Friday Five: Smile!

Posted by Jan at RevGalBlogPals:  

Remembering that Meister Eckhart said that if you pray "thank you" that that is enough of a prayer, share with us five things, memories, or activities that bring you smiles and gratitude.

1.  My beautiful wife Kristin.  We've been working together for just over seven months now, and I daresay it's been the best seven months of our already-wonderful marriage.  After almost nine years of marriage, she is as sweet, kind and gracious as ever, and I'm truly fortunate to be her husband.  

2.  My daughters.  I knew I wanted to be a Dad my whole life long.  I never knew I would love it this much, though, particularly with two girls replacing the boys I thought I would have.  :-)  I'm so proud of our little hellions - they giggle and scream and sing and enjoy life so very much, even in the middle of the market where keeping them out from underfoot and under control is exhausting.  There is so much about parenting that isn't perfect:  we get cranky, tired, mean, frustrated, human.  They forgive it all.  Kristin and I are blessed to have such wonderful little girls.  

3.  My extended family.  Yeah, it's crazy sometimes, but I treasure the relationship I have with my own family and my in-laws.  We just put together our wills and powers-of-attorney and we realized how fortunate we are to know, love and trust both our own families and each other's.  Every family get-together is a little insane, but a lot of fun, on both sides, and we always look forward to them (even if the quiet afterwards is also a blessing).  

4.  The church I serve.  The honeymoon has been pretty good here in Story City.  My suspicions have proven correct:  even when you wind up in a place you never would have predicted, God will have work for you to do there.  St. Petri is a vibrant congregation, and having endured some stormy seas in the past three years, I have the sense folks are grateful to have settled in a bit, and are looking forward to doing some new things.  Sure, the seas will get choppy again.  I might have to stir up the waters myself from time to time.  But what I've seen tells me folks are dedicated to living well together here, and that bodes well for the future.

5.  This video.  You've probably seen it already, but even so, I hope your heart picks up a bit watching this wonderful proposal video.  Whenever I watch it, I can't help but smile:



Happy Friday!