Thanks Giving

Thanksgiving was special this year.  It just felt, well, thankful.

We've been living with my parents for almost 6 months, 5 months at Thanksgiving...and I mention that because I really feel like we are starting to reap the deeper benefits of living so *close* to each other.  There weren't all the pressures and stresses of a trip to San Diego and who sleeps where and are we spending enough time with each other.  Someone blessed our family with some money to spend so we were able to get a hotel room for the 5 of us at a really nice hotel by my sister's house.  We spent hours and hours by the pool...swimming, diving, making new friends...and because my kids are pretty proficient (Annie with a life jacket) in the water, I actually got to relax and read a bit.  It was really and truly relaxing!  We got to spend some meals together with my sister and my parents and we went exploring Cabrillo National Monument one morning.  We just all know each other better now, there are bonds and there is silence and there is just enjoying the moments together.  I felt the same when we lived really close to Jeremy's parents in Tucson when Sam was a baby...doing daily life together can have its ups and downs, but it is really special and I am thankful for both of our families.

Tide pools at Cabrillo National Monument with Aunt Kendra, the teacher who became a pilot (but still is a teacher...to 3 kiddos).

Before we went to the hotel in San Diego, Evan claimed he remembered that last year when the kids stayed there with my parents, the hot tub was on one side of the pool one day, and then the next day, they had moved it to the other side.  He was adamant that this had happened, though he admitted freely that it would have been hard work to move all the bricks and cement in the middle of the night.  He was so sure of himself, we couldn't convince him otherwise.  While at the hotel this time, we noticed the map...I have no idea what the blue area next to the pool is, but he is more convinced than ever that he is right!

Even though I don't love dogs, I love my sister's constant companion, Ranger.  I am thankful for him!

Taking a walk after dinner to see the neighbor's house that had burned down the night before.  If looking at that sight (along with scores of curious neighbors) doesn't make you thankful, I don't know what will!

We can obviously see what Evan is thankful for :)

While in San Diego, I finished reading a special book that was given to me by another mom on Sam's soccer team after she had only known me for a little while but was sensitive enough to know that I could use some encouragement.  The book is called 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  What I thought it was going to be and what it turned out actually being are two very different things.  I thought it was going to be along the lines of Oprah's gratitude journals and how we should be more thankful blah blah blah.  What it turned out to be was a deep probing into the character of God and our relationship with him and how giving thanks is a pivotal part of not only rejoicing in the good things he gives us, but trusting him and being comforted by him in the really hard stuff...the stuff she calls the Ugly Beautiful.  I was really motivated to finish it on Thanksgiving Day and I sat by the pool with my embarrassing choked-up face and tears on my cheeks reading the last few chapters.  Many times with books, I get finished (or I don't even finish) saying "Yeah, yeah, I get it, now I understand."  But this book felt like a call to start back over on my own journey at Chapter 1 and experience for myself the things that she explores and experiences in the book.  The book starts with a dare from the author's friend to write down 1,000 things she is thankful for.  I dare my friends to read this book and then start a list along with me in 2013 and to watch and share what happens.  Let me know if you're in, I'm serious!

1.  Friends' birthday parties with face paint

I wanted to write more...I wanted to write about the suffering and sadness in the news this week, but there are already so many voices, I don't just want to add to the noise. The book 1,000 Gifts opens with a story that reminds me that death and suffering are happening every day in the world and yet, unless it is happening directly to us, we go about our lives not wanting to think about it.  The tragedy in CT makes me long to look my friends (and myself) in the eye and say, "are you willing to take a long hard look at this and really think through why death and suffering exist and why we long for reason in the midst of it?"  Death should make us sad or mad enough to really go to the end of our worldviews and test the way they hold up under the hardest questions.  Likewise, blessings and good things should make us stop to wonder just as much...where do they come from and why do they even exist?  Moments like this awaken us from the numbness and avoidance and empty busyness we fill our days with...let's not miss the crucial opportunity for true comfort and peace by just watching the news and wringing our hands and locking our doors more than we used to.  Ann Voskamp calls it "the Ugly Beautiful"...to find God in the midst of suffering.  Sarah Warren's parents remind us that "it is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting, because this is the end of every man, and people should take it to heart."  They modeled to me how to give thanks in the midst of suffering, how to really enjoy the blessings and how to accept the ugly beautiful, and I want to, too.

2.  Freedom and security that we take for granted so much that events like this week's shock us because we are used to relative safety compared to many other places in the world.

3.  A spunky girl with spunky hair, even though it now is looking a little like...(see below)

4.  MOPS class with Grandma as her teacher.   Priceless.

5.  Silly moments with Crampaw at the dinner table when your cheeks hurt from smiling later

6.  Not being mad at the kids for being late for school when the reason is that you found them like this instead of getting ready.