Celebrating what's right....

Our family enjoyed a church retreat this weekend, filled with thought-provoking conversation, rocking music (as a founding member of the newly-formed praise band, I say this with a great deal of bias acknowledged!), and a sense of our church as "home" that has been eluding me of late. It was a gift, and I will treasure it as such.

On Friday evening of this retreat, we watched a short film entitled "Celebrate What's Right with the World." Narrated by a National Geographic photographer, the film depicts the patience, the sense of expectation, and the trust entailed in seeing a "great frame" where at first glance what comes is a "good frame." The images in the film are stunning, the words profound, and I find myself looking at my own life in a new lens. Let me offer just a few of my thoughts on what is right this morning!

*The chilly night resulted in both kids tumbling into our bed early this morning for warmth and togetherness. I'm grateful that I was (mainly) able to receive them in love and gratitude, and that I had this little treasure of small, sleeping bodies to put my life in perspective before heading off to work.

*I am visiting a new chiropractor who I love, and so of course I am grateful to return to this commitment of wellness. One of the bonuses about the office location? It sits just above a Subway restaurant, and each morning when I make my way into the office, I take a deep, strong pull of the air and celebrate the aroma of BREAD! YUM!

*My dad is in the hospital this morning for reasons as yet unknown. I'm grateful for cell phones that allow us to keep in communication, and for my sense that a simple prayer for him with each call is more powerful than anything else I could offer.

*Have I mentioned that I am the luckiest woman in the world? Matt and I are reading aloud "Coop," the latest by Mike Perry, Matt's favorite writer. This gift of evenings burrowed on the love seat under a comforter as we travel together to the wilds of Wisconsin is one I will cherish. We are so grateful for one another, and thus I am grateful for gratitude itself.

*And again, in the "luckiest woman in the world" category, I offer this picture of Lucas's Mother's Day gift to me. He created a Lego grand piano (complete with a lid that could rise and lower), a bench, and his mom--seated right there, jamming away. I love that he had the creativity and skill to do this, but just as much, I love that this is how he thinks of me. To be remembered and known as being at the piano is all I could want!