Thankfulness: A Project

Full Disclosure: Reposted from my work blog

It seems all I have to do is talk to a friend or get on facebook to realize we all are longing for ways to show and understand gratitude during November.  Many are listing something they are thankful for each day this month.  I love this idea but decided to pass on it this year.  Still, I wanted to find a way to really appreciate the Thanksgiving season before rushing on to Christmas.

One of my favorite things to do is read blogs.  As I was reading Ann Voskamp's blog last week, I came across a great way to center your heart and home on thankfulness.  She has beautiful, free printouts to make a Thanks Giving Tree.  I decided to make my own and document it for all of you.  While I don't have children and made it specifically for my husband and myself, this would be a wonderful project for the whole family.  You can print out your own here.

First, grab your family and cut out the leaves. There are plenty! They need not be perfect and I have a hunch a leaf cut out by your four-year-old will make your tree that much more special, if not exact.  For those who aren't into cutting things out, they can gather sticks from the yard.  Word to the wise: gathering sticks in the dark is not necessarily the best choice.  Not that I know from personal experience. Yes, yes I do. :).

Once you've cut them out, use a hole punch to make a spot and then thread your ribbon. It's completely up to you which kind to use--make it reflect your family.  I used a mix of gold ribbon and red yarn since that's what I had on hand.  When you've tied them all you'll have a lovely pile of fall thankfulness leaves. See?

The pre-made leaves have enough for you to use one each day. Since it's the 13th already, you can catch up by doing a whole bunch of thankfulness leaves on one day. Or you can divide them between family members for the rest of the month, having several family members help each day.

The front of each leaf has a verse.  You can read the verse together and pray the verse for your family.  Then, on the back, list something you are thankful for from the day.  The day I made our tree, our small group had just celebrated one year of waiting with us for our adoption. Thus, this is what I wrote on our leaf for the 11th:

Once you've written it on the leaf, hang that leaf as a visual sign of your blessings.  The true goal is to gain gratitude throughout the month for all God's gifts.  Your family may have a rough day. God's greatness can still be shown for the gifts he gives, even the hard ones.

I chose to make my tree our dining room's centerpiece.  We'll be adding to our tree at family meal time.

I hope your family finds ways to gain gratitude for God's gifts during this beautiful season, regardless of how you choose to express it.

Psalm 136:1 "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever."

Gratitude

A day of gratitude is:

waking up and running with 100 other people in a small town, with all proceeds going toward a family in need.

setting a personal best in the 5k and watching all my family finish the race too.

drinking a good cup of coffee while making a birthday cake for my grandpa from scratch and watching the parade.

watching my mother and two grandmothers master Thanksgiving dinner with ease and patience.

seeing four dogs merrily chomp on their Thanksgiving treats shaped like turkey legs and squirrels.

seeing my mom cut out Connie Britton's son's picture and place him on the fridge so we could have a reminder of the one who will soon(ish) be at our table.

enjoying a glass of wine in a beautiful goblet with a puppy by my side and great blog posts on my laptop.

weeping during a prayer of Thanksgiving, knowing that I am more blessed than I deserve to be and probably more blessed than I will ever understand.

eating so many delicious things that I don't have room on my plate for turkey and don't care.

snuggling in with the husband for an afternoon nap on a weekday.

listening to my grandparents tell stories of their elementary school days and knowing I am blessed to get the chance to hear these stories.

watching HGTV with my momma when I need a break from everything else.

falling asleep with a full belly and a full heart.

Home (or maybe not) for Thanksgiving

I am comfortably sitting at my parents' place, on their couch, enjoying the barking of puppies and the laughter of the "men." I had to run some errands before I got to my parents' house tonight. In one store, I had a clerk ask me if I was "going home" for Thanksgiving. It struck me. Home? Well, my response was, "Well, my home is here. But I am going to be with my parents." I do not consider my parents' house my home. It is where my family is, but I am a big kid. I have made a home with my husband. Part of this may be because my parents moved when I was 23, and I have never lived at their current address or in their current town. But I've been opening the question to those around me...where is your home?

My mother says home is where she is now...

My dad says home is where he grew up...

My grandmother (in her 70s) says that home is the town where she spent most of her years but hasn't lived in a decade...

I find this concept interesting. So, where is your home?

Wherever it is, may you be at peace and remember God's blessings and wonder on Thanksgiving.

Here's to home.

The Ghost Returns

Well, graduate school is a little more than I thought it would be. A little more hours to put in. A little more work. A little tougher. A little more overwhelming. Yes, more. And thus, my ghost has been occupying the space of my blog in my stead. I hope to return back to more posting at T-Giving (yes I am cool and say things like T-Giving because I am a college student again). Until then, please know that I wish I were posting more. But all you would get is "school is hard, I am tired, and I am a big baby." So maybe you're glad I am not posting.

Last week Hubs and I became parents. Well, temporary parents. We watched two lovely little girls while the true parents were in Mexico. We felt so bad for them, being in Mexico and all, that we agreed to watch the rugrats while they HAD to sit on a beach and sip margaritas. So, parents we became. From Sunday til Friday, we had a 2 year old and a 6 year old daughter.

Tuesday, as I leave for class, Hubs goes into a detailed, passionate monologue about how children are much easier than he thought and how we could do this now without a problem. I blinked at him and went to class, requiring him to put the children through bedtime ritual on his own.

On Wednesday he changed his first "real" diaper and left it out for 2 hours in the room, allowing me the fullest of enjoyment. We had a chat.

On Wednesday night he experienced his first true 2-year-old tantrum. Flailing arms and legs, big crocodile tears, and of course, we were in public! Awesome. We managed to get her buckled into the car and get her home. She was a bear for the rest of the night but slept like an angel.

On Thursday I got to particpate in Mommy and Me Gymnastics. Too bad Hubs missed out. He missed a lot more flailing, crying, and refusing to follow directions. He also missed the diaper blowout at the park. Yes, we got the full picture of parenting.

On Friday, when I came home, I asked what he wanted to do to celebrate the joyous occasion of nolonger being parents. He said he was too exhausted to celebrate. And my plan worked after all:-).

Suffice to say we will enjoy being a party of 2 plus a doggie for now. And Godbless every one of you, parents in the world. Your job is thankless.

I am off to read more journal articles, write more papers, and drink more coffee.

Here's to T-Giving.

On Th

Home again, Home again!

Oh man. It is a Monday morning, and, not only am I in my own city for once, but I have the day off and am staring across the table at my gorgeous groom. What an amazing treat for this holiday week. Wow! I love my job more than any person should, but, after a long fall on the road, it is nice to be home, sipping pumpkin lattes and worrying about Christmas cards instead of deadlines and index cards (I write all info about prospective students on index cards). Anyway, it's just so lovely.

So before I post a few pics, a little about my current thoughts. We are reading a book in my small group called "Humility" by CJ Mahaney. If you haven't picked it up, I highly encourage it. It's a quick read, and easy enough. It is changing the way I think about my human condition. As a human, I am inherently flawed. That's easy enough for us all to remember, right? "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Rom 8:28. That's something I have been told for most of my life. But what Mahaney does is takes it a step further. Not only are we all flawed, but our flawed nature makes us focus on our pride. On us. We try to take the glory away from God and away from his power. I live for me. But as a Christian, I don't get to live for me. Jesus sacrificed himself so that I could live AT ALL. And as a gracious act of thanksgiving of that sacrifice, I am to self-sacrifice. Be HUMBLE. And how often does this play out in my life? About 1 percent of the time. That's probably an overstatement. As a human, even when I do good things, I don't always have good, humble motives. We all want to be recognized, to be noticed. But God tells us, throghout Mahaney's book, that he notices those whose lives are humble and motives are pure. So my heart has really been focused on that for the last day or so. I want to have clean hands and a pure heart. How do I get there? Daily resignation to my sinful nature. Daily recognition of my savior's great love and sacrifice for me. Daily submission to his word. Living it out. I am not there. And probably won't get there. But I need help. So, feel free to call me out. Question me. As a body of believers, we are called to lift each other up and support each other in our goal to be immitators of Christ. So, off I go on my journey. Really, if you have about an hour, read the book. And then if you are in CoMO and want some coffee, call me and we will discuss.

So this week is Thankgsiving! Finally! We are headed out tomorrow to my parents to enjoy the holiday. Family is such a huge part of my life, I am thrilled to have a great family that I enjoy so much! Hooray for family!

My pictures are taking too long to load. I will post next time.

Here's to family, faith, and thanksgiving!