My Weekly Gratitude List– #266-275:

266. Playing badminton outside in the yard

267. getting some cleaning done indoors

268. playing outdoor games in the park with a few friends

269. watching my 10-year-old catch a pop-fly ball, while sliding down on the ground– exciting moment!

270. yellow lilies in full bloom

271. laptop seems to be functioning now! Yay!!

272. seeing yellow blooms on the tomato plants

273. the smell of freshly mowed grass

274. the sound of thunder crackling above

275. attending a Photoshop workshop… one step closer to pursuing the desire to be a better photographer. My daughter also attended. (I think she was the youngest one there at 13! It’s not too early to begin and she wanted to go!) She and I share the same interest in photography. Hubby attended too. It was a fun day to spend with her, all of us, doing something different. And good information– there is much to learn! To be honest, we only have a digital point and shoot little camera, and I often use an iPhone because of the convenience.  We’re hoping to upgrade sometime soon. But I confess this, because I realized I don’t have to wait until I have the right equipment to learn how to take better pictures and how to edit; no matter what kind of camera I have, I need to learn how to take better pictures and learn some useful editing skills. So, this workshop was a major blessing!   Now… I’d looove to attend a writing workshop– it’s next on my list of dreams. 🙂

276. Thankful for a friend who kept the two boys the day of the class! It allowed us to attend.

277. Keeping lists… of article ideas, the daily to-do’s, lists of dreams. Lists help, as long as I’m not stuck and bound to them. They help keep me on track, even though I may not be able to check everything off. If I don’t have a list even to the grocery store, I will certainly forget something.

278. My kids auditioned for a play and they each got a speaking part. Not big parts, but something and they are all happy and thankful. We were preparing ourselves for not getting anything– this would be a first time for them. What a blessing for them. It wasn’t their first choices– but they accepted well. But even if they had not gotten the parts, it is still a reason to give thanks and rejoice, because I must share that in my life, I’ve learned how to be a more gracious recipient of happy occasions like these because of the many, many more rejections and failures. It was the rejections, the trials and the failures that made me appreciate the joys and successes all the more and made them more sweet and meaningful, and taught me some lessons I needed to learn. So success may be sweet– but so are the failures!

I will write more about this, because in the midst of the intensity of the call backs, and re-auditioning, etc., I realized I wasn’t equipped as well as I would have liked to have been to help my children cope with possible rejection and failure. We’ve talked about it, but there are certain truths that apply and I’m not sure I’ve made them clear. Now, of course, this is not the first time for the opportunity of rejection we’ve experienced, and it most certainly will not be the last. But I want to share with them what I’ve learned, and to give them tools for the their toolbox, to practice and hide in their heart. So I will share more on this soon. If you have any ideas on how you’ve coped with failure or rejection, I’d love to hear! Feel free to e-mail me (contact info is in the sidebar).

***

Linking with a community in giving thanks: