August Blessings ~ Counting It All Joy! (Second Week)

COUNTING IT ALL JOY!

Summer Adventures!

The Dog Days Of Summer!

August 6~ Sleep beautiful sleep. Yep! Should be getting up and getting this day rolling. Bed and pillows are holding me hostage. I cannot seem to move. Well....I guess I will just have to stay here in this bed. And that's exactly what I did. Nothing but laying here being held hostage to this comfy bed and cozy snuggly pillows until about noon. Yep! That works for me. Conversation with friends catching up on life, solving world problems, and giggles of laughter. I'm pretty sure this won't go down as one of my most productive days. But I say it was perfect! Then Geo Sutter paid the ransom fees and set me free from being held hostage any longer. Had to get up, get dress and shine! Success! Out we went for ice cream....the perfect hostage fees paid to set me free and to end a very relaxing weekend and Sunday. Then a stroll around Gresham Station. Meeting up with Mary McCormick Loomis for dinner. Surprise Italian at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Great company, yummy food for this weekend close. Best part I didn't have to cook nor eat alone. Thank you Lord for waking me this morning, for the cooler temperatures. For the fresh pages of each new day to be written. The new blooms of my life as I take the plunge into my new found freedoms. Just being able to lounge and do absolutely nothing guilt free. For friends that say come on let's go have some fun. Ice cream, and shared meals. Yes Lord each day you give me priceless things to be so very grateful and thankful for. Blessings

August 7 ~ Good morning hazy smokey Monday. New day, new week in my chapters of my life. Today is filled with appointments. Thankful for the negative outcome! Praising Jesus for this. Home from appointments to await Jennifer Merritt-Estep arrival. Off to downtown Portland. Traffic and lots of it. So thankful I don't have to deal with that on a daily basis. Airport to pick-up a handsome little dude. Construction on airport way and more traffic. Yep! I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with this traffic congestion on a daily basis. Thank you Jen for dinner. It was very yummy. Lord I thank you for great test results. For good report from the doctor today. For watching over my children and grandchildren daily. Lord I thank you I don't have to deal with traffic on a daily basis. For being able to help out when asked. Thank you for another day. Blessings

August 8~ Didn't I just fall asleep....it couldn't possibly be time to get up already. Okay! I will say good morning Tuesday! Must rise and shine to this day I have been given, to fill it with adventures, beauty, love, friendship, laughter, and so much more. Time with the Lord and some coffee to get my engine's running in the right direction. My mini vacation to work on the River Road. Success with smiles until next week. Thought I'd take a different route home. Oh My! That was truly an adventure. Went through Beavercreek, ended up on some mountain between Estacada and Colton. Not sure how that happened. Lots of turns and twist for sure. Finally got onto 211 by no small miracle. Then somehow ended up in Boring, then onto another country road headed to Sandy. Really dont know how that happened either. I finally ended up on 26 heading to Gresham. Thank goodness! What a travel adventure that was. And beautiful too! I might make it home before the ladies show up. Thank goodness for a full tank of gas, which is operative now. Home where I find Sherilynn Ganther waiting. Then AmyJune McClure, arrives and we head out for our afternoon picnic and fun on the Sandy River at Glenn Otto Park. The little kid came out in all of us. Playtime just like school girls! So much fun! Just wish the body would cooperate. Thank you Lord for waking me for another day of possibilities filled with adventures. Thank you that all roads that do lead home and that I'm never lost just checking out future adventures to go on. Thank you for full tank of gas as I drove from one place to another. For cooler temperature's as we had fun in the sun. Laughter and friendship. The swings and the slide. And the many treasures found; both material and heart. My cup over flows! Thank you Lord. Blessings

August 9 ~ Ugh! Irritable! Don't want to get up. Just want to sleep. It cools off enough to sleep when it's time to get up. I know it's Wednesday smiles of beauty. So....for my sweet ladies I can say good morning! I can't even say sunshine....still under a cloud of smokey haze. But the ladies are my sunshine on Wednesday's. Phone call from one of the daughter's of one of the residents telling me how happy and pleased she is with how I care for her mom's hair. Yes! This is why I do what I do. Joy fills my heart! Eight on the books one canceled making seven beautiful smiling faces. Each bring me such joy and happiness. Thank you Lord for the paychecks of the heart that are priceless. Home to do my towels for next week. Make business calls. Some don't go so well.....well others go rather smoothly. Thankful for a phone call today that could have caused me lots of grief; even if I wasn't happy, it all works out at the end of the day. Travel bags out. It's time to pack again. Adventures await. Today I'm so thankful for my baby Sister Rosie! She is an amazing sister and woman. I pray she knows how truly loved and special she is!  For pictures on Face book of my children and grandchildren. Love seeing their faces and what is going on in their lives. For friends that always have away of lifting my spirits no matter the situation. Yes even on these irritable days there are people and things to be grateful and thankful for. Blessings

August 10 ~ Awww......I slept in past 7 a.m. thank you Lord for the extra rest. Good morning Thursday. Slow moving start as I gather the rest of my things to pack in my weekend bag. Yummy coffee, prayers, then load the car. Okay thinking I need to do my Wal-Mart stop. Hitting I-84 to head to Hood River to see the specialist. Praying he can help me. WOW! Traffic jam heading East due to construction. Dislike traffic! Dr. appointment went smoothly. Didn't really like health results; but he says he can help me. Thank you Lord. SHOTS! OH! I DON'T LIKE SHOTS!! Well....if it helps me it will be well worth it. Time will tell. Painful extremely painful! Don't like shots! Especially in my ankle and my foot. Thank you Rosie for referring me to your Dr. At sister's enjoying the patio and the evening here in the The Dalles. Thank you Lord for waking me this morning, for safe travels, a Dr. that can help me and my feet. For my family and time with them. Yes Lord you have blessed me. Blessings

August 11 ~ Good morning Friday at my sister's in the The Dalles. Pitter patter of little feet, children and fur babies. Yes! A house full of awesomeness! How blessed to have family and extended family that wraps their love around you ever time you show up. Slow moving morning for me. Coffee, prayers, time with the handsome crew of great nephews. Time with sister's. What a wonderful way to start the weekend. Rosie, said I need my inserts for my shoes. Off to Doctors office for these inserts. She says I will be glad I did. Yahoo! Time to get ready for an evening of fun with family and friends. Neon Lights in the The Dalles. Always a great adventure and fun with this crew. I'm so blessed to be apart of this group. Some I've known a life time. Some I've had the honor to meet through my amazing sisterChristine Good. They all have embraced me with loving arms. Thank you! The joy of having a family that just accepts you where your at no matter what. I'm truly blessed beyond measure and words. The friends as well. Who make you feel so special. I love you all. Thank you! What could be better? Tonight at Neon Lights in the The Dalles, always fun, always a grand time. Thank you each and everyone. So blessed to have you all apart of my journey in life. Home to share a bottle of wine with my amazing sister and extended family. "ROAD TRIP" red wine from Olive Pit, Corning California. Yummy! A trip down memory lane, wrapped in love shared, with much laughter, shared in so much living a life of love filled with family and friends of a life well lived. Feeling so grateful for the life I have been given. Thank you Lord! Today I'm so thankful for my siblings and the life I have been blessed with. The love that surrounds me even when I don't realize it. The friends that are there that say hey I love you just the way you are; and your perfectly okay being you in this moment and time. I'm truly blessed beyond measure. Today is filled with amazing blessings in hidden gifts that I didn't even knew existed. I love you all! Thank you for this gift and treasure, hidden in the wealth of my family that I have been given. I treasure my family and each of you that are a part of that amazing circle of love and the journey I am on. Grateful for each path that has crossed. It is the hidden gift that you all pour out because of who you are. Thank you! A treasure that is golden that gives beyond measure. You are my hidden gifts that bless me with unexpected treasures to be held tightly in my heart to carry a life time into eternity. WOW! I am truly blessed by each and all of you, thank you! Blessings

August 12 ~ What the heck!!??!! Barking lots of it! Fence fighting! Oh way to early for me for all this commotion. Children fusing! Glad I didn't want sleep and that sleep is so very over rated! Plenty of time for that another time. Good morning Weekend of fun with family. It's Saturday play day. Coffee, breakfast, slow moving start. Get ready to go to the park with Jennifer Merritt-Estep, and the boys. Lots of cars lots to see and do. There's Terrie Bariletti Dunn-Daggett and family. Finally I meet the twins. Adorable! Playmates for Gary and Kenyan their having a great time. Cars everywhere we look and Gary loving them all. Lunch in the park. That was yummy! Nationwide is here and I think I'm going to check it out. Simulator...fun! Loved it. Martin told me I was a conservative driver. Me laughing....I've never been called a conservative driver. Martin was quite the flirt! All in good fun! Really enjoyed myself. Home for a bit then Rosie and I have some poolside fun in the windy sun in Dalles Port. Life is good. Home with family and movie night outside on the patio. My sister's really do know how to live life well. Thank you Lord for barking dogs, fusing kids, it means I have ears to hear, and I'm alive to write another page of my life. I'm breathing! For a cooler day with a great breeze blowing through. For meeting the twins and spending time with the family that is handpicked. Enjoying the car show and the morning and early afternoon in the park. Swim time and quiet. Thank you Lord for another day to be thankful for. I have so much to be praising and thanking you for everyday. Blessings