What Am I Thankful For?

Today I’m thinking about Thanksgiving. It will be the last one in this house and one of the smallest gatherings we’ve ever had. Only 7 of us here while the other 14 will be celebrating in Ohio and Florida. When will we all be together again? So many wonderful memories of celebrations in this house.

I settled years ago that with a family this size, we would not always be together. I determined I would be thankful for each one here and be at peace. If I let myself fret about the ones missing every time we have a holiday I will never be happy.

That being said, this is a particularly difficult holiday season because we will be moving before Christmas and leaving Jared behind. Now I know, he’s a big boy. Actually he’s turned into quite a young man. I am proud of him and feel confident that he will be fine. Still… my mother’s heart has trouble leaving him. It helps a little that he will be living in our house. It feels more like leaving him home instead of leaving him behind.

We’ll certainly have new traditions for Thanksgiving and Christmas in Florida. No sledding on the hill near the baseball fields. No walking in the quite of a fresh blanket of snow. No snowmen with silly faces. Wait, we can make SAND men!  Christmas at the beach is hard to picture but I’m looking forward to the experience.

As for our last Thanksgiving, it’s been interesting that God has been preparing me for this season since January. Back when I was still recovering from my hip surgery, God prompted me to begin keeping a thankfulness book.  I got the idea from Ann Voskamp. She challenged her readers to keep a book of things they were thankful for. The goal was 1000 things for the year 2015.  I got myself a little blank notebook and began keeping a list. Today I wrote in #962. It’s been a good experience for me to be constantly looking for things to be thankful for. And when I am having a particularly challenging day all I need to do is pull out that book and open to a random page and read my list.  I am instantly encouraged. God is so good to me! I have so much to be thankful for!