Our Thanksgiving

Absolutely so much to be thankful this year, it is overwhelming!

Michael and I spent this Thanksgiving with his mom's family earlier in the morning, then visited his dad's family that evening. Since both my mom and dad were visiting my brother in Texas this year, we only had two stops this year.

Michael's mother is an amazing cook who, thankfully, is quick to share all of her secrets and recipes with a young new wife, like me. I ALWAYS look forward to her meals, but I was especially looking forward to her Thanksgiving meal since it pretty much consists of some of my favorite foods: butter, carbs, fat, and butter. In that order.

Her meal, did not disappoint! I'm STILL enjoying slices of pie with the flakiest crust you've ever had (the extra pooch at my waist is proof of that). It was delicious food with a lot of laughs and memories.

Then later that afternoon, we picked up our stuffed bellies and drove them across town to Michael's grandparents' house. Again, delicious food and the love of a lot of family, greeted us. Michael's grandma always makes those quintessential American foods that are always a welcome site on the dinner table: yams with marshmallows, gooey macaroni and cheese, and green bean casserole. Not to mention, for the past few years my father-in-law has deep fried a whole turkey in peanut oil.

YUM.

Talk about the most moist turkey you have every tasted. Can you tell I enjoy eating? No? I guess I hide it well. ;)

So, as Thanksgiving ends and the rush of the Christmas season begins I've been stopping to think about what I'm thankful for this year, and every year. I saw a lot of people on social media sites listing all the things they were thankful for in their lives. At first, I wondered why I didn't feel the need to do so? Honestly, because I couldn't think of anything unique or remotely interesting to anyone else. But this is my blog and I'll do what I want!

Here it goes:

I'm thankful for patience. How patient is our God. We sin, we stumble, and he still comes looking for us and loves us. Just like he still came looking for Adam and Eve after the fall. I'm thankful that my husband is patient with my whining and absent-mindedness. I think I would drive myself up a wall, but he laughs and tells me to calm down and do one thing at a time.

I'm thankful for the work that I do. There are a number of days that I don't do much but clean up the house and cook meals. A lot of people would consider what I do as a wife to be mundane, work. Heck, even I think it's mundane most of the time. But I still find God in the things that I do. I find him in the food in our bellies, the warmth of our oven, the roof over our heads, the breeze while I carry laundry inside.

"We ought not to be weary in doing little things for the love of God.  For God does not regard the greatness of the work but the love with which it is performed."  -Brother Lawrence 

I practice seeing the joy and importance of what I am doing. There wouldn't be any dirty dishes in the sink if we didn't have food to eat. I wouldn't be doing loads of laundry if we couldn't afford clothes to wear, and there wouldn't be a floor to sweep if we didn't have a warm home around us.

I'm thankful for that. :)


Next time this week: Another beauty post!