t-h-a-n-k-s.

• ward church
• "there are my friends" - emma (when she saw stella and her girls)
• getting to skype with yaya and grandaddy (thanks to matt & denise!)

• laughing at "bride and prejudice"
• watching "it's a wonderful life" 
• deep fried candy bars.  yup.  well done, peter koontz.

• comfy clothes
• christmas break
• caroline's interest in and excitement about giving
• shoes lined up outside of doors

• doughnut in the market (.20 well spent)
• coke with ice and lime
• fun patterned wrapping paper

• the father of my children gives them such good gifts (caroline's is a daddy/daughter date to Twiga (hotel/restaurant) that lasts long past bedtime! eli's is a trip the atlantic hotel to get app upgrades.  emma's was a box of lollipops and starburst - just what she wanted.)

treasures all along the way

• sweet conversations about caroline's future and what God may have in store for her
• seeing the Australian news documentary "The Surgery Ship" - especially thankful for the reminder of what God is doing in and through this vessel and her crew
• the last of the christmas packages are wrapped up and packed up and well on their way 
  
• unexpected quiet
• knowing it hurts because you've loved
• Miss Miriam's radiating joy & enthusiasm for teaching French

• surprisingly good iced coffee
• cabin full of relatively calm kids
• "driving around" looking at christmas decorations as a family 

• hannah's willingness to watch emma on tuesday mornings from 8:30-9:00
• instant oatmeal (it wins the non-existent "food of the week" award)
• fun stamps!

• robin's e-mail...grandly encouraging
• adverbs
• beautiful good-bye notes

• lovely definition of humility (from brennan manning)
• the poem andrea shared...and the way she shared it
• "good things come in orange packages."  true.

• cooking with an apron on (first time for everything)
• double headband that matches perfectly
• sharpie pens
• life change

• hundreds of cookies are baked and waiting for dozens of little hands to ice & decorate them
• emma's peaceful and delightful behavior during the baking of previously mentioned cookies
• tortilla chips with lime (Corazonas, you officially have a new fan - and you're giving the instant oatmeal a run for its money this week....)

• ken's willingness to go above and beyond
• cinderella's example of gracious kindness
• adding really good books to the library's collection
• corny jokes (ie - what do you call an old snowman?  water.)(why are pirates so mean? they just "arrrr")(you may need my grin and giggle to go with that last one....)
• perfect presents from the whites (wishing i had done more puns with "white christmas")(thankful for a lifetime to be able to do that...)

(special deliveries)

thought it might be a fun little experiment to show the packages God put my gifts in/delivered them to me through this week (that's what's in the parentheses)

• great steak & exceptional cinnamon rolls (galley team)
• when God sends just the thing you need -- in this case, a sturdy envelope to mail a piece of artwork (beth)
• successful sweet tea making (coached by tierrah)

• the way God has used LuWanna here on the ship (obviously, LuWanna)
• the life and impact of Nelson Mandella (Nelson Mandella...ok...this experiment may not work)
• a book of poetry that i could've written - if only i could write poetry!  poems that i "get" (anonymous donor to the library)
• parties that come together peacefully, easily & inexpensively (hannah, stephanie, erin, catharine)
• grand mix of productive and lazy (brought to you by the letter "R" and the day "Saturday")
• God's faithfulness in the laundry room continues 
• the limerick mr. josh wrote for emma's birthday (mr. josh)
• nice Georgia dinner (fellow Georgians on the ship!)

• teeth cleaning appointment is over (leslie for the booking, lisa for the cleaning)
• sitting still 
• ballet "performance" to the song "come and worship" - absolutely beautiful. (mrs. gretchen, caroline & the rest of the girls that danced)
• my worth is not in my ability to make magazine worthy cakes/cupcakes (terribly runny icing on emma's cake)
• hearing whispers in the hallway as wonderful ones put up special decorations for emma's birthday (KJ and sarah)
• nick's willingness to be our AV guy (nick)
• cabin inspections happened on a day when things were relatively neat (marilyn & katie)
• emma's life (emma?)

• laughing at "Mr. S's" story time abilities (steve schwind)
• "the man with the cat" christmas picture (that whole crowd of awesome people)
• dinner with miss catharine (catharine, carnivore staff)
• suzanne's beautiful christmas card (suzanne, janice - for having photoshop on this computer and sharing it with us)
• new commission charts (dave ramsey...nick...cash kids...reception for laminating it!)

• fresh ink for the library stamp (whoever ordered it way back when? robin? carol?)
• sweet time of late night note writing 
• fun "chalkboard christmas pictures" (google)
  

i love how He makes the ordinary extraordinary.

i love being able to type in key words from a quote into a google search and have multiple fun looking versions of that quote come up.  it's much more fun to share it this way than to simply type it in black and white default font.  though sometimes black and white default font is simply perfect.

i am so ordinary. so simple in so many ways....

...seeking to faithfully, diligently and consistently live my simple life as an offering to the Lord...trusting that He will bring forth extraordinary results.

and another artistic rendition....

so many gifts along the way.

• andrea diallo's smile
• delicious thanksgiving meal (it may not look like much but it was AMAZING)

• special thanksgiving celebration
• dessert table (this was only about 1/4 of it...i took the picture a little early)

• perfect cup of pressed pumpkin spice coffee
• listening to caroline & emma sing in dutch
• pajama day at school (it's amazing how easy it is to get kids out the door when getting dressed and fixing hair isn't involved)
• this picture: (it just makes me laugh)

• the way nick speaks God's Truth
• i successfully ordered lunch in french (and that, my friends, is the extent of my french speaking abilities)
• amy moser's willingness to watch emma for a few minutes (last minute!)
• "walk with me along paths of peace; enjoy the journey in my presence." - jesus calling
• caroline's plastic bag juggling skills

• finding the right words/approach with caroline and her major meltdown 
• package from the edfeldts!

• delightful date night...sunset, popcorn, cold coke, best friend, laughing at crabs scuttling about...
• the kids' excitement about decorating for christmas (and their willingness to straighten up the cabin so that the decorating could happen!)
• spreading out the opening of gifts over the entire month (round one: the Smiths from Texas!)

• "use all Your skill to put me together; i wait to see Your finished product." - psalm 25:21.  i am a work in progress...
• "God's almost done healing my knee!" - emma
• playing the "ha!" game at lunch (and the laughter that ensued)
• lovely and precious note from scotland (my first mail to come through the Dutch Mercy Ships' Office!)