Thanksgiving

We drove past a church the other day that had "Count your Blessing" posted on its sign out front...we pass this church every morning taking Avery to school and each week they have something different up there. I look forward to reading what it will be for each new week and it has yet to disappoint me. After reading this holiday-appropriate banner, I got to thinking about that idea of counting my blessings. Is that kind of like counting sheep? Then the reality of trying to list out everything that is a blessing in my life started to sink in and I realized that actually trying to count them would be totally impossible...there are FAR too many. In addition to a fantastic family, great friends, and all of us being healthy, there is my faith and the fact that God is who gives us all of these wonderful blessings...that Thanksgiving, while not traditionally a religious holiday is really about remembering to say "thanks" to the one who has allowed me to live this blessed life.

 

After covering all of those major blessings (numbers 1-4) I started to make a list of some of the other things I often take for granted that I would like to remember to "count" this Thanksgiving...

 

5. our beautiful country, that at least for now, still allows people all of the freedoms to say, think, choose, and believe what we want to

6. my husbands job that allows me to stay home full time with these wonderful kiddos

7. TWO bathrooms...when Avery and Lincoln both look at me at breakfast and need to go #2, they can each run themselves into their own respective potties and take care of business

8. dishwashers...and a good one that washes everything, quietly and quickly...at least once a day

9. trash collectors...we make a TON of trash (one of the differences I've noticed going from 2 kids to 3

10. Swiffer...champion of dog hair removal!

11. iphones...so ingenious

12. debit/credit cards...the convenience of not having to carry cash is priceless

13. two wonderful schools that we have found down here for our kids to go to...so blessed to be able to provide them with a Christian education

14. Aveeno lotion...the BEST for my kids and my poor raw hands that I must wash 7 bazillion times a day

15. my giant obnoxious looking water bottle that I got while in the hospital with Henry...seriously its wonderful

16. Netflix, totally wonderful invention

17. the "silent game" inventor of this game has saved my sanity on several car rides!!

18. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...awesome!

19.Target (my all time fav)

20. ridiculous reality tv shows on Bravo...totally makes me feel normal compared to those weirdos!

 

....the list was longer than this, but I liked the idea of finding little things to remember and be thankful for this year...



 

of course my family is perfect...but cozy blankets are great too!

 

 

onesies...so awesome at keeping babies' tummies warm...a playroom, necessary for all families!

 

 

here is our "give thanks" tree that the big kids and I made...they came up with all of the things to be thankful for, and a few of my favorites were...

cats (Avery of course)

fruit (Ave)

blankie (Lincoln)

toys (Linc)

a real helicopter that I can ride in (Linc)

Sunshine, except when I'm in the car and its poking my eyes out (Ave)

boob milk (Henry...answered be Ave and Linc)