Thankful!

As Thanksgiving approaches in just a few days, I cant help but simply just be thankful! I do try to reflect on everything God has given me every day but since this is "thanks"giving I thought I would take the time to express them now.

First and foremost, I am so thankful for my relationship with Jesus Christ! My goodness, where would I be without His grace, love and mercy?!? He is so good to me and I dont deserve any of it. I realize all good things come from Him and so in order to be thankful for everything else in my life I must first realize the source of all things that I am thankful for. He constantly pursues me and loves me despite my constant failures and is my one true hope. Thank you Jesus for loving me.. I am so thankful!

I have been extremely blessed with an amazing husband and best friend. He truly loves me the best way he knows how and constantly points me to Jesus. I am thankful for his leadership in our home, the excellent father he is and that he tells me I am beautiful still every single day. I love you JR. Thank you for loving me... I am so thankful!

One of the greatest gifts I have ever been given is being a mom. I can truly say I know that God made everything inside of me to want to be a mom and I simply love it. There are still days when I look at Griffin and think, Wow I am really a mom! He is such a blessing, brings me so much joy and I cant imagine my life without him. And now the thought of getting to experience that all over again by having Carter makes my heart leap! I love you boys and LOVE being your Mommy... I am so thankful!

My extended family means the world to me as well. It is very difficult being so far away from them but I am so thankful that we can remain close despite the distance. Every time we get to spend together is now so much more sweeter and I dont take it for granted as I used to. I am thankful that my family is close and even though we each have things that are different, we love unreservedly. I am one lucky girl to have such a great family... I am so thankful!

Friends are another great joy of my life! It is always a joke that I can never have too many, and its true! I am lucky enough to still have friends from elementary school, high school, college, seminary and now adult life! Each one of you bring my heart happiness and.. I am so thankful!

This past year has seemed a bit of a whirlwind with JR graduating, interviewing and then getting the job at Bethesda. We truly had no idea what we were getting ourselves in to and through the transition of now becoming a pastor and family, I am so thankful for our church. It is not just a job, but a family! We have been taken in just as many of the members own family and I am so grateful. They have loved us as we have tried to learn the ropes this first 7 months and it is their support that has been so welcoming! We have no doubts that this is exactly where God would have us to be and... I am so thankful!

And although this may seem small... to me it is one of the greatest things- that I get to stay at home and raise my boys! I am SO grateful that JR works so hard to support our family and they we made the decision for me to stay at home. To have Griffin crawl in my lap in the mornings to read a book, to have the time to sit and teach him things, to sing silly songs in the car on the way to the store, to go on walks every day together and take in God's creation... oh I love love love these moments! Yes we do sacrifice many things but to me this is the greatest (and might I say, sometimes hardest) job in the world! I am so thankful!