My beach

I am so happy that we live within a 5 minute stroll to the beach, where I can sit, walk or run in almost complete solitude for as long as I desire. Although our house is in a small subdivision, I still have sneak-peaks of the water from a few windows and even from our side deck and yard. We have a large lot, but not many trees for privacy. However, this is a trade-off that I'm so glad we made when we decided to buy this particular home near the sea rather than in town. Another perk: living a short drive from a seafood market where just this evening I picked up a bag of scallops (to wrap in bacon and drizzle with maple syrup, of course).

Mitaines was enjoying our yard this summer, and the view as well. (Yes, he's on a leash.)

Friends

I've often felt lonely because we live so far away from many of our like-minded friends. This has certainly caused me to grumble over the years. However, when we have the occasion to spend time with far-away friends, I am so refreshed! Such was the case this weekend.

A cup of coffee

All the tensions of a busy day were relieved with that first cool sip of iced coffee on the way home from work today. It was incredible! It's that first moment of relief that is felt when you put up your feet at the end of the day. It's the taste of memories from other similar moments of peace in a busy season of life. I guess what I mean is that I'm grateful for those simple moments when suddenly my perspective in changed, however briefly. Of course, what also made the moment so pleasant was that my husband had picked me up from work and surprised me with this cute-cafe-bought coffee. Surely that is what heightened my senses and sentimentality even before the first sip.

Oui, Madame!

I'm thankful to be able to teach in my second language in an Acadian region of a province where I didn't grow up. I'm thankful for my grade 4 students who delight me with their antics and amaze me with their progress in learning French. I'm thankful that my oldest nephew is in my class. (I would have never imagined that the first time I met and held him as a 9-month-old.)

Thankfulness

So here’s my goal: I want to cultivate thankfulness in my life. I began writing a list of everything I’m thankful for in my personal journal, but I kind of forgot about it and, frankly, started being more of a grumbler than a thanker. So I want the theme of this blog to be one of thankfulness, which will hopefully be the reflection of a life of thankfulness. I’m going to purposefully write about aspects of my life that I’m thankful for, highlighting complaints and ungratefulness only to shed greater light on that for which I am grateful.

In order to avoid the impression that this is a look-at-all-the-great-things-in-my-life exploitation, let me premise this: I believe that God is the giver of all good things. And even some of the seemingly not good things we experience can serve to bring us to greater depths of gratefulness.

Why now, after not blogging for over a year and a half? Well, during much of that time, Jeff and I were vlogging.* Being the practical person that I am, I didn’t want to repeat what we were already doing via video. Also, I figure this will help keep me accountable to interpreting life through the lens of gratitude.

*TheChaseons Along the same lines as my thankfulness accountability here, Jeff is currently vlogging about his weight loss journey. You can also see past videos of our East Coast life.

I really do have good intentions about blogging more regularly. We're trying to be more intentional about living simply, and part of that means enjoying the journey of the day-to-day, even the unexpected things. I think we're getting better at that.

I started doing some supply teaching before Christmas and have been working nearly full-time the last couple of months. However, supply teaching has the wonderful perk of no take-home prep or corrections. It's quite lovely to be home by 3:30pm and still have energy to take care of the house, cook, run, relax... Plus, I can always say "no" if I'm too busy with the rest of life to teach. My perspective is that my teaching is the extra-curricular activity which shouldn't take away from my "studies" of homemaking and wifehood. Also, Jeff is now working from home doing freelance graphic design and photography, so it's nice to be available to help him out when needed.

Here we are strolling on "our" beach, near our house. (This was in the fall; presently, the beach is full of ice and snow.)


Even Mitaines is enjoying East Coast living and dining.

Introducing...

The other day, Jeff called from work and said he was coming home for lunch and that he would bring something home for lunch for us. He brought home chicken (to eat) and a kitten! Now, we've always hesitated about getting a cat for many reasons, the least of which is not the tendency for some pet owners to treat their animals as human members of the family. To make a few what-should-be-obvious statements, our cat is not our baby; I am not its mother. Thus I will not refer to it or me as such. And I will never pay to have professional photographs taken of my pet. However, should you wish to do so with your own pet, please contact my husband and he'll gladly take great photos, and your money. That being said, we're quite delighted with our new feline friend. We named him Mitaines (French for Mittens, pronounced Mee-'Ten), to reflect his francophone heritage. Oh, and I also won't be spending excessive amounts of money on pet accessories. Check out the stylish scratching/climbing pole I made with a stool and a pair of old jeans. I'm glad I did, otherwise he'd probably be tearing apart some piece of furniture instead.