3am Thankfulness

         

I have a lot of friends posting "What I'm thankful for" comments on Facebook this week, and for some odd reason I've found myself avoiding it, like the plague.  It's not that I'm unthankful! I just can't fight the feeling that it seems really forced or contrived, to be thankful just during the month of Thanksgiving.  It's 3 AM right now and I just finished a middle-of-the-night feeding with Maddy.  Can't quite relax enough to go back to sleep, so I'm finding myself blogging and still bugged by this Facebook Thankfulness thing.  I had to ask myself, "Am I really thankful for the things in my life?"

I came to this conclusion: whether or not someone chooses to participate in a Facebook or similar outward declaration of thankfulness, it's always a good reminder.  Yes, we should be thankful all year.  We should tell God and others what things in our lives we are grateful for, and often.  We can use this month as a reminder to slow down, and be aware to be grateful.  I love that Thanksgiving is near the end of the calendar year, so we can use it to reflect on the entire past year.  Hopefully, if we are sincere about our gratitude and thankfulness in Novemeber, it will spill out into more of the year.

 So here's what I'm Thankful for this year:


I'm Thankful for my beautiful daughter Madelyn Anne (Maddy), born May 31st.  She is sweet and joyous, and smiles so much.

I'm Thankful for my son Kellen, who is 2 years and 3 months.  I'm thankful for his energetic, creative, wonderful personality, and sense of humor.  I'm thankful that he's starting to talk so much, and comes up to me saying "Mama......"  He's loves to show me things and tell me stories.

I'm Thankful for my wonderful husband Travis.  He is a loving, compassionate man, so caring and supportive of me, and sweet and gentle with our children.

I'm Thankful for a job that I love, and that I can do on a very part-time schedule and still be able to be a full-time Mommy.

I'm Thankful for both my Phoenix and Washington families, and loving church friends.

I'm Thankful for a relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.


-Taylor