Every morning I wake up, and Before my feet hit the floor and the evil one has an opportunity to plant thoughts of fear and doubt, I say a gratitude prayer.

I begin by thanking God for this wonderful Trailer Park in the sand that he has temporarily relocated Jose’ and me to live in. Just one year ago, this was just an ‘idea,’ a ‘possibility,’ an ‘opportunity.’ Still totally surreal at times, The Danat Resort Trailer Park in the Sandbox is a beautiful place to reside and we are grateful beyond words. I feel blessed to have been planted here. Happily, I can report, our trailer house has gone from one room to two and we are now equipped with a kitchenette!

I feel like Julia-freakin-Childs. And like Ms. Julia, I, too, love to cook with wine…and sometimes, I even put it in the food! Ha!

My domestic goddess instincts are now, daily, in full swing as I am equipped with a refrigerator bigger than a bread box, a microwave, an electric skillet and an actual sink to wash a dish in…I feel like I’ve done died and gone to double-wide heaven!

Surreal that we actually do ‘live’ here…even if we are still doing the “Contract Limbo” dance.

Prayer warriors, we need you to kick in once again and help us bring this miracle to us. Thank you.

So, I start each day by thanking him for my Trailer Park. I continue to thank him for letting me wake up again and breathe each morning. I thank him for my sweet baboo mouth-breathing right next to me. And then I begin going down the list of people and opportunities that have come my way most recently. I thank him for the people and purpose of my work and my ability to write things down on paper and get them out of my damn head. Seriously, sometimes it’s like my skull is a wind tunnel and the vortex is my grey matter.

Stumbling to the kitchen, I always thank him for coffee…and cream. Truly, some of the biggest blessings are the smallest things. Right?  

I might thank him for my cute new shoes Jose’ bought me last week end, or maybe for waking up without pain since there is so much of it in the world. Or, my thankfulness might be for the awesome experiences me and Jose’ have had here. And for those yet to come, God willing.

Gratitude, for me, is an active process. Living in the presence and mindset of gratitude is an action. It can be passive, but it is better if I actively live there.

In the HFTP both foreign and abroad, there are the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’ But even when we have had little, we still always had enough. Presently, to some, it might appear that we have more than we need…but as Jose’ pointed out to me the other day, even on one income…No matter how much or how little people have, somehow they manage to make it work. We’re no different.

We always manage to make the ends meet…a skill and an art perfected over the years.

The other day, I was grateful for all of the above and for Ahector, my taxi driver, the Arabic holidays here (yes, we’re off for 9 days!) and for Lebanese food.

In gratitude, I find a peaceful settling calm that mystifies me. God’s hand on my shoulder or a whisper in my head when I ask for things he promises me he has already delivered as according to his divine providence and plan. I smile, in the ‘knowing’ that I just have to sit back and let the tide roll back in.

Or as my sweet Momma, Mawdine, reminded me of the other day…”Give it enough rope.”

So, I’m grateful for all I have, praying and expecting miracles again.