The Gift of a Snow Day

At 5:30 this morning my phone rang. When I answered I listened to a recorded message from the school superintendent, announcing a snow day. No school today. A gift...a day off I hadn't planned. A day to make my own.

Percy still needed to be fed - he was on "school time" so he wanted breakfast at 6 AM and a walk afterwards. I woke Carrie up a little early, because her school was not closed today. (Poor baby!) Usually I am leaving as she is getting up. So I gave her a little gift - I made breakfast for her. She called when she got to work - it took her an extra 20 minutes to get there, but she made it safely. (Thanks, God!)

I have begun this gift of a day with a cup of coffee (sugar and vanilla caramel Coffeemate added, of course) and my Bible.

I have begun a journey of sorts - a journey with two parts. The first part is to memorize at least 100 verses. Read more about that here and in a future post.

The second part, which you can read about in a past post, is about becoming more aware of the gifts I have been given each day. It has been harder than I realized to put this thankfulness down on paper, to really identify the gifts. I have been on this part of the journey for almost a month and I only have 104 things written on my list of 1000 gifts. I think part of this is because I receive many of the same gifts each day and I don't want to list them twice. (Examples- my children, talking with my husband, food on the table, etc.) But I also think that recognizing gifts takes time - and I don't always want to slow down and savor the gift. I am in too much of a hurry to get done with my day.
So today's gift of time- time to be home, time to stop and think and pray- is also going to be a time of beginning to learn how to savor the gifts in my day. I am going to slow down my thoughts and appreciate the gifts - and thank the Giver:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (God),with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. James 1:17
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63. new shoes that are good for my body (support) and are cute too
64. reading a blog online about hw God is healing Joanne
65. scrapbooking - creating beauty, preserving pictures and memories
67. the words, "In the bgeinning God..."
70. the internet, to watch and listen to one of Brenton's sermons
72. my husband is my best friend
75. the smell of pizza outside and italian restaurant
78. hearing a woodpecker