Giving Thanks!

I think it's great that our country is one of the ones that has a holiday focused on being grateful, but we need an attitude of gratitude every day of the year! It is so easy to become focused on the disappointments and struggles that we face and become discouraged, yet the truth is that each of us have so, so, so much to be thankful for. Ann Voskamp has inspired many people to notice and record blessings on a regular basis through her best selling book One Thousand Gifts. The way I have kept a record of my blessings lately has been through my "Thankful Thursday" posts. Also, when I find myself comparing some situation I am facing with another that leads me to feeling disappointment, then I try to compare my situation to one that leads me to feel grateful. For example, it's true that some women who have given birth to full-term babies have a much easier time exclusively nursing their babies than I have ever experienced, but then if I remind myself of women who have never been able to nurse even though they wanted to, I feel grateful. Similarly, when I was in the hospital this summer if I started to wish I could have had a smooth pregnancy like many other women have, I reminded myself that many in the hospital are there because they are facing long term problems (such as cancer) whereas my situation was temporary. I also reminded myself of women who wanted to carry a baby and yet never experienced that. It's all a matter of perspective!

One thing I have wanted to do, but haven't put much thought into previously, is establish some family traditions related to holidays, birthdays, and such. Thankfully my kids are young so they won't recall that we didn't do xyz in the past. I'm still thinking about Christmas, but for Thanksgiving I decided on two traditions to implement starting this year (and maybe more will be added in the future). First, I want to make a hot breakfast every Thanksgiving. This morning it was blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. Ian ate pancakes for the first time, and Nadia had scrambled eggs for the first time. Ian wasn't too sure about the pancakes, but Nadia loved the eggs! Second, I am setting aside a journal that we will write in each Thanksgiving. I think it will be special 10, 15, or 20 years from now to look back and see what we wrote in it over the years. I want us to reflect and write down some blessings from the previous year. As the kids are old enough to write, I want them to write their lists in the journal as well. It will be a fun way to see how their handwriting changed over the years as well as what they chose to write about. Last year I had the kids make handprint cards for their grandparents, and I guess that was the start of a tradition because I had the kids made some more yesterday. I love handprint art projects!

On this Thursday I am thankful for...

1. My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I can't imagine life without Him.

2. Paul - a loving husband and father who supports my desire to be a stay-at-home mom and encourages me to homeschool our children

3. Nadia, Ian, and Oliver - since I was a child I longed to be a Mom. How grateful I am that the Lord fulfilled that desire on 6/24/08 and has since blessed me with two more children. I am also grateful for the frozen embryo in the hospital. It surprises me how often I think of that little one. Nadia only stayed in the hospital as a frozen embryo for a couple of months. This is the first time we've had an embryo stay in a frozen state for this long.

4. Our country - things may not be going in what I consider a positive direction, but we still have religious freedom and financial prosperity that many on this planet never will experience.

5. Our health - considering I spent the better part of 10 weeks as a patient in the hospital and Oliver spent 26 days in the hospital, this is something I am definitely not taking for granted right now. Right now all five of us are healthy. Thank you, Lord!

6. Our families - I'm grateful our kids have 4 grandparents, 1 great Grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins who love them very much. I'm thankful that the holidays provide extra opportunities to spend time with our extended families. Today Oliver got to meet (for the first time) his great Gram, Aunt Millie, Uncle Al, and two cousins - Shawn and Brandi.

7. Our home, car, and van - It's so easy to take these for granted, but we shouldn't. In particular, I am grateful that our house has a fence. Nadia and Ian have been able to play outside some this week. It's been warm enough for them to play outside, but I didn't think it was warm enough for Oliver so he and I stayed inside the warm house while they enjoyed running around in the fresh air.

8. Our church - I was incredibly touched with how people in my church helped us out this summer - babysitting Nadia and Ian, painting Oliver's room, delivering meals, moving furniture, etc. In the last couple of weeks one woman gave me three sweaters she had knitted (one for Nadia, Ian, and Oliver) plus a hat for Oliver and another woman gave me a quilt she sewed for Oliver. I have been and continue to be incredibly touched by their generosity and thoughtfulness. My kids and I feel very loved by our church family.

9. Paul being very close to completing his PhD. When I first met him (1997) he hadn't even finished one semester of college. It's been a long journey over the past 15 years as he's completed his bachelor's degree, master's degree, and has almost completed his doctorate. I am thankful the end is less than 2 months away. I finished my doctorate in 2002, and I never would have guessed that 10 years later there would be two Dr. Kennedys in our family. I'm very proud of my hubby!

10. My laptop and my camera - currently two of my favorite possessions

11. Oliver's progress with getting off the shield. I think he'll be off of it completely within a couple of days! I am also very thankful that I am able to nurse him. Even though there has been a lot of stress connected to nursing him, there also have been many serene moments, which I treasure! I'm praying he'll want to nurse for at least 8 more months.

12. The freebies and bargains I picked up at CVS on our way to Paul's parents' house today (such as large bags of peanut M&M's for $1.50, which I'll give Paul for Christmas and his birthday). They were giving quite a few free things away Sunday-Wed (I picked those up on Saturday night) so I assumed those were their Black Friday specials, but they had more for Thursday- Saturday! That was the extent of my Black Friday shopping done in person. Anything else I do will be from my laptop at home. :-)