Being Cavity Free

I hate going to the dentist.  I had so many cavities as a kid.  It didn't matter how many times I brushed- always always cavities.  My brother and sister never did- always always fine. 

I can literally feel my body getting into knots when I sit in the chair.  But today I was a big girl and I went to the dentist.  Hooray! Cavity free! 

ISH asked if this means I listened to Bill Cosby Himself last night.

Nope, just a lucky break for me this time.

Humid Okla days that make the boys' hair curl into ringlets

I doubt I need further explanation but these humid days, o how they make the boys', my sweet boys, hair curl even tighter. It reminds me of swimming in the waters off the Amalfi coast with my dear friend Anne on the first day of fall. We swam and we yelled at the top of our lungs (loud Americans) all the things we could think of that made us happy. Me, at 20, called out "curly-headed boys." How blessed I am to have two of my very own.

Delta Agent Kristi

Last night I went to bed with a horrible crick in my neck.  It had been there most of the day and kept me up on and off throughout the night.  So I suppose last night, I was thankful for Advil.

Today, I am thankful for Delta Agent Kristi who pulled strings to make this happy little agent's life easier. 

There are times I question how much God is in the little details of my life, and times when I feel weird saying things along the lines of how I prayed to God about a parking space and got it- but today, when it looked like I was about to have to dive in headfirst into a long and drawn out ordeal that would likely come to head the day before I close down shop for two weeks- I prayed.  I said God, I'll do this if I need to.  And I'll do it with all the grace and kindness you can give me.  But really, I mean really, really, can you please let them give an answer that makes this whole thing easier?

And guess what!  Delta Agent Kristi did!  She did that and more than I could have even thought about asking them to do.  So while I would have tried to sit here tonight and be thankful even if she hadn't, I'm really thankful I don't have to.

Geo and his uniqueness

At this stage it involves things more along the lines of wearing clothes inside-out and/or backwards.  But I hope in times to come it involves him being willing to take the harder, better way, because he is confident in who he is.

And then today someone told Geo he should fix his shirt (which was both inside-out and backwards) because it was "very embarrassing" to her.  (Yes, it was an adult, yes it was in church, yes she should have known better, no I was not there, and no I would not have held my tongue if I was). 

But I'm thankful because that it opened the door to talk to Geo about how it's okay to not be like everyone else.  And it allowed us a chance to explain that different in a way that hurts others, is immoral, or is illegal is not okay but different in itself is.  And we were able to talk about how when our differences bother others it's a good chance to check ourselves and motives but that in the end we don't have to change who we are and what we do just because someone else is embarrassed. 

(And it gave the chance to discuss the difference between face-tattoo-stupid-different and clothes-backwards-different.  I'm sure this conversation will likely come back and bite me in someway when he's a teenager but blue-mohawk-different is still not face-tattoo-stupid-different -- one grows out the other doesn't). 

So I'm thankful for the hurtful words that woman never should have said to my sweet little one because I hope today planted a seed for Geo to see he doesn't have to follow the crowd.  And in the end, I pray that God can take the seed and mold Geo into a mighty man who is able to be unique in a way that serves Him and gives Him glory even if it make others uncomfortable.

My parents

I'm thankful for the time, even if just a little bit, that we were able to spend together today. I'm thankful for the times they held me accountable and helped me learn, allowed me to learn, the hard lessons. I'm thankful for the support they give and the encouragement they show me and my family. I am truly blessed to have them in my life as active participants.

Bubbles

Today ISH spilled bubble solution on the back porch.  There were tears because he thought that would be the end of what he had hoped to spend the afternoon doing. 

But I got down on the porch with him and showed him how to pick up the puddle of solution with the wand (a moment of motherhood ingenuity) and all the fun bubbles blown onto solution can bring.

Giggles.  Lots of them as he moved the bubbles around and stacked them together.  Examining them as he never would have really been able to from the traditional dip-blow-bubbles-into-the-Okla.-wind model we normally go for around here.

I'm thankful for the reminder that some times it's through the spilled bubble solution of my own life that opportunities open up for me to be able to experience something amazingly new.

ISH's Sweet Little Fingers

Fingers that are still little. While the rest of him gets a little thinner and little more boy-like, a little less preschool- his fingers still are young. I took the time to breathe in the sight of his hands, his fingers this morning. The little fingers that stretched across LK when ISH crawled in bed to say good morning and then sleepily curled back around Blankety, who had accompanied him into our bed. And I felt unexplainably grateful for each little one of them.