My Thanksgiving wishes are best summed up by the following. I am a blessed man. Wonderful family, beautiful daughter, amazing career, nice house, good cars, faithful friends… but the thing I am most thankful for…

Well, King David put it best:

Psalm 116 (“The Message” translation)

I love God because he listened to me, listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.

I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”

I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”

What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.

When they arrive at the gates of death,
God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
and pray in the name of God.
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it in company with his people,
In the place of worship, in God‘s house,
in Jerusalem, God’s city.

Hallelujah!

In honor of Matt’s birthday today (whee!), Elena and I came up with a “Top Ten things we love about Matt/Daddy” list. It kinda went a little longer than 10, but we figured it was ok :)

Top Ten Things We Love About Matt/Daddy

1.  Elena says, “Whenever I bring Daddy one of my favorite books, he always takes time to read it to me.”

2.  Matt is so incredibly patient with me…I can hardly believe it sometimes!

3.  Matt is an incredibly hard worker…putting in super long hours to provide for us…and I appreciate that sooo much.

4.  Matt is a man of integrity…in the big things and the little things.

5.  He has awesome taste and sense of design…and I’m not the only who thinks that!

6,  He made me into a sushi lover :)  (I never thought I would say that!)

7.  Elena says, “I love it when Daddy comes upstairs from work and chases me around the living room!  I just giggle and giggle…”

8.  I love it that Matt loves the outdoors and when we go camping, I feel like I have an expert park ranger leading our trip :)

9.  I’m so glad that my man knows how to take time to have fun…including making all three of us get dressed up for Halloween to give out candy :)  

10.  He understands God’s grace and love for us and has helped me to understand it more clearly by his love and forgiveness for me…

11.  He is a gifted musician and writer :)  

12.  Elena says, “Whenever Mommy takes me downstairs to say hi to Daddy, I get sooo excited and wiggle and giggle because I like to be with my daddy a WHOLE LOT!” (She really wanted to share that, and I think it mostly speaks to the fact that she can really tell that her daddy loves her a whole lot :))

1. He’s my big, strong, handsome man!

14.  I appreciate that Matt is involved in even the less-pretty parts of parenthood, including smelly diapers and middle-of-the-night wake-ups.  I am so thankful to be parenting Elena with such an amazing guy…

Happy Birthday, Babe!

I used to write a lot of poetry. I stopped for some reason. (Mostly because it wasn’t very good). I’m always hesitant to put what I write out there for others to see, but I’ve been inspired recently (especially by the last post…) I think I’m going to start doing it more often. Not for you, but for me. So here goes. GAH DON’T JUDGE MY ART!!!!

We forget…

Our biggest problem
is that we frequently forget who we are.

We become mesmerized by our surroundings
and by things (or people) that we think we need.

We run around like a chicken with its head cut off,
or maybe like zombies in a George Romero film,
bust most definitely like a rat in the proverbial race
trying to gather up this lamp, that chair, and the phone book
and that’s all we need.

But we completely forget
(if we ever knew in the first place)
that the things we really need cannot be found on amazon.com
nor even on ebay,
In fact, money won’t buy it at all.
And I’m not talking about a Beatles song.

You will be more likely to remember
(or, to find for the first time)
what the thing is that you really need
if you tossed out your Tivo (and TV),
disconnected your DSL, ditched your HD,
severed your cell phone
threw a gigantic garage sale for all the junk that has driven you deeply, desperately, in debt
and drove West to the mountains, high into the mountains,
and spent some time alone (though we never are)

Then, at night, a few hours before dawn breaks
step outside.
Breathe deep…
and listen…
and look around…
and see a glimpse… a reflection…
of what you really need
who you really are
and what your problem really is.