digging deep on monday

I'm joining up with Ann again, continuing this list of gifts. 
I will tell you that it was far into the week before I heard the whisper of God... the reminder that I needed to be looking for the gifts He was placing before me.  I usually don't need that nudge, gentle or otherwise... but I suppose I got so caught up in me and my own to-do lists that I looked right past the beauty He was laying out before me.  And then... once I started, the week got messier and my heart grew heavier. 
So today I dig deep... and know that the gifts I count are not all beautiful to the naked eye... but beautiful, just the same. 

On my way to 1,000... #15-30
- a butterfinger birthday cake, much appreciated
-the gathering of people who really care about the marching band and their kids participation
-ann's real hair.. soft and curly
-the silliness of a "massage" in a bottle... and that it took me a while to catch the joke
-an unexpected quiet evening at home... even though the reason for it made my heart frown
-real mail, real handwriting
-not being in charge of our sick son.  Oh, how I wanted to be, but I had to let it go and put the trust in my very-capable husband.  It was so hard to go to work and leave them behind, but in it, I found the gift God was pushing me to... trust.
-the not appendicitis diagnosis
-working in my big-girl shoes, and not falling apart
-the intuition to tell the difference between a God-whisper and my own imagination... at least in the instance of thinking it was more than just a bug
-a heart-shaped breakfast... and that the smile it brought gave me what I needed to head out the door to work.

-four of us, in one room, just living
-a figuring-it-out kind of brain
-the unexpected smile on the other side of my door, and the visit we shared
-starting the day off walking
-the realization that God is my safety net in this tightrope of life.