Thanksgiving

Here we are at my parent's house on Thanksgiving. Since both sides of our families are local, we always have to juggle them during holidays. This year we went to my parent's house for the afternoon and then headed to Paul's sister Heidi's house for the Thanksgiving dinner in the early evening. Last year in Pittsburgh we didn't have any family for Thanksgiving, so although it keeps us busy when we have to go to two places on one holiday, I'm thankful that we are here in town with family.

I was just thinking how appropriate it is that the "holiday season" begins with Thanksgiving. What better way to enter the Christmas season and the new year than by reviewing and acknowledging all the things we have been blessed with over the past year? The past year has been challenging in a number of ways (being poor students living on financial aid, having a baby that hates to sleep, Paul being super busy in grad school, living away from family, Paul graduating without a job during the worst job market in decades, living with family while Paul still continues to look for a job, etc). But at the same time I have had the opportunity to learn to be thankful in ways that I wasn't before. These are some of the things I have found myself thankful for over the past year: we have good, nutritious food to eat every day; we have a warm place to live; Andrew's birth, my c-section, and Andrew's one week in the NICU were paid for 100% by our nation's medical assistance program; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the same everywhere I go and every ward we move into has friendly, faithful, kind people in it; our family is together under the same roof; Andrew is an extremely happy baby, and healthy too; Paul is a great father; and I get to be a stay-at-home mom. There are so many more things I am thankful for. Perhaps I will post more as the season of thanks-giving continues into Christmas.