five on friday

five things i am grateful for today:
[in no particular order]

1. access to clean drinking water, clean water to bathe with, wash with, and cook with. i'm grateful i don't have to walk hours to get to a source of clean water.

[ factoid: early 900 million people in the world do not have access to safe, clean water,—and nearly half of those people are children. this is a stark reality]

2.everything i see and everything i don't see.
i'm grateful for all of life and for all things i can dream and hope for. there have been times when i could not even muster up an ounce of hope in me or even see the good in anything- when all around me the goodness of life was evident and present.

3.this quote "there is no such thing as a perfect picture, only a perfect moment.."
i am grateful for the images of my loves that i have captured and that others have captured, all the perfect moments that i can look back on that produce emotions and memories that nothing like it can.

4. forgiveness. "there is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.." boy, do i ever need forgiveness everyday, and sometimes it seems every second of the day. and the ones who teach me this are my boys...

5. chocolate...because life without chocolate is no life at all. ;)