I only have two kids. But if you are a parent you know how precious silence and peace can be. Today I am grateful for the sibling-love between my two girls. Often, this sibling-love is expressed in loud, boisterous play, but sometimes it is expressed like this:
Is it sad that I only get to blogging when I participate in a "challenge"? Well, sad or not, I am back (same time of the year, too). My friend, who is the blogger and founder of the blog-zine, Inspired by Familia, invited me to join her 10 Days of Gratitude challenge. So, here I am joining the challenge and using black and white photos to illustrate! Anyone can join! Just share one thing you are thankful for each day for the next ten days using the hashtag: #10DaysofGratitude I grew up in a family that loves to eat. Food was celebrated and embraced, and well, devoured. Food was mostly abundant, and we enjoyed a delicious variety. In my grown-up years I became very interested in the way that food affected the well-being of my body, my mind, and my emotions. I became more conscientious of what I ate and slowly began modifying my diet. I still love to eat. And it's hard to kick those cravings for deep-fat-fried foods, or delicious, creamy and sweet desserts. But I am mostly grateful for the chance to step back and be more intentional and thoughtful about what I eat. I am thankful that I can pass on, hopefully, not only an appreciation for food but also an active knowledge of how food affects our well-being. As Thanksgiving draws near I am getting more and more excited about enjoying a Thanksgiving feast with dear friends. This year I want to try this and maybe turn it into a family tradition. What are some of your favorite thanksgiving recipes? Day 20 of Cultivating joy through 20 days of gratefulness.
Day 19 of Cultivating joy through 20 days of gratefulness. This is my third year living in Quito. It's been a good three years, overall. And it's been filled with countless growth-opportunities (also known as: hardships, struggles, challenges, etc). Being from a country that was also colonized by the Spaniards (but with VERY different histories), I noticed right away that there was a lot about Ecuadorian culture that was very familiar to me. There's great value placed on the concept and practice of saving face. Here, collectivism is the way of life, not individualism. The western preoccupation with being on time and being efficient with regards to time, is largely absent here. Relationships are the priority. Today I am grateful for the reminder to value relationships. I so often get focused on accomplishing tasks and checking off each item on the day's 'to-do list,' that relationships gets put on the back burner. It is not that I don't value relationships, it's just that in little moments I do find myself placing more importance on getting things done. And living here, I am thankful for the constant, ingrained reminder to value people, to value relationships. Day 18 of Cultivating joy through 20 days of gratefulness. Happy birthday to my little five year old! This is so clichè but, "I can't believe she's five!!!" I wrote a bit about first having her here. In many ways, I feel like my experience in parenting this beautiful, strong-willed child has been more of shaping and chiseling of my own character than anything else! I remember the intensity that she could command in a single situation, as a baby, and boy, was I in over my head! She is still just as intense, in certain moments especially, but it doesn't catch me by surprise anymore and we are working on giving her the skill and tools to use that for good. My life completely changed when all of a sudden it was fused together to the life of this energetic bundle of joy, and yes, I am so very grateful! I am looking forward to getting to know my energetic bundle of joy over the years. To see her love for people and being with them, transform into the kind of love that is marked by humility and service. To witness her discover that she can use her focus, energy, and inquisitiveness to better the lives of those around her. What a privilege it is to be her mother. Day 17 of Cultivating joy through 20 days of gratefulness. I'm just going straight to the point. I love reading. I love books. I am so thankful for the ability to read and understand. I am thankful for great writers that often say things that my soul feels so deeply. I am grateful for books that inform, that inspire and encourage. I am grateful that I live in a place where I can freely read what I please. Today I am specifically thankful for having come across this book. I had first discovered it at this blog I frequent (and have referenced several times here already)! I am not far into the book yet, and already it is like breathing in clean, fresh air in an overly-polluted city. If you are looking for a book on parenting, this might be a good one to dig into. Day 16 of Cultivating joy through 20 days of gratefulness. When I was a little girl, making friends came very naturally. I would go right up to my potentially-new-friend and say, "Hi! My name is Rea, what's yours?" Always, the other person would introduce themselves in response. Then either, I would share my favorite color, which would become the launching pad for endless conversations about other favorite things, or I would ask them if they wanted to play. And after even just an hour, we would feel like we had known each other our whole lives! Making our next encounter even more meaningful and solidifying. Between all the moving, uprooting, transitioning and adjusting, making friends has gotten progressively laborious. For me, it's always those first couple of conversations that are the hardest. Rather than just being, I tend to over-think everything. Somehow my experiences of being ripped away from the places and people that have become the comforting familiarity to which I attributed my sense of belonging, has left a long-lasting scar. And every time I make a new friend, I feel an ache under that scar. But we are resilient beings, and though making friends no longer come very naturally to me, I have not completely lost that ability. Today I am grateful for friends. For childhood friends that first shaped my understanding of the importance of acceptance and inclusion. For friends that have walked with me on this journey, sharing in monumental milestones. And for current friends that make every step along the way, that much richer. Thank you. Day 15 of Cultivating joy through 20 days of gratefulness. I've lived in few places where all four distinct seasons take turns making its appearance throughout the year. It is currently Fall in the U.S. and then soon, it will be winter. There is so much I miss about Fall, especially Fall in Western New York. The shimmering, golden leaves. The smell of cinnamon and pumpkin wafting in the air. The prickly chill of the light breeze. It's a welcome, slowing down of life, following an often hot and packed summer. And then winter creeps in slowly, stealthily. The beautiful fire-colored leaves are strewn across the ground, everywhere. Eventually it is covered by packed, fluffy snow. Here in Quito, it is rainy season. Our version of Fall and Winter mixed into one. The leaves don't change color and there is no obsession with everything pumpkin and cinnamon-y. The temperature has dropped and thunderous clouds cover us almost every afternoon around 4pm, but it's nothing extreme. Not like winters in Western New York! And while I am pathetically sentimental about all things Fall, and truth be told, I even miss winter, I am grateful that I live here, in Quito. I am grateful because the absence of something I treasure makes it all the more precious to me and I become acutely aware of the blessing and privilege it is, even icy-cold winters! I need this in my life. I need these experiences, these longings that keep me from taking things for granted. We don't have Fall or Winter here, in the North American sense. But I am still thankful for the rain. For the daily warmth of the sun, especially around noon. For the blue skies. For the thunder and the lightning. For the opportunity to appreciate even more deeply the things that I loved in the past. And for the reminder to cherish the present. Day 14 of Cultivating joy through 20 days of gratefulness. Routines. Some find it boring. Some find it useful. I find it soothing. The morning glow of the waking sun begins to illuminate my bedroom after 5:30am. I close my eyes and try desperately to fall back to sleep for another ten, fifteen minutes. But the bed feels cold and I shiver as I pull the blankets tightly under my chin. Husband has already been up for about an hour and a half taking his body warmth with him. After a few minutes I get up, too. I make the bed. Pulling the blanket tightly over the edges, smoothing the top. Fluffing the pillows and straightening them. By 5:45am Big Sister is awake. Depending on the day Baby will wake up fifteen to thirty minutes later, giving us enough time to get breakfast on the table. By 7am Husband is giving us goodbye kisses and then heading out the door. At this point Baby has crawled right up to my legs, pulling on my pyjama pants as she lets out a whine. I go to the bedroom and nurse her while Big Sister brushes her teeth and puts on school clothes. Half an hour later, my own teeth are brushed, hair neatly pulled back into a pony tail, sporting comfy jeans, a t-shirt, a cardigan, and baby all settled in her stroller, we head down the hill to take Big Sister to school. Everyday, every morning, this is what I can expect. This is my routine. And it soothes me. The familiarity, the rhythm, the groove we've nestled into, I look forward to it every day. When Sunday night rolls around and Monday looms ahead, I find a small sense of relief and anticipation in going back to the familiar and comforting daily motions as I go about my week. I am grateful for this. For the gift that routine gives. For the way it somehow refreshes me. Day 13 of Cultivating joy through 20 days of gratefulness. |