Thanksgiving 2015

The past three weeks have been a complete whirl wind for us.  This time of year is always busy but between our family's activities, which has been something every day and every night for twenty-one straight days, there has been absolutely NO time to blog.  So, now that it's Dec 19th, I'll try to get caught up from Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is the holiday that is full of remembering our nations history, how God provided for the Pilgrims, but also a time for remembering all that God has done for us personally.  Years ago, my grandmother bought one of FamilyLife's Thanksgiving family activities and it's become a tradition for us to do each year.   It walks you through many of the stories that the Pilgrims went through and recounts the many miracles of God's provision for them as they traveled the long journey, began to make their new colony and as they established themselves in the New World.  I'm not a huge history buff, but I do enjoy reading, remembering and telling my kids about all that God has done not only in the past for others but for our own family as well.  Remembering and retelling all that God has done solidifies His goodness to us and marks "memorial stones" in our minds that we can call back to when times are trying or when things are hard.  Remembering God's goodness never gets old, or outdated…its always a good time to give thanks to the Lord!

This Thanksgiving as we went around the table each night sharing our "high/low" and what we were thankful for, it was fun to hear the kids share.  They said some of the "normal" things that they were thankful for, like our "warm house", "lots of food in the pantry" and "their cozy bed", but there was also some sincere Thanksgiving's too, like one who said he was thankful for his feet so that he could run and play, another said he was thankful for our family.  It's always a crap shoot sitting at the table with four children when you try to do something like this cause it could go incredibly well or just totally flop.  Some nights it flopped but a few times it really was meaningful.  Seeing the hearts of our kids growing as they begin to realize and understand all that God does for us on a daily basis really is awesome because in explaining to them all that He does for us each day, reinforces to myself, what He is in fact doing in and through us, which helps solidify the fact that He is not a far off God, but rather a very intimate and present One! I'm grateful for the Thanksgiving season and time to remember that our God is a good God who loves us and give us good gifts.

This years Thanksgiving day was a mix of sadness and thankfulness.   Adam's Aunt Gloria past away unexpectedly, just days before Thanksgiving.  It was a difficult time for our family, especially Adam's Dad.  Her service was uplifting as loved ones shared stories of her humor and fun loving side, we even got to hear a recording of her singing her own quirky rendition of Happy Birthday sung to Bill last year.  I loved what the pastor, Harry Li, shared.  He said, Gloria sees clearly now who our God is.  What an incredible thing to think about, Romans 14:11 says, "As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God" and that's what Gloria is doing now.

I am so grateful for family and for the fact that God placed me in a loving family so that I can experience a small taste of His great love for me.  Within our family I feel loved unconditionally similarly to how God shows me unconditional, undeserved favor and I look forward to the day when I get to see clearly who God is and how majestic, magnificent, glorious and sovereign He is.