So Awesome!

 

a few words below I wrote down early this morning reflecting on our hike that I read to the crew after breakfast.... 

Family —

this is our one‑room schoolhouse,

where we learn how to love.

Here we learn to say, “please, sorry, and thank you.”

Here we practice patience,

gratitude, service, compassion, gentleness,

with a side of wit and whimsy every now and then.

 

We laugh together,

make awards both to poke fun and affirm gifts.

We proclaim “so awesome!”

at the beauty around us together.

We dance in the kitchen.

We see each other’s true colors,

and keep turning toward one another.

We learn to extend forgiveness more freely.

We have a place to receive grace upon grace —

a place where love keeps teaching us,

even on the hard days.

 

Jason — thank you for being so easy to say sorry to.

Thank you for modeling non‑defensive communication.

Thank you for making me laugh like few others do,

and for loving me so well for over three decades.

Your steadiness is a gift I hope to never take for granted.

 

Taylor — thank you for the way you have grown leaps and bounds

these last few years — gaining confidence and resilience,

learning patience and true kindness.

You walk in a room and know what needs to be done.

Thank you for the phone calls and the connections you cultivate.

I marvel at the ease with which you model letting go

and how that teaches me to live and love more freely.

 

Anna — thank you for embodying God’s gaze to me —

“behold the one beholding me and smiling.”

Your depth and arms open wide to the world are such gifts.

You teach me how to see with wonder again and again.

 

I am so grateful that God gave me each one of you.

Thank you for being the key people who teach me how to love.

May this one‑room schoolhouse be the place

where love keeps finding us.

So awesome!