A Time for Thanks

Posted by Molly

I've mentioned before that my original immediate family is a bit on the disfunctional side.  Most of the time I deal with the frustration of my unfortunate relationship with my siblings by concentrating on the awesomeness of my new immediate family - Bobby, Mac and Charlie.  But once in a while something happens that jolts me back into that world of chaos and disappointment and this was one of those weeks.  It's a situation where there's little left to do but pray so that's how I handle it.  I pray that one day my brothers and I will find peace.  And I try to concentrate on the good things in my life until that day comes.

November is a time for thanks.  We're heading toward Thanksgiving which is all about gratitude and after that we know we'll be celebrating advent as we wait for Jesus to be born.  There's pretty much no gift we can be more thankful for than that one!  In order to get ready for all these thankful occasions and help my family remember to be grateful, I made a Thankful Tree for us today.  Here's what it looks like:

It was pretty simple to make. 
 I am no arts and crafts guru that's for sure!  I just drew a tree on a big piece of paper....I wasn't sure if it actually looked like a tree so I was happy when Mac came home and asked "who made that tree?"  Whew!  Then I cut out a bunch of leaves from yellow, brown, orange and red construction paper.  I told the kids that every day, between now and Thanksgiving, I want them to think of something they are thankful for and we'll write it on a leaf and put it on our Thankful Tree.  By Thanksgiving our tree will be full of leaves and our hearts will be full of gratitude!

On day one, Mac said he was thankful for Jesus and Charlie said he was thankful for Mac so we are off to an excellant start!  The tree isn't big enough for me to put leaves on it, too, but if it was today I would be thankful for my friend, Andrea Beane, who bought me chicken at Harris Teeter when I couldn't find a parking space and was going to be late picking Charlie up from nursery school if I wasted anymore time trying to find one.  That's friendship!  What are you thankful for?  Use this month to figure it out and ask your family about it, too.   You might be surprised what you find out and the surprise is sure to be a pleasant one because gratitude is good thing at any time of year.