I am grateful for my beautiful card from Anissa that makes me cry happy and gives me aches when I read it. It says, “Ama, I gave vis to you dekus you can awas wememr me.” Translation for those who do not read Anissish: “Ama, I gave this to you because you can always remember me.”

I will never forget you, my sweet Anissa.

I am grateful for my work family and for our first annual Dip Off and Pickleball outing. I’m wishing I had some dip off today. The cheescake dip was the winner in my books. Although the chocolate chip dip and the snickers dip were pretty close to the top. I can do without the yucky dips, though. However, put potato chips with just about any dip, and any dip’ll do.

I am grateful for my feast of jello and broth all the day long today. In honor of Sam I Am and because my sister insists.

The Lord your God is with you… He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. – Zephaniah 3:17

I am grateful for the silence of the morning, for the smell after rain, for the beauty of flowers in the kitchen window.

I am grateful for the feeling that God is rejoicing and singing when I walk from the truck to the office and hear the cardinals, when I sit at my desk and hear them just outside my window, when I wake up in the morning, and when I sit on the patio outside at the end of the day.

I am grateful that my Dad goes above and beyond. Our dumpster is notoriously full one day after trash day, thanks to a husband who throws a whole lotta demo material and unwanted junk away on a regular basis. We are bad citizens who have not recycled, and we are bad dumpster owners who do not break things down to make the most of the space. That’s where Dad comes in. I promise you, almost every week, he takes the time to go through our dumpster and break down boxes and rearrange the order of all things garbage-y. It’s not even his trash. And on top of that, every day when I am in town, Dad drives to the house just to take little Natia for a walk and retrieve the junk mail that will find its way to the dumpster.

And I am grateful for the joy of watching a dog’s face in the breeze while driving down College Boulevard at lunchtime.