Day 33

I've never been big on spending money on things that are super comfortable or nice. I just have never seen the need. For my 30th birthday Elissa surprised me by bringing me to one of my favorite places on the earth. At this place I was introduced to Sky Chairs. These are hanging chairs that feel like a hammock. They have a nice foot rest and some have drink holders. So I decided that we would get a couple of these things. We bought two of them for Elissa's birthday. Well, what started out as a great idea got shelved for a bit....like 5 years. They sat in a box and were never hung. We honestly didn't have a place to hang them from.

When we moved into this new house I was determined to put these things up. We found a place on the front of the house to hang them and I got them up the first weekend. Needless to say that was the best investment of time and money we have ever made. We have used

them every weekend since they have been put up.

Today I am thankful for our Sky Chairs.

Day 32

As I get older I find my interests shifting to new things. In most areas those have been welcome changes. For example, I have taken a big interest now in parenting. That may seem obvious as I am now a parent. Another area I have taken a new interest in is gardening. To be sure I have always liked to play in the dirt and spent many years working at a garden center. This new interest has been motivated by my new interest in food.

The area that has been of most interest and an area of thankfulness is books. I have come to truly devour books and long for more. I have a myriad of reading interests now and it has come as a welcome surprise.

Here is a quick list of some of the books I have read:

Crazy Love - Francis Chan

Transforming Church - Kevin Ford

Guitar Lessons - Bob Taylor

Blue Ocean Strategy - Chan Kim

Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller

Bootstrapers Bible - Seth Godin

Unfinished Business - Lee Kravitz

Courageous Leadership - Bill Hybels

Today I am thankful for the new books and new love of reading in my life.

Day 31

One of our most recent purchases has been something that will hopefully motivate us to be more active as a family. So far, so good. We bought a used bike trailer off of Craigslist. We have used it a few times and really enjoyed it. It has also shown me how far I have let myself get out of shape. The trailer and kids weighs almost 100 extra pounds. My hope is that during our short summers here in Portland we will get much use out of it. I also secretly hope that Elissa will want to tow the kids occasionally!

Today I am thankful for the trailer we purchased for our bike.