Counting Up

It's December 21 and I've yet to post ANYTHING this month!
Lo siento.
It's not for lack of thoughts.
It's because I've had too many thoughts.
This year I've had what I consider to be lots of Christmas angst.
I've wanted to write lots of times, but have not been sure what to say.
One thing I do know:
It's time to post more reasons for gratitude, especially this Christmas week.

If you don't know, we are counting our way to 1000 of God's blessings. We have a notebook on the kitchen table and we daily (usually) keep a list of things for which we are grateful.
I love that my four-year-old knows the word "gratitude"; it's a good one to put into our vocabulary early on.

I'm going to make these smaller because I didn't post them the last two Mondays. And there are a lot of them.

#0204 lunch of soup and salad
#0205 Mrs. Min and Song who play with Lucy on Mon and Wed while I teach
#0206 banana yogurt from Trader Joe's
#0207 goofy 8th grade boys (my students)
#0208 silly 7th grade girls (my students)
#0209 time with Lucy eating lunch together
#2010 Lucy's tiny face
#0211 how red cranberries are
#0212 Advent
#0213 the 5 and 10 store on Massachusetts Avenue; we can walk there; and they have EVERYTHING!
#0214 baking
#0215 the smell of oatmeal cooking
#0216 seeing new students learning Spanish
#0217 samples at Trader Joe's
#0218 naps for Lucy
#0219 naps for me with Lucy
#0220 that John takes the boys to school most days
#0221 school
#0222 vacation
#0223 good visits to different middle schools with Walter
#0224 watching "Elf"
#0225 hot tea
#0226 John helping me with the computer
#0227 Women's Bible Study on Tuesdays
#0228 the Bible
#0229 book of Joshua
#0230 that God is much higher than we are
#0231 reformed theology
#0232 Tim Keller
#0233 New York City
#0234 my friend, Meda
#0235 my warm slippers in my cold house
#0236 Lucy's shots
#0237 middle school (it's coming next year!! And I didn't write this one)
#0238 hand warmers!
#0239 salt and pepper
#0240 movies
#0241 tuna melts
#0242 Lucy being brave at her shots
#0243 tummies (I think Lucy said this one)
#0244 Lucy's belly button
#0245 Covenant School
#0246 Mrs. Levy (my colleague)
#0247 Mrs. Leiserson (another colleague)
#0248 youth (Walter!)
#0249 milk
#0250 Park Street School (and we're a quarter of the way to 1000!)
#0251 volcanoes
#0252 clementimes (I know it's misspelled; that's how Lucy says it)
#0253 flowers and roses and all the flowers (Lucy)
#0254 milk in a tin mug
#0255 Dr. Danis (our pediatrician for the past 11 years!)
#0256 Mr. Utter (another colleague)
#0257 "There is no Christmas to buy or to make. There is only Christmas to find." I read this on someone's blog? Was it on Ann's blog? It comforted me so.
#0258 Benjamin Britten (composer)
#0259 sharpened pencils
#0260 school supplies
#0261 messy chairs with piles so you can't sit down
#0262 Clay's dirty socks in his bed
#0263 having plenty of socks
#0264 being able to Christmas shop
#0263 praying with the boys
#0264 laughing with the boys
#0265 lined up lunch boxes in the morning
#0266 snuggling in a warm bed
#0267 being able to borrow our neighbor's dryer because ours done broke
#0268 parents (Walter)
#0269 not having video games (Walter; is this reverse psychology?!)
#0270 being a kid
#0271 family
#0272 snow!
#0273 brothers (be still my heart, they're thankful for each other!)
#0274 Walter being nice to his brothers
#0275 Advent (again; redundant gratitude; see this post)
#0276 bagels with butter
#0277 new clothes
#0278 my friend, Heather Ashe
#0279 Lucy's songs she makes up every day
#0280 hearing kids play together
#0281 wrestling with the children
#0282 Lucy holding up one finger as she goes to sleep; this means, "One more song."
#0283 happy children
#0284 grumpy children
#0285 lip gloss
#0286 Lucy playing ponies
#0287 dishwasher! And that we have one!
#0288 boy haircuts
#0289 sunrise
#0290 the smell of Lucy and her blankies when she wakes up
#0291 Cheerios
#0292 candles
#0293 ipods
#0294 not having to buy a new phone! (I lost my cell phone, but a friend had an old one to give me!)
#0295 that Jesus is our Shepherd; He won't leave us
#0296 Santa hats
#0297 scarves
#0298 mothers/ my mommy (Walter and Lucy; yay!)
#0299 fire
#0300 two boys shoveling the walk and digging out the car
#0301 church people going after (a long way after) someone who has strayed; I'd want someone to come after me
#0302 that John is home safely from a long and snowy drive many states away
#0303 knee socks!
#0304 God's mercies are new EVERY morning; He knew we would need that!

If you made it to the end of this, I applaud you.