Giving Thanks

In the Bible it says to give praise to the Lord in both challenging and good times. There have certainly been times, especially in the last 12 years, when I have been challenged in my faith. From my parents divorce, deaths in the family, depression to my mother's cancer diagnosis...there were definite times when I wondered, "what next?" I sat and waited for the next bit of bad news or expecting to be betrayed by someone I loved instead of focusing on what was going right in my life. This year I give thanks for being delivered from that destructive and limiting mind set. I'm not saying I don't have relapses from time to time (just read my post below). After all, life can be a challenge. I could list all the challenges we face from day to day, but it is in those sometimes very small, brief good moments that God shows his face in a very clear way and those are what I choose to focus on. Giving thanks for the big as well as little things preserve my sanity. In God I can always find hope that things and situations here are just temporary. I found an interpretation of hope in my study Bible that I felt really defines what it means to have hope:

Hope means going beyond our unpleasant daily experiences to the joy of knowing God. We live by trusting in him, not in the benefits, happiness, or success we may experience in this life. Our hope comes from God.....

I just love that interpretation. Hope is a gift and is always there.

So on Thanksgiving there I was with tired circles under my eyes (and probably very little color in my face) looking around at my family fixing meals, feeding Molly, chasing after Addy, and sharing the joy of our togetherness and thought, "How blessed am I?" The fatigue is only temporary, but the memories of the support we receive through the love and graciousness of our families, friends and our God are immeasurable. Despite the challenges...life is so good. For that I am thankful.

We spent the Thanksgiving at my mother's farm in Brenham. I wish I would have taken a picture of how packed our car was. We were only going for two nights and the back of our Suburban was completely filled.

Thanksgiving was a very cold day. Of course the kiddos didn't care. They still wanted to be outside the whole time. Why don't they feel the cold like we do????

My grandfather feeding Molly

This is one of the few times

my grandmother sat down.

We decided my uncle Kent and Molly get the littlest-biggest award.

My aunt Kathie giving me a hand feeding and burping Molly

Aunt Meredith also giving me a hand with the other two (my sister is the best!)

The girls loved the "mule" ride. They came back with red faces, hands like icecicles, and BIG smiles on their faces...poor Scott. The things we do for them to have fun.

As you can see, we had no shortage of hands and good news, Molly has been sleeping for FIVE hour stretches at night meaning she is only getting up once! Yeah! We are definitely heading in the right direction. I won't even mention the LSU game except that we had to ride back home with Scott after that disappointing game....He must have said, "I can't believe they lost that game" over the course of two days.

We got back and had My dad, Eleanor and my college sister with her boyfriend over for lunch

Eleanor, Kristin, and James loving on Molly

Mary Ella getting in some Daddy Boo time

Mary Ella is counting down the days for aunt Kristin's return.