Truly Thankful

This has been our project for the month of November, counting down the days until Thanksgiving. Everyday we each write down what we are thankful for. My hope was that when Thanksgiving came, the kids would have a grasp on what we were celebrating. It has been a great exercise for all of us! However there have been days where I sit and stare at my note card frustrated with the disobedience, fights between siblings, dirty laundry, dirty diapers, lack of sleep, and strain to think of something that I am thankful for that day. Then I heard a story shared at MOPS about being thankful. This mother was frustrated with her son. They lived on a farm and every day he came in, took his shoes off, and left a pile of hay where he striped off his jacket and shoes from working on the farm. Every day she scolded him to clean up his pile of hay and wondered why he could never take the initiative to do it. Then her son went on a church youth group outing to Kings Island. 64 Children/teenagers, 3 chaperons, and a bus driver. Coming back late that night, a drunk driver crossed the median and crashed into the gas tank of the bus setting it on fire. The door to the bus jammed. All adults and 24 children died that day, but that woman's son did not. It was devastating to that church and all their families. That mother came in to her house later that week, saw the pile of hay on the floor, and fell to her knees thanking God for her pile of hay because it could have ended differently for her. I left that MOPS meeting truly changed at my outlook of thankfulness. I am thankful for the 2am interruptions, dirty diapers, laundry that never ends, snotty noses, shoes and clothes not put away, and constant need for my attention because I am thankful for each of my children and what they have added to my life. I will take the good with the bad and praise God each day he gives them to me! I pray that you too have truly found a heart of thanksgiving as we celebrate this wonderful holiday.