Still Thankful

Happy belated Thanksgiving!  We had a great day feasting with family and friends.  J said it was the best Thanksgiving dinner he's had in a few years.  I ate myself miserable and sat up half the night wishing I hadn't had the second helpings.  The kids played well, the home team won the game, and the weather turned cold.  Definitely a good day.

Since we don't celebrate Halloween, I try to really emphasize Thanksgiving once fall hits.  This year, we made a Thanksgiving tree.  I picked a branch out of the yard and put it in a big canister full of rocks.  We wrote (or drew) things on foam leaves that we were thankful for and tied them to the tree.  By the big day, it was a little Charlie-Brown-ish, but we could see how much we have to be thankful for.

A is thankful for mermaids, fairies, ladybugs, Chick-fil-A, rainbows, her best friend, her mom and dad, the new baby, cousins, herself, pink, and various toys in no particular order.  C scribbled on leaves and we left them open to interpretation, until one of the last drawing sessions when she handed me a leaf and told me it was one of her cousins.  I obliged and wrote his name on the leaf to identify his portrait.

The grown-ups in the house are grateful for employment, good health, kind neighbors, loving family, precious daughters, each other.  Above all else we are humbled by the opportunity to thank our God for His loving kindness, His constant nature, His gift of salvation, His personal involvement in our lives.

We've been singing a Thanksgiving song this month cut and pasted from the psalms.  Perhaps you know it..."I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter His courts with praise.  I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice for He has made me glad.  He has made me glad.  He has made me glad.  I will rejoice for He has made me glad!"