Operation Shower Blog

Gratitude Challenge Day 7:

Ok, so I am a little behind on the Gratitude Challenge, but I am still following the Challenge, I promise.  And it has been great for me.  Sometimes we really do need to just stop and “take note.”

My Day 7 challenge was to take a picture of a specific moment that makes me feel grateful.   I knew immediately that it would be the time when I pick my son up from school.  He always gets in the car with such great joy to see me and to share his day.  He has done this since he started school.

I know that it won’t last forever and eventually he may quit talking about his day with me, but I am hanging on and enjoying it for as long as I can.  I am grateful for this moment in time.

For 21 days, we are accepting the Gratitude Challenge.   Join us in this and also in a night of gratitude at Operation Give Thanks!

Today’s challenge is to “take 5 minutes to write about how grateful you are for all the wonderful things that you currently have in your life.”  If any of you know me, you know I can’t do anything in 5 minutes (I am actually struggling not to make a list of the things I should do for this challenge — even though they already  told me what to do).  Anyway, so I am going to write for 5 minutes then that’s it. Here goes:

I am so grateful for the family I have –my husband and son who are virtually identical in looks and in spirit — and also my extended family and all its craziness.  And let me tell you we have a sitcom-ready family, but I am so grateful that we are not boring and that we love each other.  Crazy, yes.  Love, yes.

I am so grateful that I have been able to be a stay at home mom for my son’s life and that I have found a “calling” with Operation Shower.  I cannot believe the blessings I have found through this organization. The families I have met in the military have inspired me every day; the leaders who welcome us with open arms and love what we are doing and take the time to say so — the people I now work with in a common cause with joy and laughter every day.  They inspire me to be better than I thought I could be and to remind me of the importance of our mission.

I am so grateful that when I moved here with my 3 year old that I found a place where I could meet other moms and learn that I was not alone and that having to check my son’s breathing every night (still) — was normal (well, pretty normal).

I am so grateful . .

(ok, that took 6 minutes technically — and I ‘m so grateful that I could go on and on with this list .. . )

Today I cleaned house and purged a closet and organized and could not be more grateful. Do not adjust your screens. Yes, I am grateful I spent a portion of my Saturday cleaning house. Don’t get crazy now, it’s not that I truly enjoy cleaning house. Truth be told I’m not a big fan. It’s all in how you look at things though, isn’t it?

So, with iPod (grateful for that, too) set to some Mat Kearney and cleaning gear in hand, I cleaned house today with a new attitude. How lucky I am to have a roof over my head. To have all this furniture to dust. To have the money to pay that bill I opened. To have a husband that knows when the can of cleaner is on the shower floor it means, “this job’s yours, buddy” and who will skip around the house with me announcing, “we have flufffffy carrrrpet” when my work is done.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to admire my clean house while my co-skipper finishes dinner just in time to watch my beloved OU Sooners. Steak au poivre, rosemary roasted potatoes, asparagus, wine, my best boy and Sooner Football…..yeah, I’m grateful for that, too.

I am grateful for today. Today, we had beignets at our favorite local breakfast spot. I am grateful for traditions and places that feel like “our place.”   Today, we went to the Botanical Gardens and laughed and watched as our son painted a pumpkin, milked a  cow, had a red leaf painted on his face and took home llama hair (strange, but true).  I am grateful for the variety of things to do in our city, for the ability we have to do these things and for the joy we get doing them as a family.   Today, we took out Halloween decorations and hung ghosts from the trees and put pumpkins on our step.  I am grateful for Halloween, my truly favorite holiday, with no presents just our imagination to guide us.   Today, I have the time to think about what I am grateful for while my healthy son and husband enjoy time together trying on masks and being silly. I am so grateful for Today.

F - Friends and family that make me laugh and inspire me.

G – Growing older and realizing no one is perfect so get over it.

H – Husband. In particular, mine. He rocks.

I - Imogen Heap’s lovely voice.

J – Jon Stewart. He cracks me up.

K – Knives. Makes cutting things much easier.

L - Laughter.

M - Music. One of life’s greatest gifts.

N – NIA. Exercise that is as much for the mind as the body.

O – Operation Shower. The people I serve with and the people we serve. I am blessed by it daily.

P – Panic Disorder. Even though it can hinder me, it has also strengthened me in many ways and made me much more compassionate.

Q – Quiet time in the car on the way to the office.

R – Rain Showers on lazy Saturdays.

S – Sooner Football. Boomer Sooner!

T - Trust. If A is for acceptance that where you are is where you are supposed to be than T is for Trusting that you will make it through anything.

U – United States Citizenship. While we may not be perfect and we all may not agree, the simple fact of being born in this country allows a big portion of this list to even be possible.

V - Voices that my husband and I talk in that make us laugh.

W – wonderful women I’ve met online via my Stem Parties blog.

X – Wow. Xerox copier help desk support.

Y - You.

Z - Zeriously? I thought “X” was hard. Um, Ziploc baggies. Thank you for keeping my snacks fresh.

26 reasons I am grateful today . . .

In honor of our upcoming Operation Give Thanks event on November 7, 2009 (see below article), we have decided to take part in the Gratitude Challenge started by tiny prints!   It’s a 21-day project to help you take “note of the brighter side of life.”

At Operation Shower, we believe that giving thanks for our daily lives as well as giving thanks to others is an essential part of living.