A full bucket

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We've been here on the mountain for a month now and what a ride it has been.  About 20 people worked together spending countless hours preparing our house for our arrival. The community honored us by an afternoon open-house to welcome us into the family.  Four members arrived at our doorstep the first morning to welcome us with a house plant and a gift card to the local grocery story.  Numerous members worked together at ten o'clock at night trying to get us back into our house after we locked ourselves out (partly because we didn't have a working key to the backdoor.

Now within the last 8 days we've been filled with moments that have made us feel like we are part of the family.  Last Sunday we joined a group for lunch at Pappa Ron's where we laughed and spent time getting to know our church family.  Tuesday we spent time picking blueberries at one of our member's homes.  It wasn't anything fancy...we simply went out and picked blueberries.  The Bradford's stopped what they were doing just to spend some time with us...they stopped mowing the yard...they walked away from the laundry they were tending too and they simply walked into the blueberry patch and spent time with us.

Reed treated Emma as if she was one of his grandchildren.  He held the branches for her and laughed with her as they stood in the middle of the patch.  We were fortunate enough to run into Kim and Tommy Colely  who were there getting some items for our church auction.  Everyone laughed and just embraced the time of picking blueberries.

I loved the color of the berries.....

Our buckets were filled to the brim....

I've frozen at least 4 cups, made blueberry cottage cheese/sour cream pancakes and blueberry muffins this week!

If that wasn't enough...the next day the Kim and Tommy brought me a bag full of freshly picked tomatoes.  I wish I had a picture because they were the perfect color and the perfect shape.

Needless to say I love tomatoes and I have eaten them with every thing I could think of.

We've had a horrible time with ants and today Reed brought me a pack of Terro, just because he overheard me talking about it.  A gift...truly a gift.

We were invited out to lunch once again with a different crew.  The Jackson's invited us to ride with them to Cowen and what a delight it was to just be with them.  They even paid for our lunch; again another thing to be thankful for.

It truly is the small things that fill my bucket to the brim.....
persons preparing your home
invitations to dinner
picking blueberries
fresh tomatoes
a Sunday ride to lunch
an expected meal paid for
pest control
cell phones that are filled with important numbers
family members who are willing to go the extra mile.

As the night turns to dawn what things are you truly thankful for?  What unexpected things have come into your day that have brought you a sense of being cared for and nurtured?  Where is your bucket filled to the brim?

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