Self Portrait Challenge - { senses - sight }

"To look at a thing is quite different from seeing a thing, and one does not see anything until one sees its beauty."

Mabel - An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde



And can I just say, I'm so thankful for optical technology.
Without it, my world is truly a blur.



Click here to see more of "The Five Senses" theme over on Self Portrait Challenge...

Self Portrait Challenge - { clean }

One in six people in the world do not have clean drinking water.

Go here to give a family the gift of clean water via a water filter this Christmas, or any time of the year(see #35 on the link page).

This month I am using Self Portrait Challenge's tiny words challenge to find small but meaningful things that I am thankful for - things I usually take for granted, but without which I would have a very different life.

Self Portrait Challenge - { air }

Take a deep breath with me. It isn't easy for everyone - asthma, copd, upper respiratory infections... if you have one of these you know, every breath is a gift.

This is one of the reasons I love running. The deep, regular breathing needed to keep pace and not get worn out quickly forces me to think about something I rarely give any thought to the rest of the day. Running keeps me thankful that I can.

This month I am using Self Portrait Challenge's tiny words challenge to find small but meaningful things that I am thankful for - things I usually take for granted, but without which I would have a very different life.

Self Portrait Challenge - { ten }

November is the month of Thanksgiving here in the US. I am saddened that this holiday has been reduced to what some call "Turkey Day" with football... or just a segway into Christmas.

The men and women who came to this country suffered and struggled in those first few years just to survive, and nearly half of the 102 who started the Plymouth colony did not make it through. The first giving-thanks meal they celebrated was laden with awareness that God was the only reason they had made it this far.

This month I will be using the Self Portrait Challenge's "tiny words" challenge to find small but meaningful things that I am thankful for - things I usually take for granted, but without which I would have a very different life.



An excellent book about the original history and meaning of Thanksgiving for adults and children is Barbara Rainey's Thanksgiving - A Time to Remember. We read this together every November. Just pulling it off the shelf this month has stirred my heart anew for this special time of year.

Fingerprint Friday { big brown eyes }

My husband, his mother, my mother, my sister, they all have these big beautiful browns...
but I know where she really got them from...

Thank you for her smiling eyes, Jesus - they light up my life!




There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in:

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints.

2. Be sure to link so others can find the entire list of participants! Go over to PamperingBeki's blog to add your link to the list of participants.

Fingerprint Friday { father daughter dance }

My husband took our oldest daughter to our church's father daughter dance recently.

This was such a wonderful thing to me, for so many reasons that are difficult to put into words (moms, you know what I mean!)

Chad doesn't really like to dance, but it has been reported that he danced the night away. Nicole came home beaming, and has many wonderful memories of the night, including the chicken dance, haha.

I have a great husband.
Thank you, Jesus - I am often struck by Your goodness in this.



I am irritated at the flare on Nicole's face in the shots I took, but I'm still glad I have them.



There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in:

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints.

2. Be sure to link so others can find the entire list of participants! Go over to PamperingBeki's blog to add your link to the list of participants.

Thankful Tree

We have a tree growing in our hallway.
Really.

Ok, so it's not a live tree.

But it's growing every day!

It's a Thankful Tree.

You can have one, too.

Really.

We traced our handprints onto red, orange, yellow, brown & green construction papers, and cut them out.

I cut out a tree trunk from some brown craft paper recycled from a shipping box, and taped the trunk on the wall.

For each day until Thanksgiving, the girls each get a leaf, and they write something they're thankful for it, before I tape it to the tree.

By Thanksgiving, we'll have a huge tree of thankfulness!

Some of the things on our leaves right now:
food
clean water
Daddy
pretty places
family
toys
forgiveness
the abc's
holidays
sisters
God