I am grateful that tonight is Bingo night and I will get to spend time once again with some very cool senior citizens. Prizes tonight? Boxes of Whoppers. Gotta love Whoppers. Especially out of a milk carton. Ingenious…

I am grateful for a new adventure in my life. I begin 30 hours of training next Monday to become a CASA – Court Appointed Special Advocate. Today, I had my interview and fingerprinting and spent two hours speaking with Nina about the challenges that come with this volunteer position. I am grateful for the opportunity to talk with this woman who is obviously passionate about advocating for abused and neglected children in Kansas City. I am grateful for the small hints she gave that indicated she also is a follower of Jesus. And I am grateful to know that someone from my church is on the Board of Directors, just because it makes the world a little smaller in my mind.

I am grateful for these sentences that were a part of my devotions:

1. Spiritual blessings come wrapped in trials.
2. Adverse circumstances are normal in a fallen world. Expect them each day.
3. Rejoice in the face of hardship, for I have overcome the world.

My brothers and sisters, think of the various tests you encounter as occasions for joy.  James 1:2 CEB

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2 The Message

I’ve said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world. John 16:33

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I am grateful for fleece clothing that is warm and feels really good.

I am grateful for reminders of Jeanine, Deb, Ginny, and Shirley. I miss you, friends. I love my job, but I miss having a close friend sit right behind me or beside me to make the day all the better.

I am grateful that on this “fast day,” I am not really that hungry.

I am grateful for a fairly clean house, which also makes me grateful for a central vacuum system, for those glorious smells of cleaning supplies, for rugs that are fluffy again, for a shiny wood floor, and for a sparkling refrigerator and microwave, inside and out.

I am grateful for gentlemen who hold doors open for women.

And I am grateful for that blog post from yesterday that still has me thinking, which makes me grateful once again for these young kids who have it all figured out, okay, not ALL figured out, but really do have a handle on life and make so much sense, and they share it with the rest of us so that we can ponder and discuss and work on changing our part of the world for the better.  I don’t know who you are, theboeskool, but you make me pretty proud.