Gratitude Monday

Today I'm feeling very stressed and very blessed.  The things that are stressing me these days are things that will change and get better and I'm very thankful for that.  The blessings I have received are numerous.  There are so many things we have to be thankful for if we just stop and think about it - friends, family, health, beautiful surroundings, love, music, art, food, shelter, the list really is endless.  

Today I'm grateful:

..for sunflowers.  They are just so beautiful and cheerful.  We planted one in our back garden a few years ago.  This year we have four - which doesn't sound like much but they are extremely prolific in their flower production. 

...for the rain.   It's been raining for a few hours now and I'd be happy if it lasted all day. Late yesterday afternoon a fire started near Peachland not far from the highway.  It's now over 200 hectares in size (almost 500 acres), 4 homes have and 1500 people have been evacuated.  I would think this morning's rain has been much appreciated by our brave firefighters.  Regular readers of my blog might remember a photo visit to this little lakefront community located about a half hour from Kelowna.

...for the wonderful results received by an extended family member whose health was recently a concern.  We'll have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

...for small successes.  I'm working on improving some things that I've attempted to change many times before.  Change is finally coming, slowly but surely and I'm realizing even a small success is sweet!

...for my dear sweet children.  They're so much fun and I miss them when they aren't around.  In addition to a blog with her art work, my daughter has started a style blog and mentioned me in one of her recent posts.

...that my son is going to visit very soon!  I'm hoping I'll be able to post a link to some of his music one of these days.  His metal band Astrakhan is soon doing a min-tour of Alberta so I'll keep all you westerners posted on the locations.

...for the success we had finding a new sink this weekend and the big dent I made in some chores I've had on my list for a long time.

...for my husband who spent so much of a beautiful sunny weekend looking at sinks, tile, lighting,  switches and plugs.  He also put up some drywall, and began the dismantle of the dead hot tub.  I think going back to work today was a blessing for him ;)