Turkey Day!

I love Thanksgiving! I mean, I’m one of those people that starts listening to Christmas music in October, but I don’t like to skip over Halloween and Thanksgiving. I just thoroughly enjoy this time of year. And, sure, I sometimes get caught up in the commercialism of it all, but I just LOVE that we have designated this time to really reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for and make it a celebration! I realize that we should be thankful all the time, and I really try to have a positive attitude that way, but it’s easy to just live life and not think about what, in my opinion, GOD has given us.

Also, about this time every year I like to read up on the first Thanksgiving, just to be reminded of where the holiday comes from, and what it was like on that first feast of thanks. It fascinates me that one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations occurred between the new colonists and the established Indians. The way I always heard the history stories of our country was that the pilgrims were taking over the new land, and the Indians were fighting to keep it as theirs. But a national holiday was established out of these two groups sitting down together to celebrate a successful harvest and be grateful for what they had! Another account of one of the first Thanksgivings recalls that as British colonists came to Virginia, their Captain knelt in prayer to thank GOD for a successful trans-oceanic voyage. These are events that kick-started the establishment of this country! And because of these pilgrims and the leaders that followed, we have the freedom to celebrate with turkey & gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, football and all kinds of other traditions. What’s not to love about this holiday?!?

So, here I go with what I’m thankful for right now:

--My little family. I love my son more than life itself. And my husband, because he chose me, and I chose him. We make a great team, and I can’t imagine life being any better than it is right now. Also, our extended family, sisters, brothers, parents, nieces, nephews…we have a great family!

--I am thankful for March. I am glad that Kelby, Wyatt & I were able to fly out to Virginia and see my Granddaddy. Wyatt was almost a year old before they met each other. I am grateful that that visit happened when it did.

--“Old” friends. And reunions with those friends, and sister Kelbs, since there’s physical distance between so many of us now. But we can always pick up where we left off!

--That I can stay home with Wyatt and have a flexible work schedule. I have the best of both worlds! I have my own identity and can work and be a part of something outside of mommyhood, and I can also be at home, with the greatest responsibility I’ve ever been given…"Big W".

--For having been born in this great country, having freedom to live the way we want to, worship the way we want to, and not live in fear of oppression based on my being a woman, having my own thoughts & beliefs (for now! Oh, that’s my little political jab coming out…).

--Most importantly of all, I am always in awe that so many thousands of years ago, God sacrificed His Son, in the most gruesome and excruciating of deaths, so that I, little ole me, could be completely forgiven of all of my sins. This overwhelms me sometimes. Centuries before I was even a thought to anyone on this earth, God thought of ME. And He thought enough of me to make the ultimate sacrifice. I couldn’t do what He did. If someone told me I would need to sacrifice my son in order to save someone else…just being honest here…I could not do it. And the sacrifice wasn’t just for me…it was for Wyatt and Adam and Kelby…and everyone! So, daily, I’m grateful.

So, we’ll be off to have lunch at the Hicks house, then back up here for dinner at the Browns. I love the spread we have at the Hicks’ and I love the chaos of the Browns’. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!