Gratitude

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter every day epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. -Sarah Ban Breathnach

So I've started reading this book called 1000 Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp.  I won't lie- I often have an automatic turn-off to fluffy titles like this but a friend recommended it and I'm glad I made the instantaneous decision to buy it for my Kindle.  What has followed is a daily introspection of... the little things.  That maketh me to bubble up inside.  Joy.  I revel in the findings I have had lately about the many little things that so often go unlooked or that I take for granted. 

Each photo and caption tells at least a small story of a gift I've been given recently.

Homemade, fanastic dinners at a place we can call home. You can learn more about my roomemate and I's cooking adventures at Sfecla&Spice, our food blog!  Lindsey is way better at finding the time to write than me...

Seizing the opportunities to explore hobbies.  Lindsey and I plus our friend Quinn decided to have a Moldovan wine tasting for Dummies. Feteasca Neagra from Et Cetera won (shocker!), and Quinn and I tied for the best taste testers.  I guess we'll have to have a competition again soon to decide the real winner. (Note: the Gura bottle, the only real way to tote house wine, in the middle is full of Quinn's host family's house wine.)

Motivated, sharp, talented partners in youth development like Elena.

Productive, exciting business educational tools such as the business model canvas or the lean canvas.  (See this video.)

This Moldovan friend with whom I can giggle, tell stories, make memories, dream, and be honest. And also the funny moments we always seem to have, meeting strangers (like those Romanian rockstars in the background).

An oven that can create amazingly delcious products such as this banana bread/cake that I got to share with my colleagues at ACSA.  I'm good to marry once again.

Technology!  Thank you Google Hangout for making meetings possible in the comfort of one's home and especially when we're hours apart from one another!  Here, we're meeting to discuss Diamond Challenge Moldova.  Check it out.

A run on the dirt road next to this creek (pronounced "crick").

Open skies, sunsets, and solitude.  Give this country girl some more of that. I left the power lines positioned as such in this photo, because yes, we've got power.  That's also an amazingly useful thing.  

Making new friends in Causeni through celebrating World Heart Day!  Stay healthy, and keep that heart healthy!

One-of-a-kind notes from home received while wearing my cowboy boots that have tramped  the earth- through the fields at home in Nebraska, through the swanky rooms of the White House, and now through Moldova.  I'm totally a second year volunteer...  Give me a crazy look at my somewhat conspicous cowboy boots, and I just don't care.  I hope those Moldovan women proudly walking on ginormous heels on rutty roads feel the same way.  Proud and just don't care what people think. I think my boots are way more comfortable though...

 Winemaking at the host family's house.  I got lucky and made a visit to my old host fam in Cricova the very day they decided to make their house wine. I swiftly put myself to work!

Being nicknamed "America". That's what our city's mayor at the head of the table usually calls me these days, and I'm quite okay with it!  But talk about reinforcing the expectation that I must responsibly represent the people, cultures, values, and traditions of the United States of America!  Here, Svetlana and I met with the newly formed "Working Group" to discuss the Youth Exchange "Be Active" that we are organizing.  40 participants from eight different countries will gather for a fine time of being active socially, civically, physically, and so on in our town!

So I'm grateful.  I've begun my list of 1,000 Gifts of Gratitude in Moldova.  I figure with ~300 days left here, I should certainly be able to tackle it by the close of service.  I hope to be that much more grateful, joyful, and thus happy.