The Gypsy Mama turns one today.
It’s been the most beautiful year.
Because of YOU.
Your sense of humor, your honesty, your understanding, and your stories.
I think I’ve fallen a little bit in love with you this year. {Blushes; scuffs feet.}
And I wanted to bring you a present.
My friend Lisa Leonard helped me cook it up. It’s delicious.
A tasty $75 helping of anything from her store.
Yum. This is my personal favorite, favorite:
But these? These would look scrumdiddlyumptious on you too.
I only wish I could give one to every single one of you. I wish I could have you serenaded by the Gipsy Kings and showered with roses (the kind without thorns). I wish I could sign you up for the Godiva Chocolate of the month club and a year’s worth of free house cleaning. And a pony. I would totally throw in a pony if you said you wanted one.
But in the meantime, even if you never have before, today’s the day to leave a comment.
Tell me what’s been your favorite part of our last year together and you’ll be entered to win one of Lisa Leonard’s lovely pieces.
Want to enter more than once? Sure!
Subscribe by email, tweet, facebook or share in any other way for extra entries. (Just leave a comment for each)
As for me? I’m just siting here grinning real big at how lovely you are. How blessed I am to travel this crazy, roller coaster called life with you. You make my late, late nights spent scribbling in the dark hallowed hours.
And the rest of this week? I’m gonna take some time to just kick back on a virtual beach and reflect on our year together. I mean, in reality I’ll still just be hanging out in the crazy we call home. But I’ll be reflecting – on you, on the power of stories, and on our next year together.
I’ll be back on Friday to announce a winner. Until then you can keep entering up till midnight Thursday 08/05.
So, here’s to the highest of highs and lows that are shared. Here’s to community!
Hugs, kisses, and chocolate cupcakes,
Lisa-thegypsymama-Jo
{ 1 trackback }
{ 145 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve only been following you a few months. I discovered you after my husband fell in love with ZA while travellung there for business. What I appreciate most (and why I keep coming back) is your transparent sincerity about the journey of life, the way you share the process as you walk through it. Happy bloggiversary and may the next year be even more blessed!
I first fell in love with you over your “Pony-Up Post” from the New Year. I’m all over any gal who uses some good country/western vernacular! As winter turned to spring and summer, I’ve come to love your true friendship. You are all things lovely, encouraging and beautiful!
And I’d tell you that even if a Lisa Leonard necklace wasn’t dangled in front of me.
Happy Anniversary! YEE-HAAW!
I love your blog, your honesty when you write and the way you can speak right to my heart exactly when I need to hear it. I’ve just gotten to know you, but I look forward to sharing and dreaming with you through your stories in your 2nd year. Have a wonderful break!
Jennifer
Your post about blogging changed my perspective and brought about incredible things in this area of my life. Thank you!
Jennifer
Well, I first subscribed after your tweet to @elizabethesther about When the Walls are Closing in. That was a fantastic post, I bookmarked it in twitter so I could find it again. I’ve enjoyed your writing over the past couple weeks. Happy birthday and many more to come!
Congrats on your blog birthday!!! Your blog post about blogging sometimes making a person feel small really hit home with me. I needed the reminder that my significance is in Christ and in being who He says I am as well as walking in obedience to His purposes for my life…not in how many followers, views or comments I have on my blog.
Elizabeth
Well, your support while I was in Africa was HUGE to me. But meeting you in person over delicious Italian food and peanut butter yogurt was DEFINITELY the highlight for me. And it’s just the beginning of adventures together, isn’t it? xoxo
What do I love? Your contagious enthusiasm and heart-seeped words. You shine like the sun!! Hmmm…and the Son
.
I’m one of the folks who jumped on board in the quest to introduce you to livermush. (By the way, I’ve lived my entire life in the south and still have no idea what livermush is.) So, I hope you’ll forgive me, but I also discovered your blog in the process. Happy blogoversary!
Well, I am new here so I do not your blog yet. But I can’t wait to read more. I do love your theme on here though. I saw the tweet by We Are That Family and came over.
Forgive me but I have gotten rather emotional over this celebration of yours. Not good for the stiff upper lip image of us English lol. You ask what I love about your blog. Simply your heart. You share your heart with the world who you are is seen in the words you write. For me personally personally you have given me strength, determination and courage to allow my heart to be shown in my own words.
Through blogging I have come to know some amazing people you are certainly one of these incredible ladies.
I pray the second year of your blog is everything you wish it to be.
Sara xxx
I am now a new subscriber via my Google Reader. Can’t wait to read more this second year.
oh, and yes, I did RT the tweet that I saw from Kristen at We Are That Family. @lavonnelong is my username on Twitter.
Happy Bloggy Birthday! Woo-hoo! I love thinking about how God knew way back a year ago how our paths would cross. Here’s to a year of YES–to joy and dreams come true. Thanks for being beautiful, encouraging, one of my favorite people in all the wide world. Love ya!
Congrats! What a wonderful year and fab prize! I already subscribe and have enjoyed the fun post on Fridays the most. Hope to join again soon.
Get. Out!
You’ve only been blogging for a year? I had never looked – but I assumed you’d been at this for years.
I love your blog. It’s one of the few I’ve been sure to keep up with since the baby was born. I love how genuine you are and how you engage us all. It feels like community here. You encourage me: in my walk with God, as a mother, as a wife and as a friend. Your Friday posts make me laugh and help me to learn more about others.
Happy Blogiversary! I’m looking forward to what come out of your GypsyMama brain in the next year.
Happy One! I’ve enjoyed hanging with you on Twitter and am going to enjoy meeting you in October (I think – I am going to meet you in October, right?)
I found you first on twitter! But I just can’t seem to stay away.
Happy Birthday to The Gypsy Mama!
xo,
Emily (Jo)
I tweeted.
Aaannnddd… I posted to facebook.
And I subscribe. (o’ course!)
pretty sure you can guess my favorite thing about the past year with TGM…
hugging you, of course!
Lisa-Jo,
Congratulations of a year of truth and beauty, and “words fitly spoken.” (and I was going to comment even before the enticement of presents!) : )
I liked you on facebook
I too couldn’t believe you have only been doing this one year!? It has been encouraging to read about our similar experiences (global travel, 2 boys etc.). Your thoughtful words encourage me, make me smile, and make me think. Thanks for sharing yourself and your journey with us, and for helping us look to Him.
I tweeted you
I posted to facebook because I think some of my friends would also be encouraged by what you write.
You are a loverly, fantabulous lady!
I’ve just jumped on the gypsy mama band wagon in this last month and it’s already been a sweet ride. My friend here in Bolivia, Laura, told me she reads you. I knew you were on (in)courage. Then I get over here and I find out we have mutual bloggity friends and one friend in the flesh being Alece. So I guess all that to say that my favorite part of finding you has been the commonality and small worldness that make your corner of the blogosphere nice and cozy. I like your blog. I like you, Lisa-Jo!
I meant to say this in the previous comment I left but my hunk of a hubby distracted me… so I guess I get another entry. Tee hee hee…
So I was remembering how fun it was when I sent you those pictures. That was fun.
Ok, I think I am through for this evening. Said hunk is bidding me to the bed. Bye for now.
Hey! Today’s my birthday too! Happy birthday to your blog!
You have been a blessing in my life this past year. I found you through your “open letter to my working mother’s guilt post” and have been hooked ever since. Your love for God and your family have inspired and encouraged me. And irregardless of LL gift certificate (I have a necklace and its lovely)….THAT is really the best gift of all!
Enjoy your week!
subscribed! Great giveaway!
Sounds really bad but I sure hope I win 
Love your blog…such an encouragement to me so many times!
Love your writing! Happy Anniversary.
-FringeGirl
tweeted it
Shared on Facebook
I have enjoyed getting to know you, both here and on twitter…I’m always glad to see your sunshine-y smile!!
P.S. I subscribe.
Congrats!!! I’ve LOVED getting to know you! Your posts are SO thought provoking and always make me smile! I can’t wait to meet you in a few months! Won’t be long now! =)
I have so enjoyed getting to know YOU. In addition, I’ve loved reading your words. You are such a beautiful writer, and reading you makes me better. Both as a person and as a writer.
Happy blogiversary!
I subscribe! =)
Dear Gypsy Mama,
I love the way you…
…capture my heart into words when I could not;
…make me sigh at the beauty, the beauty of words;
…paint pictures with words and let me take it in;
…take me to “places” I have never been;
…make me see how blessed I am;
…remind me how much God loves me.
Happy Birthday, Gypsy Mama!
Thanks for opening up your life so I could have a look… and feel at home.
God bless you!
Wow!!! Only a year?!?! Happy blogiversary!
What I love? You are honest, encouraging & inspiring!
And by the way…the Devotions for Sacred Parenting is FABULOUS!!
Here’s to many,many more posts!
I am pretty sure that I first came over from emily’s for the burrito towel post. loved it and have been around ever since! Kelly
p.s. I also love that you e-mailed me after one of my comments! Those are the sorts of things that make the blogging world SO much fun!
Happy Bloggy Birthday! I am officially de-lurking and leaving my first comment! I have loved following you on Twitter, although I’m somewhat of a lurker there as well! I promise to de-lurk more this year! And I’ll get to meet you at Relevant!
I found your blog through Twitter and Lisa Leonard! I love seeing the beauty and wonder in the everyday, which I get a lot of from here. Thank you so much for the chance to win!
Happy Birthday! Enjoy each and everyday.
happy birthday!! i have LOVED getting to “know” you through this lovely space and through twitter too. definitely my favorite part is having those connections and a shared love for sa
so glad you hopped right into the blogosphere and share your heart!
I liked what Robin said. Your heart-seeping words are why I keep coming back.
Thank you for sharing your heart! I grew up in Arizona and live in Ohio and have felt torn between the two. I appreciate your story and heartfelt sharing and have found myself working towards peace and reconciliation with the fact that I can only be where God has called me to be. Happy 1st Birthday! May God grant many more!
I keep coming back for your “voice”. It resonates with true strength and deep passion. i read many blogs, lurking on most, but the combination of your writing and the joy of Lisa’s work is too much to ignore. You two are a perfect match.
I have loved my kids growing up from being babies. Although it makes me sad they are getting better it makes me happy too. Happysad!!!
I retweeted this!!!
Let’s see…I think I first “discovered” you from the pony-up challenge at (in)courage. Been following you on twitter and popping over when I can. And, of course, I love Lisa’s jewelry!
Retweeted! @thesweetpetunia
Happy Birthday! Your blog has been a source of wisdom and encouragement for me for several months. One of the posts that spoke to me was when you talked about flying and the safety instructions and how we are instructed to put our oxygen masks on FIRST. Thanks for that and for all the posts to come
Thank you for letting the Lord use you.
Love your mommy posts about your kiddos. I think mommies everywhere have a special bond, whether they know each other or not.
Now a “liker” on facebook.
I like that we seem like we are talking from the same planet.
And I love that you know my real life cousin and that makes me feel as if I know you somehow too.
And I like how this whole blogging thing makes me feel like we could sit down with our kids swirling in the background and have a wonderful conversation.
The High Calling community joins in your song of celebration!
We appreciate you. And by the looks of all this lively activity here in your comment box, we aren’t the only ones who appreciate you! God bless you for your words in this place…
Jennifer Lee
Contributing Editor @ High Calling Blogs
Happy birthday Gypsy Mama! I have been blessed by your blog ever since I found it. I can’t wait to meet you at Relevant!
I am following via twitter. Happy blogiversary.
I have subscribed to the email newsletter. Happy blogiversary
I stumbled across your blog on accident while following links from another blog a friend had posted. I was instantly hooked and awed by how deeply you saw into this mama’s heart. I felt exposed, yet unashamed…so deeply in love with the words I was reading about parenting, childrearing, relationships, and our Father in Heaven.
Thank you for accepting the gift of talent He has given you, and for sharing it with those of us who need it most.
I haven’t been reading as long as many…
but I love your honesty…
your beautiful writing style…
your “personality” that shines through…
your priorities.
And not necessarily in that order. ;0)
I come here daily to read your blog because you daily give us a glimpse of your heart. You are so real with us. Willing to share your ups, downs, positives and negatives and most of all your faith in the Lord Jesus. I will keep coming back. I pray for you that God continues to give you His richest blessings in your marriage, in your ‘mumma-hood’ and in your walk with the Lord. Congratulations on reaching one year in blogging.
Stephie
happy birthday, Gypsy Mama!
give-away or no give-away, I have to tell you how lovely it is to have re-connected with you this past year and to read your powerful and beautiful musings on life, love, the Lord, and all else that has been on your heart and in your mind.
And I look forward to reading / sharing / connecting more in the year to come…
with love,
michelle (in Geneva)
Happy Blogoversary! My favorite part of getting to know you this last year is reading about your fierce love for those boys. I can so relate and you often bring me to tears! Thanks for opening your heart to us all!
I’ve recently subscribed to your blog & I really enjoy your honesty as your share from your life – the easy and the difficult, all beautiful!
My favorite thing about this past year is “meeting” you here. The constant fun I have in discovering SA in your eyes as well as my own. A very close second is how you respond so quickly to every post here at TGM. Its like a community, a relationship back and forth. I love that.
I subscribed a LONG time ago!
I just liked you on FB…. how have I not done this before?!?
Does it count if I’m subscribed in a reader but not by e-mail?
Box checked, testing, testing . . . Kelly
I enjoy your honesty about LIFE. As a Christian. As a wife. A mother. A woman living in a land that is not your home. Your writing is beautiful.
I love your writing style and honest outlook on life. Happy blogiversary!
I subscribe via email {and reader}!
Happy one year blogiversary!!! Love your blog!
I’m still in the process of reading all your posts… I have flitted in and out, but have been paring back on my reading list and found you again, hidden back here like a treasure.
And I love how you write like I talk
I’ve only just found you this summer, but I have to say my favorite has been the “You are NOT your bathing suit” post.
Thanks for blessing us with your writing and your heart. Congrats, happy birthday, and here’s to another wonderful year!
I’ve just discovered your blog via your tweet about the giveaway. So, that’s my favourite part so far!
MYYyyyYY Goodness. Just reading the comments to your 1st birthday blog was like climbing a BIG hill, getting to the top and beholding a beautiful wide vista of gorgeousness, reaching far and wide. So many love you. And love your blog.
This is my first time here. I am the Mom of @ngie. She directed her followers here from FaceBook and it was sure worth the trip over. Happy Birthday!!
I found you through Incourage one day as I was having a rough day with our baby. The post I read was “When the Walls are Closing In.” It spoke to my heart since I am a new stay at home mom and I was truly encouraged that day. Thank you for being such an encouragement! Motherhood is such a joy but some days are just tough as we all know!
I dearly love your writing style, the use of language, your joys, your pains, or better just you. May this be the first of many years to come.
I also tweeted this!
Many happy returns!
And I tweeted again!
Happy Birthday, Gypsy Mama! A great part of the last year has been realizing again many things of the sisterhood of motherhood are universal. That means I am not alone, even on my worst mommy days.
I love knowing that, when I visit you, I leave encouraged and reminded that I’m not alone.
I’m a very new reader (just a couple weeks), but you are now my favorite blog to read, (out of dozens)! My favorite thing, is the simple fact that I found you! Your posts are so encouraging, real, refreshing and funny! Happy Birhday
Happy 1 Year Blog-a-versary!
I absolutely adore your writing. It moves me to tears almost every time. Your insight and perspective on life’s largest and tiniest matters capture my heart. Here’s to many more blogging years!
Happy Anniversary! I’m new… but look forward to becoming blog friends….
Kindred spirit! you aren’t much of a stranger anymore…at least I don’t feel like you are. My favorite thing is how you open the door to your heart for strangers like me to grab strength, encouragement and hope.
Blessings on year #2!
LIB
and I posted on FB!
Happy Anniversary to you and this lovely little space you’ve created! I love reading your words, and how you put them together
. You are so poetic and write lyrical strings of words that not only take us to different places but also take us to your heart. Which is just as lovely! Your journey of being pulled between two homes always reminds me of the home we belong to but have yet to see. And, I gain courage to take the risks and do the tasks before me, because one day I will get to feel my home dirt between my toes and my heart will be home. Thank you for your words and the remembrances in them! 
and I tweeted! of course…
you know i’m a follower
but thought I’d remind you for an extra entry! really want to win…
Seeing YOU live your life joyfully in an unexpected place!
Congratulations! Can’t believe its been a year!
I keep coming back to catch up with you and the boys
Lisa-Jo, I’ve been lurking more than interacting until recently. Your write is just so real and inspirational. It has only been a few months since I first discovered you, I believe through Gather In Spirit or Relevant attendees or Twitter. I’m not sure. You post about not being your bathing suit and blogging are two that I go back to, but I have yet to get through many of your previous posts. I am just trying to stay current with you now and look forward to the next year with you. May God continue to bless you and your family!
I have just loved that you express the tension of living between cultures and loving your home.
I feel a kinship with you, and I love your tender love for your family and the Lord.
One year? Really? I thought I’d been following you for longer than that…apparently not! Well, happy birthday!
I love the way you wrote about, well, everything. The way you express yourself is so uplifting and refreshing to me. Your blog is one of several that has made me want to work on being a better writer. I also love the way you foster a sense of community – especially in the Friday “your turn” posts.
I’ve only been following your blog for the past month or two, I don’t remember who had linked to you but your story, history, family, and life intrigued me. I’m really looking forward to reading about your trip to Guatemala!
I’ve really enjoyed following you on Twitter. You bring some good perspective to a place that is too often filled with the non-important!
Happy Bloggy Birthday!
Congrats on one year!
happy anniversary! I like your open, honest style and have enjoyed reading your blog over the last month (I linked over here after a friend sent me your link)
I’ve just started reading your blog – someone had linked to your beautiful post on imagining your little boy’s growing up. Which, as the mom of three boys, left me weepy and tenderhearted toward my sons. I’ve since subscribed via google reader and enjoy your posts. Thanks!
Wow!!! What a precious milestone. Congratulations.
My favourite part would have to be witnessing your transparency and feeling the courage to embrace my own.
Big Hugs to you, Lisa Jo!!!
~Manda
I am new to your blog, but am also a traveler!
Just found your blog, love what I’m reading! Congratulations on one year!
Love, love, love your candidness and love of family!
I was “surfing” the web this morning and found your link on M.O.B. society (I have three small boys!). My closest friend and teammate is South African so I was curious to check out your blog. I definitely think I’ll be back! Thanks for sharing. Being a “mobile” family isn’t easy, but a reality to many families out there and sometimes it just helps to know you are not alone. Blessings!
Love your descriptive writing, and love knowing there’s an ex-lawyer mommy who expresses so much of what I feel so close by, too. Happy Bloggy Birthday!
Your blog is helping renew my faith. When I am the end of my rope I can look to you and (In)Courage and I find hope again.
I also grabbed your button.
I just found your blog via another friend and love it! I grew up as a missionary kid in Kenya for the first part of my childhood and then back in the States. Now my parents are in P.E. South Africa so half of my heart lives in Africa while the rest is here with my husband and two kids.
Dear Gypsy-Mama-Lisa,
I was raised Catholic, but no longer a “church-goer”, I do not have any children, and have not traveled much, however, I feel very connected to you through your writing. I usesd to write, but haven’t done much in the past few years. What I love is your transparency, your giving heart, your sense of humor….and your writing ability, which is stellar! Obviously, you are doing God’s will by sharing your many gifts, and I admire you for it! Sincerely, Mary Ellen
so glad to have found your blog a couple months ago! Yay!
I subscribed by email! That’s kind of the only way I can keep up with people’s blogs right now. My reader gives me anxiety.
I tweeted!
https://twitter.com/melissa_rae/status/20246662519
For quite some time you’ve been in my reader. I can’t remember when I first “met” you, although I think it was through (In)Courage. I just loved you — your style, your honesty, your sense of humor. And I love your simple “your turns.” You’re just a cool cat.
An yr? Are you sure it’s not 2?
Of all the things I love about your writing, your perspective is probably one of the things I like most. How you get me to see things in a way I wouldn’t have, to think about how I see things.
Uh, and what’s RT? Retweet? I don’t tweet. It’s better for the world that way. Trust me.
One more thing i love about your writing is how much I feel like you steal (in a good non commandment breaking way
) the words right out of my head.
Count this another holding-my-breath entry – I want to win something fierce too!
*HUGS*
You have written so many wonderful posts it is too hard to choose. Being a Mom is not an easy job, and not many just come out and talk about all the goo. The way you do. Thank you and happy happy birthday. May the next year be even better than the first. God Bless.
I appreciate the honesty of what you write and it’s clear that you are striving to follow Jesus in all that you do, and I love that.
I’ve loved learning your heart this year. Seeing you grow, expand to (in)courage and the way you cared for me with open arms. Happy Blogiversary, friend.
Ah, what can I say about the thing I have liked the most about your blog? Having just found it recently, I guess it’s that you have boys and you know how to make the words flow together to stab my heart. I love how you pour your heart into words…and the pictures you put to it are wonderful too. A year? How could you only have been doing this a YEAR? Great work!
Yours is one of those blogs I want to wear, cause it makes me feel good & special.
Happy 1 year of blogging, Lisa-Jo!
m
My favorite thing about our time together: every word you write makes me feel joy and beauty, especially those you write about raising and loving your boys (even more so since our kiddos are about the same age).
I think your blog has an “old soul” because I cannot believe you’ve only been “around” for a year! Congrats and many blessings!!! *MUAH*
I subscribe via e-mail!
And I tweeted!
Gotta love Lisa Leonard and, of course, Gypsy Mama!
My favorite part has simply been getting to know your heart. You are an amazing woman!
Tweeted it!
The pics you share are lovely!
How cool that you’re having a giveaway the day after I discovered your awesome blog! I’m really loving learning about your life; your honesty and humor make for the best kind of reading.
God bless,
Abbie
I can’t even remember now how we “met” but I am sure glad I stumbled upon gypsymama.com : )
Happy Birthday!
I have been meaning to come say “Happy Birthday” all week… isn’t the first birthday the funnest???
I haven’t been here the full year, but I am looking forward to the next few years!!
On twitter, I told you I wanted the pony, but now that I think about it, the year of Godiva sounds much more practical!
Seriously, just pick me for the Lisa Leonard… that would make me smile, too!!
tweeted here
http://twitter.com/parresia/status/20320409355
Yay for celebrations!
A favorite thing about The Gypsy Mama? Hmmm….your writing leaves me smiling and thinking and laughing and wanting more. It’s good stuff. Really good stuff.
Thanks for blessing us with your lovely words, Lisa-Jo! You’re a gift to many.
I just found you a couple months ago when I started blogging. You were one of the many wonderful women who welcomed me to this incredible community. I have enjoyed your light-hearted, yet wise insight. Your blogs make my soul skip (as in down the sidewalk
Thank you!
I really like the titles of your blog posts – they draw me in and never leave me disappointed! Congrats on your first year and best wishes for many more to come
Wow, one year! The way you blog I always assumed you were a seasoned veteran! I will continue to come back to read the gypsy mama’s thoughts because I love how she strings words together to make poetry that speaks to my heart. She is authentic–I’ve never met her in person, but I know we would be friends–and most of all, she speaks God’s truth to my soul. Lisa-Jo, I love you! Thank you for sharing your gift.
i’m not sure how i found you here initially, but i subscribed so that i could find my way back to your lovely words. and here i am. a new reader and looking forward to more.
Once I read about our ’separated at birth’ twin existances, I HAD to keep on reading the blog and go back to learn all about the Gypsy mama! It was so much fun to find SOOOO many similar life circumstances: what are the chances of it, anyway? On a secondary level, I guess the mothering posts are the ones I keep coming back for… Although I had a different experience coming into motherhood, so much of what you say resounds with my deep love for my little (and not so little: I am about to have a teenager!) people… but you say it so much nicer than I ever could : )
I haven’t been around the whole year. I actually have no idea how long I’ve been around, a few months maybe. I found you through twitter, through Jo@Mylestones, one day when I decided to branch out from The Things I Knew and meet new people. And I’m so glad I did! Because Lisa-Jo, without a doubt, you are one of the most encouraging, most loving, most genuine, most truly lovely people I’ve ever met. Even though we’ve never actually met. I always leave your site feeling refreshed, understood, strengthened, smiling. In short, you are an international treasure.
Happy anniversary.
I love being able to check in on my friend and really see how life is going – much more than an occasional e-mail. I also love the inspiration and encouragement you give us Moms of Boys. I constantly laugh at how all the dirt, skinned knees and stains mirror my own!
I have loved your posts about raising your children in two worlds. Although my passport is American, I grew up in West Africa and I’m now married to an American guy living in the US, so many of the things you write resonate with me, and help me understand my desires for my sons a bit better! Thanks for sharing!
I subscribe in google reader.
My favorite part of our year together is that you got me out of my shell and helped me share my pearl with my own blog. You’re a beautiful writer. You’re a beautiful influence. You’re a beautiful woman after God’s own heart. Thanks for your words!