Grateful

 I am grateful..
~ For the creaky old cottage where we make our home. For the silly nail that sticks up in the dining room and annoys me often. For the entryway wooden floor that is bowed from years of temperature changes and a hundred years of house settling.
~ For the family we do have. In their similarities to me (and Brandon), I find the ability to love with abandon. That as the years pass, we will know each other more and more and be happy to experience life together. That my child will grow experiencing the love of family... for as the saying goes (and is true), blood is thicker than water. There is a silent, intrinsic bond that exists between family members. A cord that binds, a chain that bends before it breaks, a simple-yet-complicated love.
~ For warmth in winter. For the past several years, we have been working on paying down debt and paying for college. One of the ways we saved was by keeping our heat reeeeeeally low. With a baby in the house, the heat is turned up (though I suppose we could just make him a fur-wrapped Eskimo baby). It is amazing how much a little heat can raise one's happiness levels.
~ For muscles that move and ache and grow stronger. I told of the beginning of my runing adventures earlier in the week. By this time, I am hurting. Even my arms hurt. How that happened, I do not know. But it is really the first time I have consistently exercised since Devereaux was born, so the pain equals awareness for me. Awareness and gratefulness for the body that carried and birthed a child, and now holds, feeds and cares for a child... and runs and exercises, with the purpose of "girding my arms with strength." (that's Bible truth for you)
~ For chores, for work, for labor. If life was only full of nice things, I couldn't hardly be grateful for them. Because of the work, the nice things are nicer.

Note: I realized how much the culture of blogging has changed as I attempted to convince myself to write a blog post with just words---no pictures. It was tough, but I decided that sometimes words are enough.