Give thanks! ...for our sense of smell?

I started this post a loooong time ago and just saw that I never posted it.  Just reread and not sure why I didn't post.  Hmmm...maybe I hesitated because I thought the "s" word would scare some of you.  But we are all grown ups here.  And, while we're on the subject--because we ARE now--if you want to know my thoughts about s-e-x, see this post and this one.

I was in a funky mood the other day and decided I needed a shift in focus.  I was stuck in the car for a while so I pulled out a piece of paper and began to write things for which I am thankful, in alphabetical order.  It was a quick-as-I-could-think kind of list.  And the effect was...well, I would seriously recommend this.  When life is frustrating, it's always a good idea to start thinking about all the things for which we are thankful.  I just chose to list my items alphabetically because it stretched me to think about things that I might not call to mind naturally.  I mean blessings like family, our home, laughter, our car, my Bible, and church are a few things that I give thanks for regularly, but trying to think of things for each letter of the alphabet allowed me to give thanks for less obvious blessings like "boundaries."  Here's my list, copied from my hand-written scribbles...

A--art (#143)
B--bread, bicycles, boundaries, books (144-147)
C--coffee (148)
D--departures, designations, delays (because they, too, are grace) (149-151)
E--escalators, or alligators, as baby girl calls them (152)
F--fire (153)
G--girls, games (154,155)
H--health (156)
I--insurance (157)
J--Jesus, jets (158, 159)
K--kangaroos, kites, knowledge (160-162)
L--limits, luxuries, lights (163-165)
M--Mom, milk, memories, music (166-169)
N--notes (170)
O--octopus (171)
P--people, portions (Do you see a theme?  ...boundaries, limits, portions...yes, I am VERY thankful for these!) (172, 173)
Q--quality time (174)
R--romance (175)
S--singing, sex (Sorry if that is TMI, but...it's what came to mind!  Although, I'm not sure why, because I usually say "lovin."  Ahhhh-righty.  Moving on!) (176, 177)
T--telephone (178)
U--umbrellas, underwear (See, when my mind gets on a track...) (179, 180)
V--vision, victories, victory! (181-183)
W--wisdom (184)
X--x-rays (That's a hard one!) (185)
Y--youth (186)
Z--zest (Not the soap, but the colorful part of citrus peel that makes things yummy!) (187)

Keep in mind this is a quick-recall kind of exercise.  Ready, set...Go!

A...?

Some letters will trigger more than one word; ride the mental wave when it hits you.

--------------------------------------

Baby girl-isms...

(1)

"Alligator"-- can mean the animal, and, as you saw above, "escalator," and even "elevator."

(2)

"Sloth"--you would think this is an animal.  Right?  No.  Imagine the frustration we both experienced when she asked for her "sloth," and I got her stuffed two-toed sloth only to find out this is not what she was asking for.  Naturally, I assumed she must have been thinking of another animal and just calling it the wrong name, so we went through a lengthy back-and-forth until, somehow, we came to realize she was referring to...dental floss!   Please don't forget to sloth.

(3)

This is not a word, but a story...

I was sitting on the couch with her recently, snuggling.  She was watching Little Einsteins while I was reading a free online chapter from the book, The Insanity of God, which I now want to buy, by the way.  I got up to get more coffee and also popped a Hershey's kiss in my mouth.  Because, what goes better with coffee?  When I sat back down, baby girl asked, "What's that smell?"

"I don't know; maybe it's my coffee?"

"No...I think it's biscotti, or chocolate, or something."

Seriously, she could smell the chocolate inside my mouth?!  After a good laugh, I got up to get her a kiss too.  This kid seriously has the best smeller I've ever known.  Wonder how God is going to use that?  =)