Thankful Thursday: Tender mercies and surrounded by love

Today was one of those days, one where a cloudy smog strolls around a pretty corner and persists smugly above the shoulder.  Though I felt a bit out of sorts, today was filled with little tender mercies that reminded me that I am a child of a loving Heavenly Father, and He knows and loves me.

Thankful Thursday: A 77hr flight delay and Mediators

Several years ago I was traveling by myself, returning home from a humanitarian service trip in a developing country.  When my second connecting flight to leave that country was overbooked, I was actually thrilled, excited to have an extra day to explore markets and enjoy the food and culture I so much relished.

Yet the next night, I and others in our group realized that the airline workers were deliberately delaying our departure.  We learned that because all of the flights leaving that airport had been overbooked (I later learned by seven full days), the workers would delay incoming passengers from reaching their connecting flight so that the passengers delayed the day before would be able to board.

A fairly accurate photo...  from MailOnline

Thankful Thursday: Moments of butterflies, cookies, Disney, and blogs

Yesterday was a wonderful day.  One of my landscaping buddies brought his two raised-from-the-wild monarch butterflies to class in a box, with the intention of releasing them when it got sufficiently warm.  He asked if I wanted to hold one, and it was a purely magical moment.  The first time in my whole life I've ever held a butterfly.

Photo by Jana Chitilova, newspaper article here