Thanksgiving 2010

So much to be thankful for this year, where do I start?

Family

Friends

Health

Kyle's job

House

These are all the obvious ones I suppose.

I'm thankful that I know the Lord and that my immediate family does as well. I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to stay home with my kids, that I can homeschool them, and that I can teach them more about the Lord and what it means to love Him/serve Him. I'm no expert and I have room for lots of improvement but teaching them helps me to grow as well. For that I am thankful. :-)

I'm thankful for our church and the freedom we have to worship there. I'm thankful for our pastor and his transparency. All my life I've felt like pastors are someone you admire but never dream of reaching the same "spiritual level". However he brings himself down to "our level". He is real, he is genuine, and he is human. Through him I've realized that while some pastors are on a different level in their walk with the Lord (Adrian Rogers comes to mind) but they are all human, they all make mistakes. The same mistakes I make every day. I've always had this strange idea that I was the only one (of all the people I know) that struggles. I'm the only one that gets busy and misses time with the Lord, day after day. I'm the only one that struggles with frustration, gets annoyed at the kids, or fights with a spouse. I remember one time when a friend of mine confided a struggle she had with her spouse... a similar struggle I had with Kyle. And I thought, wait, I thought they had this amazing marriage and they struggle with that?!? I try to remind myself now that while I'd like to strive to be better in all those areas, I'm human, and I struggle...and so do others!! Whew!

I guess that all leads me to another thing I'm thankful for...forgiveness. Where would we be without forgiveness? And the ability to forgive.

So for our Thanksgiving this year Kelsie came home from college and we had a nice, quiet day, just the 5 of us.

Ella and Elijah made these early this week in school. Feather hats and paper bag vests.

Ella also made a handprint turkey and a nice thank you card

Not sure if you can see it but she also made the placemats in this picture.

She tried her hand at "weaving" and really enjoyed it.

Delicious apple pie

Loved watching them play together.

This was the best picture out of all the pictures taken.

Here are some out-takes...

Until next year...