Gratitude ...

1. The sky as the sun begins to set. And little girls that try to follow you outside when you go to take a picture.

2. The circle of life.

 Grandchild number two will make their appearance mid February. More specifically, granddaughter, number two. Charlotte is going to be a big sister!

3. Wedding dress shopping with Jessica. Sorry. No photo on that one. Let's just say: stunning. And, I cried.

4. Wedding of a dear friend of mine and a rare night out for Mark and I.

3. Funny Joe-isms, as we call them. And a  dead on statement from Jake on a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, with Joe.

"If I was a hippie, I would tell you that you have a bad aura." Jake Needham

And Joe, who obviously doesn't miss a thing and is such a good big brother. Brief dialogue that went on the night we went out.
 Taylor, "Make sure you tell Mom I put Zoey to bed in a onesie."
Joe, "Umm you need to double layer her. You didn't know that?"

4. The show 'Parenthood' is back. Love that show. And 'The Voice' is back and um, I love him:

My husband reminded me that Adam made the cut in one of my other gratitude posts. But come on. You can never be too grateful for Adam Levine, can you?

5. Spending this special time in life with my dad. Although I would change everything in a heartbeat to have my mom back, by his side, as his lifelong companion and best friend, this time I am getting to spend with him is something I will treasure forever. He is one amazing man and he is truly traveling this much unwanted journey, with such grace and dignity. 

6. Taylor Morgan.  Who manages to find the time to check in, multiple times a day, while carrying a full load as a senior in college, student teaching and working. Sweet girl. Amazing sister to one and all.

7. Zoey, without fail, signs 'tub' the moment I pick her up from school and put her in the car. So off to the tub we go, each and everyday, when we get home.  Some of her best and brightest smiles come during that time.

8. My friend Elizabeth did a post the other day and at the top of the post she had an image of the print that sits in the middle of a shelf in my living room. The image, that shelf, remind me of how grateful I am to be a mother and how beyond grateful I am to have had the mother that I had.

 

9.  Clean carpets. Yep, because after the summer and all the in and out of the house, the constant in and out of the house, they SO needed to be cleaned. 

10. This one is random and beautiful and involves a gentleman that came to fix our garage door more than a week ago and returned today with a present for Zoey. I was speechless. He told me that after he had met Zoey and heard her story, he left and was passing a shop, saw angels in the storefront, and knew he had to get her one. He re-told a story of a radio station he was listening to and how the DJ was talking about  the angels amongst us, hidden in the most unlikely of places, if we only open our eyes, they are right there in front of us. I cried, as you can only imagine, as he stood there and told me how blessed I was to have her. I couldn't agree more.

* The angel is just this itty-bitty thing, but as I told the man, his name was Jose by the way, as I told him, that angel was one of the most thoughtful and beautiful gifts that I have ever received. And it really and truly is.