247 so far; The Part I Enjoy.

The gifts are rolling in. My gratitude is pouring out. No, seriously.

I am a thank-you note writing machine. I have it down to a fine science. Okay, so maybe I'm not that good, but I get along okay.

Everyone (well, at least a few people) ask if I'm tired of the note writing yet. Has it become tedious? Is it finally getting to be just too much?

Nope. It hasn't. Mostly.

Sure, it's overwhelming to manage all the other facets of my life and try to write genuine thank-you notes in a timely manner that aren't carbon copies of one another; however, I quite enjoy it. That's right; I think writing thank-you notes is fun. (I wasn't an English major for nothin', ya know!)

I mean, this person got me a gift or threw me a party; he or she deserves to be appropriately thanked. Besides that, I am really grateful. People have been so gracious to Hub and me. We have received generous gift cards, beautiful decorative items, gorgeous serving pieces, and all kinds of the perfectly practical things we'll be needing. We've been blessed, and that's an understatement.

So, no, I don't mind taking a minute or two to write a note thanking the giver of the gift.

Don't get me wrong; there have been plenty of times that I've not wanted to lift my pen again for fear that my hand might fall off, but that doesn't diminish the gratitude I so desperately want to express.

Maybe You Should Give it a Try

As a youngster in school, coloring is a part of who we are and how we learn. Coloring to satisfy adults is a great accomplishment. Our ability to stay inside the lines may mean the difference between taking home a happy faced paper or a frowny faced paper. It's a big deal.

As we grow older, though, we abandon coloring as a learning technique, and many of us stop coloring altogether.

Personally, I think coloring is healthy and fun and therapeutic and soothing. It's a mindless task that I can seriously concentrate on. I can let everything else melt away and focus solely on my the picture I am bringing to life, or I can color absentmindedly, unconcerned about the final product.

Coloring is no longer about impressing my teachers and making presents for my parents, so there's no more pressure, and that's the beauty of it. You may call me crazy if you want to, but I have this theory that when we return to the things we loved in childhood, the world gets a little bit better and makes a little bit more sense. When we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and loving and faithful, like a child, we are free.

So, sometimes I color to relieve stress, to think through problems, to avoid thinking entirely, to simply have fun, to focus on prayer, to meditate, to do all sorts of things that need to be done. For me, coloring is something that takes me back to being a little girl, and, sometimes, things are much clearer from her point of view.