Gratitude Friday AND my 100th post !!

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie ~

It's Gratitude Friday and my 100th post! To celebrate, I'm going to give away a $5 Starbucks card to someone leaving their own gratitude comment on my blog today! I'm not sure how hi- tech the drawing will be, but I'll have Mr. York help me out. I'll draw tomorrow morning before I post my Photo Hunt picture!

My own list for today....

1. Wonderful service people who take care of my little needs! I have a broken car mirror because I hit the neighbor's garbage can with it on Wednesday (see yesterday's post for the picture!)...Lucas at Foothills Mazda is always my hero for getting my car fixed! I also took the snifferdoodles to 5 Mile Pet Clinic to get their 2nd round of shots, plus they went to Dee's Dog Grooming to have their first pedicure. Tracie at Dee's is such a caring person with our dogs and they love her lots!

2. The gym! I got on the scale yesterday and it said I weighed 172! YIKES....how'd that happen? I was this weight when I was pregnant with each of the kids. (And I'm definitely not pregnant now.) So off I've been going to the gym, truly working out with my trusty MP3 player and great music to set the pace. Last night I was there for an hour, doing weights with the exercise ball and walking on the treadmill. This morning I was there bright and early for a half hour on the eliptical. I have at least 20 pounds to lose and bunches of inches. The gym and I will become very good friends within the next six months.

3. Random people you meet. Today at the gym I met a retired school teacher on the treadmill next to me. It turns out he taught a long time ago at the school that I used to work at. Small world! It was fun to talk to him, hear about the people he worked with (some I know and they have inspired me in my teaching journey) and also share about my teaching job in Nespelem. (I shared about my love of teaching and love of missions...woohoo!) You never know who you can meet to share Jesus with!

4. A day off from work! I took today off so I could get the little things done, regroup for next week and possibly take a nap, too. Between working four full days and shaking up my body's metabolism, I'm sluggish today. Plus, it's soooo grey out today. The frost covered trees make for pretty photos but I am such a sunshine person! I'll be even more grateful when Mr. Sunshine comes out to play again.

5. Christmas cards that are still arriving in the mail! It's never too late at my house to send your Christmas cards/letters to me. :)

6. My blog friends!! What an inspiration you are to me. It means a lot to have you share your daily life with me, to know that you're praying for the things that are important in my life and that you trust me enough to ask me pray for you, too. Your comments touch my heart. I will probably be sharing even more over the next couple of months -- I'm ready to shed a few more layers of the "mask". It is an honor to call you FRIENDS!

Happy Gratitude Friday, everyone!