humbled with thanks {and pressed full of joy}

My heart is full.... thanks and wonder and astonishment over the goodness, the severe goodnesses and graces of God..... and with this, there's that throbbing longing too, longing for more of Him, especially here.  The needs are so very great.   I've been re-reading Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts lately and it has been so good to ruminate again on how receiving gifts, calling them good and naming them-calling my attention to them, is a humbling thing..... and what better joy is there than to be humbled before the most loving Father in all creation and receive his love in all His gifts?

We've celebrated Thanksgiving two years in a row with Matt's parents.  Last year in Florida, this year in our Asian home.   What an unexpected, delightful joy!  This past week we enjoyed an especially special time with them... an in-town *vacation* gift.  We stayed in a beautiful hotel complex, in the 4 star hotel but for the 3 star price (the lady behind the desk let us know that it was only due to a translation error at our booking site, which didn't bother us in the least), and we got to swim in the 5 star POOL.  What a treat!  It was a beautiful two day rest together with them and all of our little swimmers (little flyers- see below).