Thanksgiving; the girl effect.

Thanksgiving translates in Turkish to şükür, praise, thanks, hallelujah...

Çok Şükür...

I am alive.

I have a patient husband who adores me and who has an amazing ability to live in the now while having incredible acuity towards the future.

Our daughter, there are not words. I had her later in life with the husband I chose. She was made from love in a safe and nurturing home.

I come from strong women and have met so many along the road; these are my role models, my counselors, my support groups...

"Good women- may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them"

I have really been pondering this as I was reintroduced to an organization, the girl effect.



Powerful huh?

At 12 I was in 6th grade feeling completely awkward; embarrassed when people told me I looked like DJ Tanner but religiously watching Full House, of course. I would bead on my bed. In the safety of my mother and father's little house. Surrounded by siblings and love.

Just trying to make it into the big junior high...

But what if I was born into something different?

What if I wasn't allowed the time to grow up myself before I had a baby?
Babies having babies...

What if born with a mental or physical handicap in a culture that doesn't know how to treat or nuture it. What if I was thrown on the street and no one had saw the NEED TO HELP?

Although I have been struggling with my life abroad I have the choice.

Help these girls know that they even have a choice...

Word of mouth is a powerful thing. The simplicity in thier message makes it seem like a plausible future...The girl effect blogging campaign...tag you are it...pass it on...

Be grateful and generous...Emily remember

Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough,and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melody Beattie

Purple findings...

Since I was young I have loved findings; gorgeous examples of nature noticed surrounding me.

At our house initially you look out and see three colors- that beautiful blue water reflecting whatever hue the weather is that day, green from the shrubs and bushes struggling to grow from the beige rock beneath it.

Of course if you look closer there is much more to behold. Today I found purple.
Not lilacs and violets from my youth but sea urchin shells, olives, greens with hints of purple stems, shells, broken lighter (plastic seems to find it's way in wherever you are), heather flowers, thistles(it got me...ouch!), and daisies.

Fall here is like a spring again. I have to be honest...I did go swimming yesterday. It was a freak hot day and my hubby talked me into it after he went fishing. Chilly but great.

The winds have found there way back though. They will blow the rain in soon. Following all the rain and a week of hot weather life is popping up everywhere. Seeds dormant during the long, HOT, dry summer.

Inspiration for this shot from resurrection fern, Andy Goldsworthy, mother nature herself:)