Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thankful Thursdays

A quote I came across said `It's not a happy person that is thankful; it's a thankful person that is happy'.  Doing these Thankful Thursdays has truly helped me to maintain perspective and allows me to focus on the positive.  I encourage you to try it!

Thankful for....

1. A boring husband.  What?  Yes.  This is written by the author of `1000 Gifts' which I base my Thankful Thursdays on.   Here's just one excerpt in case you don't read it:

''The man who imagines slipping his arm around his wife's soft, thickening middle age waistline and whispering that he couldn't love her more.... who imagines the manliness of standing bold and unashamed in the express checkout line with only maxi pads and tampons because someone he loves is having an unexpected Saturday morning emergency'.  


This is my husband.  I remember him walking the streets of Chiang Mai, Thailand early in the morning just for this purpose.  Also, i know that no matter what I look like (I look CRAZY in the morning), he couldn't love me more or less.


2. THE FACT THAT GARY HAS A SMART PHONE.  This is huge folks.  I have been asking him to get one for over a year.  He just got a free Samsung one and he has a cheap Bell plan but it allows for unlimited texting.  This is so important to me.  A teacher does not have time to email or call but just the fact that he can let me know when he leaves work or I can ask him quick things in the day is huge.  It reminds me of the good old days of when we started getting to know each other over the ancient way of msn messenger or ICQ or whatever it was.  He would flirt with me by sending me a million side hug emoticons. Ha.  Yay for communication.
(Excuse the ridiculously boring messages with lack of grammar..you get the idea)

3. Brotherly love.  There are more smiles and laughter than screaming and crying.  They call each other `bro' and `dude' and it is pretty cute.

4. Organ donation.  This is a heavy one.  I found out this week that Paul passed away from a brain bleed at the age of just 42. I met Paul and Hester 13 years ago when we were in the same care group.  I am very sad for Hester and their children and they are in our prayers daily.   They were able to donate his organs to 5 individuals and for that, I am very thankful.  Here are a few pictures of Paul (with one two of his four children) that I took about 3 years ago.
5. A buddy for Gary to watch sports with.  When we were dating, I sat there and would watch basketball or hockey with him just to spend time together.  There is a very small chance that I could or would sit and watch a full game at this point in my life.  I have realized over our marriage that one really important thing for Gary is to have that down time where he shuts his mind off.  In front of the tv.  I think he's probably sleeping in this picture, actually.

6.  Our bathroom calendar.  I've made one every year for 4 years.  I love it.  I love looking at the past years memories.  I have it done by Shutterfly and there are pictures of people on their birthdays too.  The kids love it as they can see whose birthday is coming up.  I just finished making my 2014 one this year and I always get one made for my mother in law as well.  PS If you order one (approx $20 which includes shipping), one month later they will send you a promo for a free calendar so you just need to pay the $6.99 shipping.


7.   Our  FREE ($60) stroller.  We have a double that we have used for about 4.5 years and I LOOOOOOVE it.  However, our single was stolen years ago and when Nya was little, I found this Quinny in our alley!  We live in a nice neighbourhood and I can often find nice stuff in the alley. Oh boy, I sound like my dad.  Anyway, the reason they were getting rid of it is that it had two flat tires.  The tires need to be ordered from England.  This stroller is worth hundreds of dollars.  We ordered the tires for $60 and voila!  We don't use a stroller often anymore, just  for walking around looking a Christmas lights or walking to Extra Foods, but it sure is nice to have one!
(Can't rotate, sorry!!)


8.  Living life to the fullest when I was single.  Even though I was working full time, I had so much free time!!  I did things like taking `Learn How To Play Ice Hockey' lessons (no, not just to meet guys but it was part of the reason) and totally worked on my skating skills.  When I was living in Vancouver, I would bike over the Cambie Street bridge every Saturday morning to facilitate a PAINTING class in Yaletown for a Seniors Home.  This is hilarious because I have zero idea how to paint.  We would just select pictures from calendars and try to paint them.  They loved it.  I quit my job teaching and I went to Africa.  I took a train across Canada (like all the way across).  I would go to the gym 5 times a week.  Maybe it's because I was single or maybe because I was young, but wow, so much time and energy!!!!
{Lynette and I at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Dec. 2004}
{Doing the Sea2Summit, our first adventure race}

9. My puffy black MEC vest.  I have had it for about 12 years.  Yup.  My faithful friend or `vest friend' as Gary would joke. It's been to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and it comes with me on our daily walks around the neighbourhood.  So great for temperature regulation:)
(Here I was wearing it in 2004 in Kenya.  It was cold there at night!  This was what I ate every day by the way, ugali and sukuma wiki).


10.  Beautiful sunrises.  One benefit of being up at 6am every day (NOT BY CHOICE!!) is seeing some amazing sunrises.  True beauty.

Always something to be thankful for. Always.

Love, Louise

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:21 PM

    That pink hoodie is super cute on you! :)

    -Brianne

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I wear it a lot :) from winners.

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  2. 2. Yay for constant communication! Brayden and I spent hours getting to know each other over MSN :)

    6. You have to rotate the picture on your phone before you upload. This drove me crazy until I figured it out!!

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    Replies
    1. Will try the rotate first next time!!

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  3. Wait a second...how do you get free shipping from Shutterfly? Do you have a US box? And I have to look into this promo code for a free calendar you speak of. And what cheap plan is Gary on? I just noticed that all of my questions relate to my frugality.

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  4. Oh wait, I reread that to say that the price is including shipping, not free shipping....my bad.

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  5. Terri, look online to see when there is a promo code for a free calendar. The last one expired Nov. 29 and was FREECAL...I'm sure there will be another one in a month or so.

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  6. I really like your calendar idea. Just might have to make one too :)

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  7. 1. The "Boring Husband" was one of my favourite recent posts by Anne Voskamp - I can relate

    2. I have just recently joined the texting world - Great way to easily connect with my teenage and adult children too

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  8. My calendar is ordered! Excited to see what it looks like. :) the promo code for purchase over $30 was SHIP30

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  9. love that calendar! might need to get one of those too :)

    totally love your thankful thursdays. i think i've said before that i think i should try it...i just need to do it, right? :) i have my camera back now (YAY!) so hopefully i can do it with pictures too.
    i have a taiga vest that i love too; bought it when i was very early pregnant with Taeya, so i bought a size bigger so it would grow with my belly through the winter...wishing i had a size or two smaller now! :D

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  10. Kelly-you should try it! I've generally been a positive person but it does help me to continually focus on all I have to be thankful for!
    And ya, there are always promos for the calendars so keep your eyes open!

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