The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

January 31st- A few of my favorite things...
~the glint of moonlight on an icicle
~surprising a cottontail on his nightly run
~Moriah final touches on the blanket

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 30th- A few of my favorite things...
~The Quiltmaker's Journey and The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau---excellent lessons for the young and the young-at-heart
~Surprising my grandma with daffodils on a cold winter's day
~The many different shades blue eyes come in smile emoticon (5 out of 7...each a bit different)

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 29th- A few of my favorite things...
~Life...errr....I mean cats imitating art 
~Lissie excitedly reporting..."All the cups are orange now!"
~Watching Moriah's hands turn squares into a blanket...almost done!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 28th- A few of my favorite things...
~Tracing the sun's movement throughout the day through the window by the stairs 
~The wonder resulting from putting white flowers into dyed water and leaving them overnight
~The elegance of science and capillary action, especially if you use goblets

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 27th- A few of my favorite things...
~The bravery of many, including Corrie Ten Boom and her family who stood up and helped the helpless during the evil times of Nazi Germany.
~Furry buddies withstanding the snow storm together (Gillie and Sully)
~Seeing the pile of little squares and envisioning the blanket they will be 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 26th- A few of my favorite things...
~Fresh coating of snow making the snow look beautiful again
~Homemade chicken noodle soup with toast
~Chris making it back safely from Watertown, NY this evening smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 25th- A few of my favorite things...
~A washing machine indoors on cold winter days
~A dryer indoors on even colder winter nights
~Hot water without having to boil kettles first on winter's eve....feeling rather spoiled when I think of it all!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 24th- A few of my favorite things...
~The excitement of new aprons from Grandma Smothers
~My little sous chef giving the new apron a try at supper
~Watching Lissie carefully cut the brownies in the pan

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 23rd- A few of my favorite things...
~Watching the crescent moon sail and sink into the western clouds
~Watching Orion the Hunter continue his hunt in the night sky
~Under the watch of Taurus The Bull....At least Orion remembered to bring his hunting dogs with him tonight wink emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 22nd- A few of my favorite things...
~The slightly toothed part of a pineapple leaf
~Seeing my jade plant bloom for the first time
~Catching the sun-catcher's shadow, gracing my cupboard with a bird grin emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A few of My Favorite Things

Jan 21st- A few of my favorite things...
~the art of taking a ball of yarn and making something special with it with only a crochet hook
~using up stray skeins of yarn
~watching projects take shape one loop at a time smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 20th- A few of my favorite things...
~Water experiments...surprised girlies in what sinks and what floats
~That moment when I ask what's in the empty cup one replies nothing and Gwyn replies, "Air"...she got it smile emoticon
~That even better moment she asks, "So is this why....?"

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 19th- A few of my favorite things...
~Little stalks of last year's corn sticking up through the snow
~Searching through maps, new and old for tidbits of history and interest
~Finding a field that looks like a green crocheted blanket edge covering the fields

The Habit of Greatness

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 18th- A few of my favorite things...
~Giggling with grandpa
~The simple joy of hitting a balloon up high
~The fun of a pinata when the candy hits the floor (and watching Shaniah give some of her loot to kids who couldn't pick up quite as fast...great job Shaniah grin emoticon )

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 17th- A few of my favorite things...
~The girlies dancing at the Folksmarch Hobby Show...they love sharing their "hobby with others"
~Sunsets with purple and gold...
~Fading into bright pink and orange to end a beautiful day

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 16th- A few of my favorite things...
~A working heater in the van on cold blustery days
~Friends who pour their lives into my girlies smile emoticon
~For answers to prayers at just the right time...thank you all for praying for us grin emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 15th- A few of my favorite things
~Hawk "finials" on utility poles...patiently waiting
~Seeing a coyote crossing the snow covered fields, stopping midway, and finding something interesting
~Watching 3 crows--one as lookout and the other two snacking on a find just off the road

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 14th- A few of my favorite things...
~Showing the girls how "cool" freezing temps and boiling water can be 
~Watching their excitement over trying out their homemade thermometer
~Reading "Alice In Wonderland" to them at bedtime, explaining the absurdness that Alice encountered, with interjections like, "Wait! What? How can she chop off the Cheshire's cat's head when he has no body...that's not very nice...or possible!"....love the classics smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 13th- A few of my favorite things...
~Sunlight highlighting the intricate patterns in tiny icicles
~Sunlight casting shadow plants on shelves across the room
~Sunlight weaving lacy patterns with the curtains on the wall

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 12th- A few of my favorite things...
~the feeling of relief when turning off a snow covered mess-of-a-road onto road that has been freshly plowed, salted. and sanded
~plow drivers who work around the clock to clear the streets
~Tree houses---Year-round fun!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 11th- A few of my favorite things...
~A small bright blue patch of sky peaking through the surrounding clouds
~The sun peaking through a crackled-glaze of clouds mid-day
~The fault lines of ice crisscrossing Onondaga Lake

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 10th- A few of my favorite things...
~Bunny and squirrel tracks zigzagging across freshly fallen snow
~Indoor playground at McDonalds...great for frigid temps outside
~Girlies still looking and finding Christmas trees and lights up as we drove around tonight 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 9th- A few of my favorite things...
~AAA for quickly changing my flat tier on a cold day
~Snow racing across fields in mini-whirlwinds
~Roast duck with pumpkin risotto and cranberry relish 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 8th- A few of my favorite things...
~Watching the girls put on their own play of Annie this morning-even Thea
~Doing science experiments with the girlies this afternoon
~Moriah's expression of disbelief over winning each game we played tonight...  and the other girlies delight in seeing her win was even better

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 7th- A few of my favorite things...
~Working furnace on a cold day...a cozy house
~Making homemade play dough...kneading it makes my hands warm
~Homemade banana bread with Nutella and a cup of tea to end the day 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 6th- A few of my favorite things...
~Girlies excited over the presents the Magi and camels left for them 
~Clouds, sun and snow mingling together in a choreographed dance
~Watching the sunset over Ithaca, NY in a display seemingly fiery enough to melt the cold away

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 5th- A few of my favorite things...
~Little girlies putting their shoes out for the wisemen's arrival
~Helping the camels fill the shoes in exchange for the extra hay
~Remembering that Jesus is the greatest gift one more day 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things :-)

Jan 4th- A few of my favorite things...
~The sole crow sauntering through the field, like a farmer examining his crops
~People who leave their Christmas lights up through Epiphany
~Trying out the new teas Chris got me for Christmas 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 3rd- A few of my favorite things...
~Surprising my girlies by taking them to a "Frozen" party here in town today
~Shaniah's thrill at winning 2 movie tickets with her door-prize ticket
~Seeing each of my girlies prouldy bedecked with the hat and scarf their Grandma Nancy made for them to and from the party

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 2nd- A few of my favorite things...
~Lights of Solvay reflecting on a still Onondaga Lake from the east side
~Seeing Lights on the Lake each year...discovering the new, remembering the old favorites, and enjoying the new way of presenting it each year
~A light coating of snow to make the show more magical 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Jan 1st- A few of my favorite things...
~Looking through broken Christmas cookie pieces left in the container and finding a whole snowman 
~Playing a game with the girls and guest that we haven't played in a long time
~Knowing people are praying for us right now: thank you prayer warriors 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Dec 31st- A few of my favorite things...
~Finding old notes from Moriah when she was little while cleaning
~Watching Star Wars with Moriah who is seeing it for the first time to bring in the New Year
~That there is a God in control even when things look bleak---the key to walking in the "valley of the shadow" is that shadows can't really hurt you...they're just proof that the sun is out.