My daily gratitude for:

1. Metaphors for divine and sacred and God.
2. The goal of goodness of in marriage and life.
3. DJ and Madison’s joy at their wedding yesterday.
4. Catching up with Jon Burdett, and developing that relationship further.
5. My brother Joes willingness to drive us from and to the airport.
6. Brittany’s willingness to loan us her car through the weekend.
7. The Pardee family legacy at Arlington, in Riverside, and in my life.
8. ***
9. SoCal’s snow capped mountains visible from all over the place.
10. Pranks with my brothers and family.
11. The lovely oddities and strangenesses in the universe
12. Orange wines.

My daily gratitude for:

1. Sense of the presence of God experienced in vulnerable worship.
2. The magic and science of a heartbeat.
3. DJ and Madison Goldy, a couple whose wedding I get to officiate and whose relationship I have the opportunity to bless and celebrate.
4. George Johnson Church, Marias husband and a dear man of God and faith through trials. Grateful for his life, and his service today.
5. Justin Pardee and Cambry Pardee, for their hospitality and kindness in helping Liz and I find a place to stay for this wedding this weekend.
6. Hearing Josh Graves (enn 3) on Ennegram Journey and hearing him discuss subtypes and importance of how we see to better inform belief and practice.
7. The hymn “It Is Well”
8. Being thought provoked by a book for different concepts of church economics and stewardship.
9. Engaging people unlike me on a regular basis, who challenge me to listen and observe and imagine and reflect.
10. Watching great soccer passers, like Beckham, Trent Alexander Arnold, Kieran Trippier, Zidane, Messi, Hector Herrera, and others.
11. My family having good quality time with their SoCal family this past week.
12. Not taking off a belt or shoes in the pre check line at an airport.
13. Checking things off a to do list.

My daily gratitude for:

1. Freedom that comes through awareness and reflection.
2. Gods loves conveyed through shared prayer.
3. The power of trust with others.
4. Sam Luber, a great husband, father, friend, and physician who shows great character and calm and thoughtfulness in all he does.
5. Jordan Lambert and Yasi Amadi, a wonderful and lovely couple who are also badass CICU nurses.
6. The ECMO team at TCH, including physicians like Ryan, Corey, and Andrea and specialists like Chelci, Bonnie, Helen, and Cole among many others.
7. The ACHD staff that welcome me so much.
8. The challenging work of choosing recipients for donors and having systems in place that manage it fairly well in the US.
9. Having good friends.

My daily gratitude for:

1. Gods call to take action, now and directly, in the world, and just as importantly, in my life and my relationships.
2. Trying again to want.
3. Sleep, when it’s good.
4. Watching Ryan interact with Dwain Evans at church and have a blessed moment.
5. The church song whose title I can’t remember but has the repeating calming chorus, “come Lord Jesus, come”
6. Xander Darroh, a teen who blessed me in my work with the youth at SWC.
7. Steve Sargent and Caleb McDaniel, men of wisdom and gentleness and faithful thoughtful approaches to life.
8. Joint Leadership meetings at Bering, which normally help me feel like I am part of something good and are humbling so frequently.
9. ***
10. Good soccer passes, great defense, and some goals yesterday on a very cold day
11. A New Zealand Pinot Noir, with its light body.

My daily gratitude for:

1. Letting go.
2. The moments I am honest with myself.
3. Dr Roddy and Dr Spinner and their Frank, faithful, affirming leadership in the family meeting today.
4. Dr Nancy Ayres, and her tremendous accomplishment and leadership in the broader cardiology field and at TCH.
5. Our TCH Wound Care nurses- such lovely and approachable and wise people!
6. The Pardee family, because they continue to be faithful and impactful in my world.
7. The spaciousness that can be felt even in smaller spaces.
8. Having a good windbreaker.
9. The 4/5 roses that appeared after a long summer and set of freezes and what looked like a dead rose bush. Truly beautiful.

My daily gratitude for:

1. Gods consistent invitation to something better, something new, if I’m willing to take some steps.
2. Watching Ryan show mindfulness of special moments or beauty or goodness, like he did with a sunset today.
3. Kiersten Betker, and her leadership as a nurse and manager for ACHD during difficult and grief filled days as well as the wonderful ones.
4. Supporting ACHD nurses and physicians the last couple days and earning and fulfilling their trust.
5. The connection with a lovely set of parents whose baby died and whose family carried a lovely relationship and virtues of humor and advocacy and approachability.
6. My spiritual conversation and reflections about care for a particular family with Jeramy Roddy and Nirica Borges today. Good to work with physicians who are people of understanding and faith.
7. Those times when my lungs can breathe in deeply and fully and easily, and I am reminded of this when I can’t.
8. Spiritual conversations with kids of all ages.
9. Stuffed animals.
10. The region warming up for a couple days to recover from the freeze.

My daily gratitude for:

1. The beautiful sacred science of our bodies and organs working in conjunction.
2. Laughter as a form of prayer.
3. The CICU and PICU nurses. All good people with good hearts.
4. ***
5. Sarah Schwartz, a nephrologist at TcH who I have had a wonderful and fun relationship over the last 12 years.
6. Lauren Casey, a former PICU RN and good friend who is incredibly supportive, insightful, and intelligent in her curiosity and calm.
7. Texas Children’s becoming an Institutional Sponsor of the Pediatric Chaplains Network, a sponsorship our council had the opportunity to create years ago.
8. ***
9. The super cool car show at Texas Children’s today, with a couple Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, and others.
10. The rev of a super car engine.
11. Our new dog Stella and her growing relationship with Hershey and Reba.
12. Beautiful Rioja wine.

My daily gratitude for:

1. The beautiful sacred peace that comes with the quiet after a joyful and noisy set of days.
2. Accepting that today has been and is enough.
3. The kids book, Maybe God Is Like That Too.
4. Liz’s enjoying of San Francisco food and pleasure and sights this week. Well deserved.
5. ***
6. Completing the mini Lego Titanic set…thousands of pieces and thrashed hand la for Ryan and I later, it’s completed and feels like an accomplishment for Ryan.
7. Ryan eating and loving his pasta at Paul and Maria’s house. I love it when he eats and enjoys it on top of that.
8. Our neighbors who have engaged the kids in conversation recently, and especially Francine across the street who was a kind listener with Ryan.
9. Matt Vandagriff, a minister and fellow father who I appreciated for our basketball and our shared spiritual conversations.
10. Shannon Cummings, a CICU nursing manager who has great rapport and loves her people along with her laser like intelligence.
11. My time as an SLA at Pepperdine, and the opportunity to learn and fellowship with Jonathan, Travis, Brad, Jenna, Paige, Marie, Bryan, and others.
12. ***
13. Having a covered patio when it rains or the yard is super wet.
14. Potato soup, in all its varieties.
15. The smell of pumpkin pie spice as it is being baked.

My daily gratitude for:

1. The sacred sense of wonder thinking about space, stars, galaxies, and planets.
2. A safe drive and arrival for us to take Liz to the airport this morning.
3. Tonys collegiality, friendship, and kindness in returning the joy of our secret snowman events.
4. Paul and Maria’s help and love of our dogs.
5. Sarah Schwab, Robin Schlosser, Megan Ostrom, Kelly Davis, Melissa Lusby, and Christy McKinney and the other PT’s and OT’s who provide leadership for Developmental Care Rounds.
6. The pediatric heart surgeons I have built relationships with- Iki Adachi, Jeff Heinle, Neil Cambronero, and Michi Imamura.
7. Mary Logan’s diligence in the financial wellbeing and accounting for our Bering Drive church.
8. The feeling of a deep breath in my lungs.
9. The taste of warm bread.
10. Trying a Chilean País wine, an interesting and delicately light grape for sure.

My daily gratitude for:

1. Newness and my desire for it.
2. Prioritizing well, not simply tasks, but relationships and self as well.
3. ***
4. Uncle Mike, and his profoundly committed relationship with family.
5. Playing street soccer with Ryan, and seeing his skills grow and seeing his grin when he does something well.
6. Robin and Marcus Jackson, a couple for whom I am so grateful to have met and enjoyed fellowship at the beginning of marriages.
7. Jordana Goldman, a wonderful critical care physician and friend of chaplains and friend of mine.
8. My Sunday soccer, and the two times to play this week, and overall having a good time playing and developing good relationships.
9. That feeling when I score a soccer goal.
10. The ability to run, and the health that I am privileged to have to allow it.
11. Decluttering.