Thankful

I am thankful for a merciful Savior who loves me and seeks me even when I am stubborn and sinful.

I am thankful for a husband who resonates with me, shares my values and hopes, adores me, and is very, very, (VERRRRRY) patient with me.

I am thankful for my years of being a child of divorced parents teaching me that holidays are not about what day they are celebrated on, but rather about being together whatever day we celebrate. This first Thanksgiving with Beautiful married she is not with us for our family meal. But, she will be with us the rest of the weekend and is SOOOO excited to be engaging in the tradition of Black Friday shopping with her father (starting this evening). I am glad that they get to have those traditions together. I am equally glad that I am NOT a part of that tradition lol!

I am thankful that despite living in another state from all of our family, I got to see my brother a couple of days ago when he traveled through to go skiing. There is just something about a sibling, even if you are not on the same page all of the time, who "gets you" in a way that is different from others.  Well, at least my brother is that way. Of course my oldest son could be his son they are so similar - it is very odd to be raising a child who reminds me constantly of my brother while growing up. I guess I am thankful for those insights so I can better understand my son;)

I am thankful that my mother in law is in the presence of Jesus this year and no longer in pain.

I am thankful for wanting to participate in the cooking and Thanksgiving this year. I have spent the past several years just letting my husband do the cooking (he prefers that...and the kids prefer his cooking;) but this year I wanted to do my part so I made the rolls, dessert (that was very, very enjoyed), veggies, and....

I am thankful for the tradition in our family of making Lefse!  Every year when we make it I am reminded of my grandmother. Even though we cannot be together for the holidays I warms my heart to know that I am carrying forward into our family one of her beloved traditions.

I am thankful for Superman and the joy that he brings to this family. Watching he and Buddy play the Wii is always a riot and they are having a blast today!

I am thankful that a fuse got blown due to the dehydrator ('tis the season for venison jerky you know!) which necessitated moving our large assortment of games and puzzles and got us excited to play some. I am thankful for playing lots of games with the girls - and I am trying to be thankful for the opportunity it affords me to learn patience;)

I am thankful for a full house, even though it is only our family. I suspect one year it will be very lonely and quiet once all of the kiddos are gone.

I am thankful for our comfortable home. It is very modest, not fancy, not well decorated, and very...ummmm...lived in. But it is comfortable and far and away better than what my husband grew up with. That makes it an extra blessing for us that God has brought us to this place.  We talked over our lunch about being thankful for enough food, a warm home, enough room to sit around the table together, warm and clean water, and the many "toys" that we have to play with. We appreciate our home greatly. Yesterday when we were praying as a family about what to do about schooling Buddy reminded us that our home is to be a place of serenity and "home is where the heart is." We are thankful to be on a new mission of making our home a place with less conflict.



I am thankful that when we seek God he meets us where we are at. He makes things clear to us. He gives us the strength to do what we are to do. In needing to make the difficult decision about what to do about educating 2 of our kiddos we sought a lot of advice. Of course we got advice that was very widely varied. It seemed that the advice received was consistent with the advice givers worldview and personal experiences (of course). Thus, we decided to hunker down and pray through it to find out what God wanted for our family, ask you all to pray, and spend time making pros and cons lists. With that all done we have made the decision to continue to home school Superman and Faith. That decision means that a lot of other decisions need to be made and changes need to take place to make it more successful than in the past. I won't go into all of our process as no one will care about that, but as a family we have peace about it.  I would even go so far that we are excited about the changes we will be making.

Praise the Lord for His direction, His faithfulness, and His wisdom!