January 2022 Gratitude Daybook: Christmas & 20th Anniversary! Edition

Outside on our Turkey Ranch- 

I’m grateful that Jesse pulled out one piece of outside Christmas decor- our wooden manger with Baby Jesus because he knows I like to do something, however simple. It is stored away now with the rest of Christmas. Still very dry with cold weather this January.

From the bookshelves- 

I’m grateful for some new books in our midst: 

a Kimbell Art Museum mini-Cookbook (Trust me here- recipes from their amazing little cafe, paired with beautiful artwork from the museum), 

Fancy Nancy & the Nice List gifted by Tessa and read right before Cate asked for her own fuchsia bike, serious book providence at work that I never want to forget :), 

Dreamers of the Day shared by Sara about a lovely, quirky, single school marm Post-WWI, her chance meetings with the power players who parceled land into the modern Middle East, and how that time affected and reflects our own. 

With our hands-

I’m grateful for the watercolor nature journaling Cate, Mary, and I continue to do as part of an on-line class from Wild + Free. The accompanying book is beautiful!

In my head- 

I’m grateful for some practice living the reality that change often requires trust. We can create change or remain comfortable, not usually both at the same time. It has been a long season of checking out/staying in and trusting others to take care of me and help with Cate.

On my heart- I’m grateful for my husband and our abundantly! lived 20 years together...

• 5 beautiful living children: Jude Thomas, John Paul Muller, Mark Ignatius, Mary Constance, & Catherine Therese with her medical special needs and one we miscarried whom we named Gabriel/la and remember with an ornament every Christmas; 2 foster children in San Antonio also remembered with an ornament, 8 godchildren around the country we love to see with their families, some of our closest friends; 

• 6 homes (1 we remodeled ourselves) + 45 acres total (including an orchard briefly!) in/outside 3 cities in Texas; 

• 3 degrees earned together; 

• his medical career (begun with a baby born each of the first two years of his medical school and now a private psych practice where those same boys have both worked for him); 

• my seasons of work practicing probate/guardianship law, in Catholic education, and now writing about marriage and family life,

• his burgeoning quarter horse breeding hobby and side-hustle.

We became friends first while doing youth ministry together in the beginning and teach NFP together still. We are blessed to have many true friends and experience "membership," as Wendell Berry calls it, after choosing to settle in Wichita Falls and at Sacred Heart. Our faith and love of family and each other unite us. We are opposites in so many ways, but better together than separate- when we remember to work together and lean on each other.

Most recent road trip- 

I’m so grateful that we made it back to FtW for a joyful, "Dickens-ian" Second Day of Christmas at our Mimi’s with Tessa and Nathan also along for the first time. We spent good time with my sister and her family and I saw a beloved uncle & aunt I haven’t seen in ages. M & M stayed for a couple nights of extended Mimi/cousin time.