WEEK 3- #graditudetrain -Keeping It In Perspective and Shout OUT to Barbara Owens

I'm full steam ahead on my #graditudetrain.  (see post week 1 and 2 below if you're wondering what this is all about)

It's been so much fun to see some friends hop on board this with me. When others get on board this train of giving thanks in ALL things it gives me more momentum. Starting this train has truly been like hitting the reset button.
On Thursday of this past week I walked outside to the fresh smell of rain and I was tired, so very tired, but right away I took a deep breath and thought, today is going to be a good day.  I know it is strange that rainy days invigorate me, but they truly do. The above pic is our drive way up to the cabin in Washington.  When it rains here, I can't help but think of this special place that now houses my oldest daughter Emma. 

I needed that rainy morning last week to stop, and pause because the few days prior had been all kinds of rough.
I feel compelled to share the things that have happened this past week that I wasn't so thankful for because, basically they SUCKED!!
First, My dishwasher broke. (insert full blown crying emoticon here) Which ok, it's not the END of the world because we have hot water and dish soap and sponges, and hands that work. I was reminded of the 4 years in the cabin where we lived without a dishwasher, or central heat, or more than one bathroom,  and I gotta say  I stopped in my tracks and thought...it's those little things like dishes piling up that can really derail a train of gratitude in a New York Minute!
But beloved reader,  I was determined not to let it.   I'm keeping the bigger perspective in mind, and the minute I almost started to be ungrateful I was reminded not only of the cabin life, but of another momma friend of 4 who is battling for her life right now. It was a moment that I paused and thought, God thank you that I'm healthy enough to stand here, and do dishes by hand for hours and hours if need be.  It was a true reset button when I thought about how my friend probably wishes more than anything in all the world that she was healthy again and able to care for her clan of 4 kids.  I give thanks for Barbara because she is a warrior momma who I admire for her strength and courage and humor.  I paused and lifted up prayers for her and her family and thanked God for her. 
IF you're interested in helping my fellow momma friend click the link below.  Help Barbara fight Cancer for the 2nd Time
I started thanking God for all the things that are STILL working even though my BLASTED bleepity BLEEP dishwasher is broken!!
Then the place where I work got broken into right before our big Veterans day event last weekend.  Which for me personally wasn't so bad, but I felt terrible for my boss/friend Mark who had to deal with this in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday.  I started to think about how in life when you are going about your business something like that can happen and really shake things up.  They are moments that cause us to pause in all our busy, and hopefully we remember what to give thanks for in those moments. I felt a certain sense of violation and frustration toward this selfish, stupid person who thankfully didn't get away with a single thing, but still it caused all kinds of other work for us last week that we really didn't need to be dealing with.
Even in this though, I was thankful that nothing was taken, and no one was hurt.  And I KNOW we did do some really good work for our community this past weekend when we gave away free tattoos to all the veterans as our way of saying thank you for your service to our country.
There are countless other little things that happened this past week that tried to derail this train, but I saw those things coming down the tracks and thought to myself ... NOPE...NOT TODAY! 
We all have those things that come to rob, kill and destroy the attitude of gratitude, but they are nothing more than the Punk Ass Devil messing with what really matters.  When talking about giving thanks it's important to mention that not all things, obviously are worthy of thanks or gratitude. A lot of things in this life truly are horrible and there are no answers for the injustice.  But, "in all things" we give thanks. 
Still, I believe there is always, always, always something to be thankful for.
I'm not really sure how this works when faced with true tragedy. I don't pretend to have all the answers or even some of the answers, but I know that personally in my life if I look for gratitude in every circumstance I can always find it.  It might not come right away, but it does come to me.
Again I will say, in this life we find what we are looking for. 
If you look for something in every life circumstance to be thankful for you will find it. 
This "graditudetrain" isn't about ignoring the horrible bad things that happen in life, it's about being determined to not stay there.  We have to allow for times of grief and sorrow to fully heal. It can't be all sunshine and roses everyday because with out the dark times we don't know how to appreciate the light.
I do believe though, there is something to wrestling our way out of those dark times and the muscle we use to dig out of that pit of gloom is gratitude.  
So there you have it... week 3 here I go ! Keeping my attitude of gratitude and the determination to be a graduate in giving thanks in ALL things... "grad"itude  train for LIFE!!