\ˈgra-tə-ˌtüd, -ˌtyüd\
The quality of being thankful: readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Oo, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to post my gratitude project....not because I haven’t had things to be grateful for...just a little short on time and photography. I couldn’t let this week go by without a few things I’m very grateful for....all taken with my iPhone as I didn’t have my camera handy, so I hope you’ll see this as more about gratitude and less about photography :)
We did go to the greenhouse Friday. I always love seeing the beautiful varieties of flowers. This place has 12 different greenhouses on the property and this one was full of geraniums. Aren’t the rows of colours pretty? I’m so grateful for the beautiful world we live in and the bits of it that I can plant and grow at our home.
This is the view of a huge gratitude item for us. We just got a side of beef and a side of pork. I had to store 3/4 of it at my parent’s place as they have a much larger freezer than we do. Much of this amazing meat was given to us by a very loving and generous couple. I don’t even know how to fully express my thankfulness for their generosity and how this will nourish our family over the next year. And another really neat part, I know who raised the steer, how old it was, what kind of care it had, who butchered it...essentially it’s from farm to table and that’s something I also appreciate. We drove about an hour to pick it up the other day, and because our youngest son had the day off from school, he came with me. It was great drive time both ways with him. He’s always full of conversation and he was so helpful getting the meat in the vehicle, out of the vehicle into the basement at my parents, and helping to make an inventory of what we had. I love spending good one on one time with my kids.
Do you see that black muddy dirt? Do you know what that means? We’ve had RAIN! I can’t tell you how grateful we are for that! We’ve been dry. Extremely dry. Drought dry. Previous to Thursday, my soil was like powder. I read somewhere that we have had less than 1/3 of our regular spring moisture, and to make it worse we’ve had really high temperatures all spring. You may have heard about a massive forest fire in Northern Alberta (about 5 hours north of us). The city of Fort MacMurray evacuated 88 000 people with fire burning all around them as they tried to leave. It was very intense and I imagine, very traumatic for them. Much of the city burned, many lost their homes, all they had, their workplaces, and they won’t even be able to go back to their city until the beginning of June to see where to go from here. Many are staying in shelters in our city, and many Albertans have jumped in to find ways to help. My heart goes out to these people as they try to recover.
So it’s clear that we've been desperate for rain, for that fire still burning out of control, for farmers locally, and for us in the city as the dryness is impacting everything. We’ve been praying for weeks for moisture. The past few days we’ve had a couple of inches of rain and it should rain again Saturday night into Sunday. We are so grateful, and I’m continuing to pray that it will make a difference for that fire and all the firefighters battling the blaze.
So much to be grateful for, and even deeper, so much not to take for granted. I hope that you’re encouraged to look around you with new eyes today and a heart of gratitude. Enjoy the gift of today friends!
3 comments:
Oh, Christine, what a beautiful post! Yes, we have so much to be grateful for, and my heart breaks at the thought of the great loss of many homes and businesses in Fort MacMurray. I've been praying for them, but it's going to take months and even years to recover to some degree of normalcy. What a blessing that you had some rain and enjoyed time at the nursery...and were able to fill your freezer and the remaining beef and pork at your parents' house. Gratitude is something relative, isn't it, when we look around at others who are facing far more difficulties. Hugs and blessings this Lord's Day!
I need to get out there and get my potting flowers!! Waaay behind this year! Love spending 1:1 time with my kids - best time ever. Get 2:1 every Friday when we do our Costco run and wouldn't trade it for anything. How wonderful to get a side of beef too!
We have been very dry out here in BC too!! Think we set an all time dry record for a few months now...not good!! They are talking a repeat of last summer which isn't good...snowpack has melted way down due to very warm days this past month...so we are with you praying for rain!
Poor Fort Mac people!! Have a patient who works 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off up there and some of his stories blow your mind. Nice to hear how people have stepped up to help. From tankers being parked at one end so people can fill their cars up with gas, to those with flatbeds picking up abandoned cars that ran out of gas on their way out to escape the fires. Lots to be grateful for indeed :)
Glad you were able to have good one on one time with your son, those times are just priceless!
So good to hear you have received some rain, we have been through that a couple of times and I do know the thankfulness that comes when you finally get the rain.
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