1000 gifts: lilacs and snow drifts

Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey (from Ann Voskamp's book and her blog, A Holy Experience).

299. Giant summer snow drifts 
After church, we drove up to the Snowy Range to see the snow drifts. The mountains had a record snowfall this year, and on June 12 this is how much snow was left!

300. Discovering lilacs
On the same day we were playing in the snow (see above) we drove back down into summer, into our town at the height of lilac season. Though we have two beautiful blossoming crabapple trees in our yard, I've always been sad we don't have any lilacs (I planted one a few years ago, but it still hasn't bloomed). But this afternoon Blaze discovered four little lilac bushes in our side yard - we've been here 5 years now and this was the first year we discovered them! It must be the first year they've bloomed. 


301. Everything I want, I already have
Visited Heather after her surgery. Still a little groggy from her pain medications, she was still excited to show me all her beautiful cards and flowers. Another friend had framed a plaque for her with the Latin saying:

Omnia quae cupio iam habeo =  Everything I want, I already have.

Together we marveled how even in the midst of this trial she is having with cancer, she can still say, with God's grace, that she's been blessed with everything.

302. Indian winters
Heather also made this cute comment about our wintry Laramie springs: they are like "Indian winters" (a take on the term "Indian summer": when you get summery weather again after the first frost in the fall)

303. The advantages creative writers might have
These are some great insights I found on Saumya's wonderful blog:

"Creative people tend to tolerate uncertainty better" 

"Writing allows us to reflect and reflection prevents burnout because we can derive meaning from what we are doing all the time." 

"The world wants us to fit into templated narratives and it's a writer's duty to defy that want."

304. Stars in your soul

This quote is worthy of a place of its own in my gift list.

"What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul" — Victor Hugo

305. "A good tree to climb"
That was Dreamer's comment about the cottonwood in our backyard that she loved to climb (until she had a scary encounter with a spider sharing her branch). All four girls love this tree; here they are planning some sort of mischief:

306. A variation on the Footprints in the Sand poem

This is from Beth Moore's Breaking Free study: (full text here)

"Imagine going to heaven and standing by God as he lovingly shows you the calendar of his plan for your earthly life...."Father, are those my footprints on the calendar every day and is the second set of prints when You joined me?"

He answers, "No, My precious Child. The consistent footprints on your calendar are Mine.  The second set of footprints are when you joined Me."

"Where were You going, Father?"

"To the destiny I planned for you, hoping you'd follow."

"But, Father, where are my footprints all those times?"

He answers, "Sometimes you went back to look at old resentments and habits while I was still going forward, hoping you'd join Me.  Sometimes, you departed from My path and chose your own calendar instead.Other times, your footprints can even be seen on another person's calendar, because you thought you liked their plan better. At other times, you simply stopped, because you would not let go of something you could not take to the next day."

307.  Unexpected gift certificates
I took a couple friends from Bible study horseback riding, and a couple days later Lindsay sent me a thank-you card with a gift certificate for dinner at Altitude, one of our favorite restaurants.

308. Doggie easter egg hunts
Dreamer set up an "easter egg hunt" for our dog, Remie. She enlisted the help of the twins and they hid doggie treats all over the yard, then took Remie around to all the spots to find them.

309. A tea party for two
Lately Dreamer, my seven year old, has been lamenting about how she'll never be as good as Blaze (my 9 year old). Blaze is always better at drawing, at making things, at swimming, everything. Even though both my mom and I have explained to her it simply seems that way because Blaze is 2 years older, Dreamer still struggles with this. I invited Dreamer to have a tea party with me in our flower garden, just the two of us. She was thrilled! - and I haven't heard her worrying about Blaze being ahead of her since then. Reminded me I have to be careful to give each of my girls individual attention.

310. A funny tale about horse tails
Stars called me and told me to look at  a picture of her horse, Roy, that she posted on Facebook - she had just shown Roy for the first time with his new "two-pound tail" - (real horse hair that is clipped into the existing tail to make it look longer and fuller for shows). It was a beautiful tail indeed - though I was still sorrowing over Blaze cutting almost a foot off the length of her horse's tail. I was so happy that Spring's tail, which was short when we bought her last fall, had finally grown out to proper length... Blaze didn't realize that she wasn't supposed to cut so much off it.

311. Stable friendships
Stars also posted this on her Facebook page, and I reposted it:

If you want a stable friendship, get a horse.

312. The most vivid rainbow I've seen yet

 I've seen lots of gorgeous rainbows out here in the land of the big skies - including a quadruple rainbow in 2006, right after finding out I was having twin girls - a quadruple rainbow for my four girls! But this one was definitely the brightest rainbow I've yet seen, from our backyard. The picture, of course, doesn't do it justice.