person". I just cannot explain how sweet it is to my heart to have my big dog snoozing at my feet as I type this. And tonight, she's not even flatulent, so that's a super gladdy. Glad that our little dog smiles and sneezes until I relent and let him up on my lap, bed, couch, etc. I guess I'm a pack girl at heart.

2. Glad for Twitter and the little voices that tweet over the internet all day to me. Voices of prayer, encouragement, what's for dinner?, mothering skilz or lack, real time pain and joy. Sometimes you don't need a full convo, so a tweet will do. And sometimes you need a full convo, so you tweet to set on up. Bottom line: I'm glad for connection--even if it's in the form of 140 characters or less.

1. Gladdydingdongdoodah that I'll be cuddled up to my sweetie in about 25 minutes watching the season premiere of Mad Men. The first of the fall line up of TV achievement, baby. Sign me up!