232.

232. His mercies are new every morning
233. safe arrival
234. warm cup of tea on a chilly morning
235. being fictive Aunt
236. a washing machine (not everyone has one)
237. people on the other side of the world who pray for me
238. people who trust God even in negative circumstance
239. safe return
240. videos of my grandson on FB
241. baby Micah dedicated by his parents to the Lord
242. getting to watch baby Micah's dedication over Skype
243. smores
244. chores done

219.

On one hand, I don't feel particularily thankful at just this moment.  That's because I'm troubled about something, and envision a week of uneasy unknowing ahead.  That said, if I put my sadness aside I can quite easily see that my life is full to overflowing with good things that God provides.  I will list a few more, regardless how I feel:

219. a concert of prayer
220. the privilege of working with people who pray
221. a local church opening up its facilities
222. being treated to lunch
223. a best friend who has enough history with me to know why I'm hurting
224. the confidence that God is in control
225. the belief that God will provide one way or another
226. the knowledge that God loves me
227. the knowledge that God loves those whom I love better and more than I do
228. preparing for Advent lessons
229. some time alone
230. breakfast for dinner
231. a text message from my husband (who hates cell phones)

207.

207. His mercies are new every morning
208. a beautiful fall day
209. breakfast
210. learning how someone spent hours to help someone without "needing" to
211. a walk with a friend
212. God's protection for my BF's grandbaby
213. catching up
214. homemade spaghetti sauce
215. caramel apples dipped in trail mix
216. laughter around the table
217. God's promise: I will never leave or forsake you
218. help with the dishwasher

197.

197. finishing a project
198. people who care about our ministry
199. God's grace in times of ugliness
200. an intentional thank you
201. homemade soup
202. birthday cake
203. birthday cupcakes
204. my friend traveling 8000+ miles to visit her dying mother, arriving 4 hours before she passed
205. on-demand greeting cards
206. handmade paper from Thailand

191.

191. rain last  night
192. more rain coming today
193. a tiny bit of fall color
194. dinner invitation so I don't have to cook
195. Ton's
196. a walk around the block with my daughter

180.

Well, I'm officially behind schedule with the number of gift/blessings/thanks I wanted to list each day.  I am finding the exercise is keeping my mind alert to naming the good things God does, but I guess I've picked off the easy ones!  I also keep wondering if I am repeating myself--entirely possible with my declining memory.  On the other hand, being thankful more than once for a good thing can't be a bad thing!

I finished reading the One Thousand Gifts book.  I hope I can cultivate a life of giving thanks well into the future, beyond this month and reading this book.  The main thing I got out of the book:  if your heart is filled with thanks, there is no room for all the negative things like worry, anger, fear, distrust, pride, and just general selfishness.

180.  the promise of a new day
181.  the promise of a little rain for our dry ground
182.  lunch with my daughter
183. news of drug addicts seeking the Lord
184. safe arrival
185. expressions of trust regardless of the circumstances
186. hearing "Lord, you give us prayer as an alternative to worry."
187. funerals turning into family reunions
188. the resources and opportunity for two trips last year
189. a place to write down all the passwords
190. enough leftover blueberry cobbler to share with a guest

165.

165. churches which send shoeboxes
166. the steadfast love of the Lord never changes
167. his mercies never come to an end
168. his mercies are new every morning
169. Great is his faithfulness
170. enough to give
171. redeeming the secular for God's purposes
172. there is no longer Jew nor Gentile
173. I actually heard a young man say these words today: I'm courting Suzie...
174. the last chapter
175. Gary sleeping through the football games
176. packed shoe boxes for giving
177. teaching Sunday School during Advent

178. God's promise of peace regardless of circumstances
179. a friend coming to visit

134.

134. sleeping in a little
135. participating in citizen science
136. cheap cat shots
137. the service of others
138. blueberries
139. friends of friends
140. a reprieve
141. Gary's willing help
142. freshly mowed lawn
143. seeing Micah and Isabella on Skype
144. flexibility
145. invitation to a dinner party
146. cupcakes for a birthday ending in 0
147. email from a long-lost friend
148. a meal with friends
149. stories that mold us
150. recipes from childhood
151. hope for rehabilitation
152. "Happy Birthday" sung to voice mail
153. an extra hour to sleep tonight
154. a new birdfeeder
155. a empty laundry basket
156. you, Lord, are enough
157. Sunday starts in Fiji and arms raise in praise to you around the globe
158. clocks that reset themselves
159. slow but steady healing
160. God's strength when we are weak
161. God's peace when we are upset
162. God's wisdom when we are stumped
163. God's grace when we are selfish
164. God's mercy when we are guilty

101.

101. digital camera ease
102. hot showers
103. warm clothes
104. payday just in time to pay the high deductible
105. faithful friends and churches who financial support us each month
106. and they pray for us too, not just send money
107. receiving a profuse note of thanks
108. payment for services rendered
109. colleagues who work in hard places
110. for young parents who love their health-challenged children
111. postponed surgery
112. tea and cookies
113. unexpected opportunity for a walk in the park
114. beautiful weather for a walk in the park
115. friends who take the time to call to rejoice with yo
116. adopted kids
117. clean windows
118. ancient words of present truth
119. a new identity
120. satisfaction from simple things
121. the cat's predictable behavior
122. small potatoes
123. God's promises stand true regardless of my feelings
124. God invites my trust as an alternative to my worry
125. when people are patient with me
126. a shared bowl of ice cream
127. a chance to serve
128. a chance to be served
129. that which was lost has now been found
130. news of a good deal
131. chosen
132. alive
133. loved

67.

67.  a warm cuddle on a chilly morning
68.  indoor plumbing
69. toast and eggs
70. a YouTube video of my grandbaby
71. crossing something off the to-do list
72. stories told by friends
73. expressions of thanks from others
74. text messages
75. $.37 dividend
76. a short work week
77. getting my desk cleaned off
78. ganache
79. extra space for visitors
80. a really good vacuum cleaner
81. second chances
82. people who care about me enough to read my printed newsletters
83. people who read my newsletters and then send a personal response
84. new recipes to try
85. meeting friends of friends
86. making something useful out of scraps
87. a phone call from David saying his interview went well
88. building a birdfeeder
89. birds immediately coming to new feeder
90. news of blessings others are experiencing
91. a walking stick that really looks like a stick
92. a second species of sparrow in my backyard
93. the furnace running the first time of the season
94. faithful pray-ers
95. paper letters with envelope and stamp
96. a picture blanket
97. greeting cards on demand
98. the first freeze of the season
99. God's command to trust
100.  God's promise to be trustworthy

35.

35. a morning walk
36. a safe neighborhood
37. clouds blowing by
38. memories of children's jokes
39. a best friend, even if we don't talk so often
40. bread and cheese
41. walking to work
42. wind in my hair
43. a bird I don't immediately recognize
44. people who forgive better than I do
45. coffee break with colleagues
46. house plants
47. chatting with friends
48. good news from afar
49. God's promise to do good
50. peace in my heart when I expect worry
51. young love blossoming (even if they aren't so young anymore)
52. old friends who support us
53.  handmade cards
54.  news of the safe arrive of a first child
55. news of God's work in Asia
56. a happy neighbor child
57. chocolate from Europe
58. safe arrival
59. a history of shared experiences
60. learning a new song
61. watching a foreigner enjoy Mexican food
62. unexpected gifts, even if not particularly wanted
63. singing harmony
64.  singing harmony between two women who sing better than me
65. hearing OT stories again for the first time
66. Mexican food

A Month of Thanksgiving

I'm reading a book I was recently given called "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I'm not finding this book particularly easy to read due to its poetry-prose style. I have to slow down to read it, and maybe that's not such a bad thing.

And even if I don't like the writing style, I certainly am finding the point of the book to be meaningful. In a nutshell: giving thanks to God "solves" a lot of our spiritual, emotional, and social problems because thanks in one's heart means there's little room for anger, worry, fear, pride, etc.

I'm only half way through the book, but I'm determined to finish it soon. I've seen other bloggers do it and I will too: use this space to list 1000 gifts from God that I'm thankful for.*

1. a month to give thanks
2. a warm, safe, comfortable place to sleep
3. too much food in my freezer
4. fall sunshine--not too hot, not too cold
5. fall flowers reviving after a hot summer
6. a peaceful evening
7. the sparrows have returned
8. green grass after a dry summer
9. the internet
10. the world's two cutest grandbabies
11. a hot shower to ease away a headache
12. leftover pumpkin pie
13. the Bible in a language I can understand
14. toast and butter
15. technology to help Gary read
16. IRL friends
17. internet friends
18. green cat eyes
19. my commissioned portrait
20. the family who liked #19
21. people who like their job
22. afternoon sun through the bedroom window
23. fall birds finding my backyard feeders
24. being invited to a business dinner
25. high-speed internet
26. clean kitchen floor
27. half-time job
28. leftover zucchini cake
29. God's provision in so many ways
30. people who listen
31. people who care
32. picking up with old friends many years later
33. the crows' antics with pecans
34. a little time to read

 *Big and little, important and insignificant, immediate and eternal--there are no real rules on what can or cannot go on this list--just that I am thankful to God for them.

Wrong Person Again

I continue to get email for another person with my name. Our gmail addresses differ only by one repeated letter.

Today I responded to another one of these emails not meant for me and I got an autorepsonder message containing the phone number of the other Linda Simons. So I called it! I'm not sure anything will prevent me getting her email in the future, but at least we've discussed it.

Hummingbird Moth

This morning before church I went for a short birdwalk. I found a patch of morning glories and thought I saw a giant bumblebee collecting pollen. No, not a bumblebee, it looked like a humming bird. But wait, this is October and there aren't supposed to be hummingbirds here this late.

I took a closer look. It really did look like a green hummingbird with a white band, but I know hummingbirds don't have antennae. Hmm, if that is an insect, it sure is a strange looking one.
Sorry, these are crummy photos--my crummy camera and the "bird" was moving 100 mph--but with a little imagination, you might get an idea of what I saw.

So I came home and did some research and found there are a class of moths that feed in the daytime which are called Hummingbird moths or Hawk moths. And, naturally, there are dozens of them so they aren't any easier to identify than birds are. My closest guess is Hemaris diffinis.

In other birding news, Gary, Rachel and I went to see The Big Year on Friday night. It was pretty funny, in a geeky sort of way. Any birdwatcher (like me) or birder (the serious guys) will enjoy the movie.

What Price Fall?

There's some Iowa farmers that will think this is either hilarious or unbelievable. Photos from Home Depot and Michael's craft store.

Drummond Rain Lily

I discovered a "new" wild flower and have added it to my collection. My totally beat up wildflower book says they pop up when it rains, and yes, that is what happened after the nice slow rain we got last weekend. I hope we get more soon.

Orchard Orioles Again

This is a 6-second video taken with my new camera (which I don't like) through my spotting scope.  I'm trying to figure a new way to attach the camera to the scope, but it isn't as easy as it was with my old camera.

Anyway,  the oriole pair was here again last week, and they are strikingly beautiful birds.  Even if my photos are rather crummy.

Is "Heaven Is for Real" for Real?

I'm a person of faith. I'm a Christian. I read the Bible and I believe it.

I'm also a bit of a skeptic. I'm the first to check Snopes.com when I read one of those "unbelievable" stories people send me in email forwards. After all, they are "unbelievable" for a reason!  (I've also caught a couple of preachers using faulty illustrations this way, but that's for another blog.)  In other words, I try not to be gullible.

I just finished reading Heaven Is For Real. I won't give a synopsis, because you can find several of them online, both by those who accept this book and those who think it is a bunch of hooey..

Here is what I want to say about the book:

• Very interesting story, easy to read, captivating page-turner.
• If the telling of this story is honest and truthful (that is, not made up or embellished by the author or his editor), then this is a pretty amazing story.
• I say "If" because I know people exaggerate (since I do) or tell stories with a personal bias (since I do). On the other hand, I know some Weslyan preachers, and I have a hard time imagining they would make something up just to make lots of money from writing a book. One honest question I have: how did the Burpo family keep track of all that their son told them over the 18 months he revealed his story? Did they keep a detailed notebook with careful entries written as soon as the conversation with Colton was over? I ask that because I know we all have faulty memories and often can't get the details precisely straight after only a few days after the event.
• Having said that, I'm going to now say that, unless evidence appears later to the contrary, I accept this book as an honest account of what happened to the Burpo family.
• Having done that, I can now say that I found many parts of the book very inspiring to my own faith:  Jesus really, really loves the children.  Jesus has a cousin.  Satan isn't in hell yet.  Jesus wouldn't let me have a sword because he said I'd be too dangerous.
• I was a bit disappointed when I went to their website to see that now there will be a kids version, and a DVD Bible study version.  What next--tee shirts?  Ah, that smacks of making a quick buck and cheapens the actual story, IMO.

Yes, I'd recommend that you read it.

Where Were You On 9-11?

We were in Thainland at a conference on language assessment.  I don't often travel with Gary, but I did this time.  Part of my fare was paid in exchange for being one of the conference secretaries.

We had been out to eat and in the elevator on our way to our hotel room, someone told us to turn on the TV as something was going on in NYC.  That turned out to be a frustrating excercize:  there were three TV channels--one in Thai, one in French, and the only one in English was a business channel that could only talk about the unthinkable possibility that the stock market would be shut down.

It was irrational of me, but I immediately wanted to know if my kids were OK.  There was no reason they wouldn't be because they were no where near NYC, but I was still worried until I could contact each of them:  David a freshman at Taylor, Rachel a sophmore at Southern Nazarene University, and Andrew home in Dallas applying for grad school.

New Hummingbird Feeder Hangers

I got these two new hangers in the mail today--much easier than climbing to the roof to install new fishing line which held them before. One in the front and one in the back. We'll see if the hummingbirds notice anything different.