{"id":234517,"date":"2006-11-07T23:47:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-08T07:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/2006\/11\/07\/pine-needles\/"},"modified":"2006-11-07T23:47:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-08T07:47:00","slug":"pine-needles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/2006\/11\/07\/pine-needles\/","title":{"rendered":"Pine Needles"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I enter this holiday season, I am conscious of keeping my heart full of thanksgiving and gratitude for all the blessings in my life.  <\/SPAN>I have been praying for God to help me find (and acknowledge) the everyday blessings, the ones we tend to take for granted.  <\/SPAN>Guess what He brought into my path?  <\/SPAN>Pine needles!<\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P>
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Pine needles?<\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/SPAN>  <\/SPAN>You mean those nasty little things that infiltrate every surface of my home?  <\/SPAN>Never mind their place all over my floors.  <\/SPAN>Let\u0092s talk about how they manage to find their way into my bed, onto my dining table, socks, sleepwear, window sills, cat food dishes, etc.<\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P>
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How in the world can pine needles be a blessing?<\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P>
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Then, I am reminded of the days before kids.  <\/SPAN>The days where hubby<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> and I were living the ultimate DINK (double-income, no kids) lifestyle.<\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/SPAN>  <\/SPAN>We had a fabulous apartment in Belltown<\/SPAN>.  <\/SPAN>We had our own gym on the ground floor, complete with swimming pool and Jacuzzi.  <\/SPAN>We had a covered parking stall in a secure garage for the car we never drove.  <\/SPAN>We walked to work and walked to all the cool, trendy restaurants downtown.  <\/SPAN>We had a social circle of friends that meant late nights and good times.<\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P>
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Then, I am reminded of the feelings of claustrophobia I would feel while living downtown.  <\/SPAN>I would look all around and see high-rises, cars, and masses of people who avoided eye contact, never smiling (unless they are talking to someone on their cell phone).  <\/SPAN>I can remember the taste in the back of my throat of the exhaust fumes and pollution that was ever present on the streets, and in our apartment.  <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P>
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I can also remember the total lack of nature.  <\/SPAN>If I wanted to find a tree, or grass, I needed to go into one of the bordering neighborhoods and find a park. <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT>All the fine restaurants and culture that the city provided has nothing on the single perfection of the pine needle.  <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P>
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The fact that I have a home, in the woods, that affords me the opportunity to sweep out pine needles everyday, what a blessing!  <\/SPAN>To be within a few minutes of lakes, hiking trails, the river, and to be able to raise my boys surrounded by this natural beauty, let alone a circle of friends that have transcended the social and have introduced me to what real friendship is, I would not trade this life for our old one for anything!  <\/SPAN>Yay<\/SPAN>, pine needles!<\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P>
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Now, what is your pine needle?  <\/SPAN>What everyday \u0093thing\u0094 are you thankful for?  <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P>
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<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> <\/P>
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<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I enter this holiday season, I am conscious of keeping my heart full of thanksgiving and gratitude for all the blessings in my life.  I have been praying for God to help me find (and acknowledge) the everyday blessings, the ones we tend to take for granted.  Guess what He brought into my path?  […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-reflections"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}