Bless Her Heart

30 Days with a Grateful Heart - {Day 6}

Day 6 ~ Best Camping Buddy...

Car camping, walk-in, shelter, backpack-in, tent, hammock...it doesn't matter...I'm so grateful that my girl is game for anything. She's a talker, a listener, a reader, hiker, swimmer, and just be-er. We've had some great trips together this year, and I'm counting the days until the next one. <3

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fighting the Good Fight, Day 6: Central Texas Food Bank

From their website:

Thanks to a thriving business sector and unparalleled economic development, Central Texas is among the fastest growing regions in the nation. But amid this growth and prosperity, many of our neighbors are being left behind.

The rising cost of housing, utilities, transportation and healthcare leaves many of our neighbors to make impossible choices and painful sacrifices. Two-thirds of the people we serve say they had to choose between buying food and paying for housing in the past year. Eighty percent say they had to choose between food and medicine.

Hunger affects people from all walks of life. Working families, retired seniors on fixed incomes, grandparents with custody of grandchildren, the chronically ill and the disabled all turn to the Food Bank for help in emergencies or as part of their regular meal planning. As we work together to ensure all these people get the nutritious food they need, we’re counting on you to help educate the community and dispel myths about hunger around us. Please share your knowledge with others.

30 Days with a Grateful Heart - {Day 3}

Day 3 ~ I spent the day at my mama's house, the house my father died in years ago. I went by myself, sitting in spaces (his spaces) that pull forward an tugging undercurrent of grief....my own grief and the grief that I feel for my family's loss, for my mama's loss. I didn't go there for that, but that is what I got. There aren't constant reminders. The house is not stuck in time. It's not any kind of mausoleum or memorial to him, it's very much her space now, and so when I happened upon the occasional small thing that was his, I found myself clutching, smelling, feeling the weight of it in my hands. I might have imagined that I was catching his scent under the detergent on his favorite purple turban. Maybe it's just that I can still remember exactly what he smelled like. His jewelry felt so heavy in my hands. Heavier than I remember. When I spend time in this space, I am reminded of the loss, for us, for my mama...and also of the magical family mythology that binds us to each other and also to him. Today I am grateful for these words by Lucille Clifton:

she lived

after he died
what really happened is
she watched the days
bundle into thousands,
watched every act become
the history of others,
every bed more
narrow,
but even as the eyes of lovers
strained toward the milky young
she walked away
from the hole in the ground
deciding to live.       and she lived.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fighting the Good Fight, Day 3: Mobile Loaves and Fishes

 

 

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 25

Day 25 ~ These two...

Nana and Fred, Fred and Nana...these two who are ever-welcoming, generous, hilarious, gracious and kind. I can't imagine our world without them. We're just so lucky to have them so near...and there's nothing like spending a bit of Christmas Day by the bonfire with them, to have that gratitude come flooding in full force. Love these two!

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 20

Day 20 ~ being read to...

There's little that I love more than indulging in a good book with the girlie. Tonight I'm grateful that she shares the reading aloud with me...and the laughter that a well written book can evoke.

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 19

Day 19 ~ These hands...

My mother is modest, and incredibly humble and if I were to share a full photograph of her here, no matter how beautiful, she would squirm with uncomfortableness. And so we will focus on this part of her that I love so much. 

I can't remember my mama's hands not working at something. It seems that when there are four kids, there is always something to be done.

When I close my eyes and picture her hands the way I saw them as a younger child, I see her rubbing my father's shoulders, massaging my little brother's feet, trying to chase a headache away. I can feel her hand patting me on my back along to the music that she's humming while I have my head in her lap. I see her hands chopping vegetables, kneading bread, knitting, folding diapers, deftly pushing fabric through the sewing machine, making our clothes, and making a little extra money on the side.  I see her hands steadily working to care for us as littles and to provide for us in the way she knew best...learn how to do something new, apply a lot of elbow grease, repeat. As we grew a little older, mama moved into birth work her hands took on a whole new purpose. She's been a midwife for over 30 years now, and so I share these hands with just so many people. When I really think about that, my mind is blown....

My mama's hands have wiped a thousand brows of their sweat, glistening from the efforts of the hardest work there is

wiped away ten thousand tears of pain, of joy, of labor, of release

my mama's hands have welcomed the newest among us, sometimes with a little coaxing and always with a touch that promises that they will be cherished and that a kind and tender world awaits

massaged the roly poly thighs and tight little toes of those same growing babes

sometimes those babes grow up and become mamas, and the circle continues...

they hold, soothe, massage, empower, her hands keep delivering the message. 'You can do this'

her hands have held my hands, and maybe yours too

they've been intertwined with the hands of those elated in birth, and marriage, and celebration

soothed those in overwhelm, sadness, loss and the darkest depths of grief

my mama's hands are strong and steadfast in their purpose to deliver love and strength when we all need it the most, and I just have the deepest, purest gratitude for that.

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 18

Day 18 ~ Gatherings

Still feeling the glow of celebrating my niece's birthday together with my siblings and my mama this past weekend. When we all gather together, I'm reminded of how incredibly lovely it is that we live so close to one another. I love our shared stories, swapped recipes, jokes and endless laughter. I'm so grateful that we can get together for birthdays, holidays, and sometimes...just because. 

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 11

Day 11 ~ What these two have...

They have some big-time cousin, sister, bff kind of love. I feel so grateful that they have each other to pal around with, to adventure with, to skype chat with, to bake with. I love so much that they enjoy time in the kitchen together. The last time they were together they made me breakfast in bed. Breakfast...in BED. I can't remember the last time that that happened around here. So yeah, I'm pretty grateful for that too. :)

 

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 8

Day 8 ~ This Man

Hard-working and kind beyond measure, he rounds out our little family and makes us whole. I am so grateful for his insight and his belief in each one of us. His encouragement and his willingness to take risks along side of us, in order for us to follow our hearts, has helped fulfill many of our goals and dreams. It's not always the easiest way, but often it's the truest way to us, and so with a lot of heart and a lot of elbow grease he helps navigate the best ways to accomplish these things. The world is a better place because of his acts of kindness big and small, and man do I love him for it.

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 6

Day 6 ~ Sister

If she weren't my sister by blood, she'd be my sister by choice. We would have found each other somehow on this earth. It would have to be like that, because I just simply can't imagine my life without her. I can't fathom my children not knowing her, not loving her in the way that they do. I can't think of what it would be like to not have her spontaneously dancing in my kitchen, or while we're clothes shopping or in the car...the music comes on and parts of her body just start to move. I love how she smiles with her eyes twinkling, even though they all but disappear when she's laughing, because she has the biggest, most beautiful smile. Even though she the youngest of us in sibling order, she is often my rock...encouraging me to be brave creatively when I want to be a chicken, or listening to my worries or calling me on my bullshit and loving me anyway. She sees the lovable in everyone, she is a solution finder, she lives with her heart wide open and she is just a treasure on this earth. If you've met her before, you know I speak the truth...if you haven't, I hope you get to some day. Sisters forever, love.

30 Days with a Grateful Heart ~ Day 5

Day 5 ~ The Marriage

I just want to count the simple blessing that after near 18 years, there's just still no one else I'd rather be figuring out this crazy world with than with the one that asked me to grow old with him. It's just as simple as that.