Nothing Short of Grateful

(Thanks Avett Brothers for allowing me to once again steal a song title of yours for a post title of mine.)

I owe more people favors than I could ever repay.

My debt of gratitude overflows and runs amok.

Pretty sure I could never even list all the people and all the ways my days and my life have been blessed by the kindness of others.

Friends.  Strangers.  Family.  Framily.

You name it.

I stand overwhelmed.

Just in the past week alone . . .

Jamal babysat five of our children so Kevin and I could attend a sports banquet with Riley.

He washed the dishes.  He fed the children.  He played Wii.  He made sure Sir Oliver took hourly breaks to the great out of doors.

And he wouldn’t let us pay him a dime.

The next day he got up early, buckled in to a car with Kevin and shared a ten hour trip to retrieve a car for our family.

Again – he would not accept compensation.

(Although I am planning to sneak some strawberry jam into his new fridge at his new apartment.)

Oh – and that ten hour drive?

It was because Luke graciously gave our family a car.

Gave. Our. Family. A. Car.

And that timing could not have been better.

As the old Tahoe, Kevin’s 1999 vehicle of choice for many years, finally came to a screeching (and permanent) halt via an irreparable transmission.

Which a stranger at the auto shop wants to buy at the price we were asking.

And the mechanic at the auto shop was incredibly gracious and helpful and accommodating.

Even to the point of chatting with my dad on the phone since Dad could answer some questions about the Tahoe that we could not.

Another soccer coach/dad agreed on super short notice to coach our team’s practice Friday night while Kevin and Jamal were still trucking it home from Virginia.

Hannah is building a chicken coop at our house.

Ben is going to construct a huge sandbox in our yard.

And he’s willing to do it in time for Otto Fox’s second birthday – this weekend.

(The funny part is – I meant to have one built last year as Otto’s first birthday present.  But I never quite got the task accomplished.)

Zach is happy to go to the airport late at night to pick up Riley along with his son from a school field trip to D.C.  Which means Kevin can stay at work as he is supposed to and I do not have to load up five small children well after bedtime has already begun.

Hannah drove Mosely and London back to the library the other night after Mosely discovered she had lost her little ring and thought it was there.

What would I be without community?

I really would not want to know.

(Although it’s easy to imagine.)

And this list is nowhere close to comprehensive.

Shoot – it was just the things I could remember from last week.

Last week.

And so this list finds me

nothing short of grateful.