A Thankful Post

 Thanksgiving was this past week and I have seen people posting daily "thankfuls" on Facebook in a variety of manners. All week, I have been thinking about doing a "thankful post" but, obviously, didn't get it done on Thanksgiving! To be honest, I have been fighting, or succumbing to, some cold/bug/virus/I-don't-know-what, for the past ten-plus days and haven't put forth a lot of effort into anything. I decided, though, that I should do a "thankful" post, if only to make myself aware of all that I have to be thankful for. So here goes:

In thinking about what I am thankful for, I have determined that I am thankful for Thanksgiving. As much as I enjoy Thanksgiving- being thankful, the food, and such -I seriously enjoy the heightened anticipation of Christmas that begins with Thanksgiving coming and going. Why? Because Christmas is the celebration of Jesus birth!

Christmas 2017

Christmas is one of my two favorite times of year, and I don't feel like it's really Christmas-time until Thanksgiving comes. With the event of Thanksgiving, I can full-on enjoy my anticipation of Christmas coming!

I am definitely thankful for my tiny family: Jason, Little Pumpkin, and of course, Gunther. Showing this thankfulness is an area in which I fail a lot. I am grateful for Jason, my husband, and his patience, kindness, unconditional love, dedication, and care that he gives to myself, and to Little Pumpkin.

September 2018

I am soooo blessed by the relationship that he is cultivating with our child, and it makes me realize I am very fortunate to have him as my spouse! I am thankful for the little, spunky, determined, stubborn, helpful, kind, and generous little girl that God gave us two years ago. Yes, she can drive me to my wits end, and match my stubbornness, but she also loves me unconditionally and is quick to forgive my short-comings. This is something that I am finally starting to realize, and try to remind myself of often. And Gunther. He can be exasperating at times with his boundless energy, but I am so thankful for my furry cuddle-buddy!

November 2017 - almost a year old

Gunther's always there, listens to my one-sided conversations without judging, warms my bed and my feet, is also quick to forgive when I fail, loves unconditionally, and allows Little Pumpkin to poke him in the nose and touch his lips. Yes. I'm thankful for my tiny, little family!

I'm thankful that we are out of primarily out of debt. And, that we are able to attempt to keep it that way. Along the same line, I'm thankful that we are able to go out and purchase things we need spur of the moment, like a wide variety of health and medicinal items when we are sick. From garlic cloves and elderberry syrup to Nyquil and Mucinex, I am so grateful that we are financially able to purchase those things when we aren't expecting to need them.

I'm thankful that we started, and have continued, the nightly routine of reading the Bible, reciting memory verses, and saying prayers together as a family. It may not always be convenient, it may not always be easy, but I'm so thankful that we all fully participate in this bedtime routine that I started last year with Little Pumpkin.

Finally, I'm thankful for a place to live. This is an area that I have struggled in massively for the past almost two years. I still do not love our house, or the place we live, but I am thankful that we have a place to live with heat and air conditioning (though I'm stingy with the thermostat!).

There are more things for which I am thankful, like friends and family (or "framily"), our jobs, my co-workers, being able to attend a good church, and much, much more. I could make the list go on and on. But, when I was thinking about what I was thankful for, the aforementioned things were the truly significant things that came to mind this past week. Some of them were new realizations for me; things I had taken for granted and never really noticed the full impact that it has on my life. Purposely taking a week or so to think about what I am truly thankful for has been good for me.

How about you? What are you truly thankful for this year? Have you taken some time to really think about it?