Giving Thanks & #300

I finally made it to post 300!! I have noticed that it has been lurking close to 300 for awhile, just too busy to write I guess.

It's hard to believe the Thanksgiving and holidays are fast approaching. Almost so fast this year, it is sneaking up and will be gone before I realized it was here!

The "thankfulness" thoughts smack me in the face quite often, really. By no means have I attained or reached the level of perfect thankfulness, but it's certainly something to always strive for (or in human terms) remember to count those blessings.
It smacks me when I read of children and a local child who is fighting and seemingly losing their battle with cancer. It strikes me when people are losing their homes and jobs. It hits me when children in so many countries are ridden with disease, no parents, and no hope of a next meal. It stings me when I realize how fortunate we are in America. Things are plentiful here, not in Uganda or El Salvador or New Guinea or India and so many other places. It moves me to tears to see and hear of the hurt that is out there with so many people.

Many days, I come to realize the thankfulness in the "little things" (little by American standards)really because we look at them as the norm I guess. It was raining today and pulling into the garage I realized that I could use the new door going from the garage to the porch and straight into the house. The thought of thankfulness for that new luxury afforded me many more thoughts of thankfulness in that moment...my husband who put in the new door and closed in the porch so beautifully, my children who could frolic through the door and greet the kitty on the porch, my home that was an envelope of coziness from the cold, and the sheer enjoyment of these comforts of life.

Sometimes, the concept of thankfulness can be hard to teach little children who definitely "want not". Again, we have in no way attained perfectly thankful children, but we work on thankfulness. For Aliyah, those lessons are learned by giving to Operation Christmas Child and understanding that some children will only get that one gift that we are giving for their entire childhood. It is showing her pictures of a little girl who is battling a brain tumor at five years old and realizing that health is something to be treasured. It helps when we sell toys or work toward earning money to give to a special organization like Amazima Ministries.

So tonight I sit in awe and thankfulness at the luxuries and comforts that I have been afforded, for the family I have been blessed with, for health to enjoy life, for jobs to provide, and for a Savior who loves me.

O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good!