Gratitude Journal

On the Mend

January 30, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

This week brought more blessings. On Tuesday, I visited the nutritionist I began to see when I gave up on traditional medicine to help me after my third miscarriage. My doctor had already told me I was anemic. Her prescription: more iron. When that didn’t do the trick, her best advice was even more iron. But despite my best efforts, I couldn’t seem to get enough iron, and there seemed to be more wrong than just that. There were more questions being raised than answers found.

The miscarriages were devastating. I was basically told to give up. But I knew something was systemically wrong with me.

Since seeing the nutritionist, I knew things had improved. I could tell by the appearance of my skin and hair and the improvement in my energy level, among other things. Because of the way this nutritionist does her testing, I can actually see with scientific proof how I’m improving. It’s so wonderful to have it confirmed: I am on the mend. So the first thing I am thankful for this week is:

40. I am finally on the mend.
41. I received much-needed encouragement this week, and heard from readers of After the Snow Falls with their accounts of how the book has touched them. So wonderful!
42. Despite significant financial challenges over the past year and a half, we have never gone hungry. We have never really wanted.
43. Our kids all passed their swimming levels this week! This was a big hurdle, and something they had begun to be discouraged about it. I’m so thrilled for them.
44. We’ve made friends at swimming lessons we plan to stay in touch with as we leave. Our kids are friends with their kids, and we hit it off with mom and dad. I love it when that happens.
45. We are on the home stretch. Though packing is never my favorite thing, the end is in sight.
46. It looks like some of our challenges with figuring out the visas we need for our trip are being sorted out and we may actually book tickets by the end of this week!
47. I was able to interview one of my favorite authors for my Friday Fiction Fix last week.
48. I am very energized, working on my next writing project.
49. I’ve been excited about developing a freewriting habit at 750words.com
50. We had a chance to reunite with some wonderful friends this week for a bit of a sending-off.
51. Despite the pain of having to decide what toys stay, get given away or get packed, my kids are doing better than I am about it. I am blessed with three wonderful children.
52. I have been following along with 31 Days to Build a Better Spouse, and have been blessed every day to realize what a great husband JavaMan is.
53. We had some car trouble this week, but some great neighbors and a wonderful mechanic stepped in to help.
54. I have wonderful parents, who pitched in to help on the weekend when we packed. Without them and JavaMan, I couldn’t have gotten through the day.
55. We had a bit of a financial breakthrough this week–something we’ve been waiting for for quite a while.
56. I have arranged for a number of reviews for After the Snow Falls with bloggers, but once they have it, I simply have to wait until their finished reading and the reviews come out, but three reviews in a row came out last week. That was a nice surprise, and they were all five-star reviews. That was an even nicer surprise!
57. I found a great substitute for the big heavy timeline book we were going to have to drag to China with us. I’m going to blog about it sometime soon, it’s so wonderful.
58. My recent review of Junior Writer has become very popular, and has found the attention of the children’s book publisher who brought it to the web. That was nice.
59. Today, my parents helped my kids with homeschool while JavaMan and tied up loose ends at the house where we’ve been living. The house was so quiet. I realized what a blessing the laughter of children–and even a little chaos–is in the house.

How about you? Have you counted your blessings this week? I’m counting to a thousand with Multitudes on Mondays and Ann Voskamp’s lovely blog:

- Carey Clark

Thankful in Everything

January 23, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

There are piles of books on the floor, piles of clothes here and there, half-packed boxes mostly all in one place in our house, a host of things I don’t know what to do with, a giant stack of recycling and bags of things designated garbage; there is a to-do list a mile long. On Friday, we will move to my parents’ house, and in a matter of weeks or days, we’re still not sure which, we will board a plane and depart our country once again.

In the midst of it all, I am thankful–for big things and small.

21. sunsets and sunrises
22. my country
23. my adopted country
24. laughter in our home
25. purpose–a reason to get up in the morning
26. peace in the midst of chaos
27. books
28. quiet moments to read those books
29. an end in sight
30. financial blessings
31. progress
32. my husband–who else could I share this journey with?
33. supportive family
34. that I apparently haven’t forgotten too much Mandarin
35. homeschool–it’ a distraction or a retreat from the packing!
36. the satisfaction of ticking one more item off that to-do list
37. early mornings
38. praying friends
39. vision to see a better day than today

For the most part, I’m thankful for the little things–the things we almost overlook. But there is one big thing I need to be thankful for today. Last week, someone called to say they wanted to give me their gently used MacBook Pro. It’s only two years old. My computer died last year, and since then I’ve been using an even older one we had been using for our kids for homeschool. In November, the screen died, and I’ve been chained to a borrowed monitor since then–not exactly a solution that will work to travel abroad with. Enter my benefactor with:

40. a new-to-me MacBook Pro.

Thankfulness in the small things often means your heart is open to receive even bigger blessings. I choose to be grateful–even when it’s not obvious why I should be. But today, it happens to be obvious.

- Carey

Picking Oneself Up

January 16, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Last week did not represent a stellar success in terms of meeting my goals. I’m thankful we can always start again. Over the weekend, busy as it was, somehow the family pulled together and the house returned to a state of calm after boxes and papers and piles everywhere all week long. We had a visit with some dear friends and met their new baby, and another friend visited on Sunday.

A few days ago the much-anticipated snow arrived outside our house. Yesterday afternoon Sprout headed outside to make snow angels.

Joining with Multitudes on Mondays, I’m going to count 1000 gifts in 2012. Today is the first day:

celebrations
new life
old friends
snow falling
snow angels
packing boxes
a friend’s generosity
checks on my to-do list
bright new ideas
finding balance
recovery from injury
hot apple cider
finding lost items (during the packing purge)
grateful children
partnerships
peace in the midst of chaos
second chances
failure as a stepping stone
strength to start another day
the mercy of homeschool on Mondays (p.j.s are suitable attire)

And as a final tribute to picking up after failure, I give you this inspirational video, one of my favorites:

Grateful for Grace

January 9, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Seven years ago, I read a book with a title that reflected my heart’s desire:Writing a Book That Makes a Difference. It was a high hope, and I despaired at times of being able to achieve it. There were many times along the journey I was ready to give up. In the midst of my writing journey, there were diapers to change, runny noses to wipe, boo-boos to mend and kiss. Things that seemed–and were–more important than even a book that made a difference.

This week, I’m overwhelmed and humbled by reader feedback. Through all the effort of creation and writing and revision and revision and more revision, all the waiting and working, in the end, it seems this novel I’ve written is touching hearts. My heart is full.

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