Thankful for that ....

Every blog has to have a beginning I suppose.  A place when it's decided- documentation necessary.   And this one begins now.

But really it began years ago.  Back when Geo, our oldest was still small.  Back when we first began to hope he didn't grow up with the feelings of entitlement that we saw so many young kids have.  Back when we wanted to him to know how to be thankful.  Not just polite and please and thank you.  But for him to know how to be thankful. 

And so we ended each day with saying what we're thankful for.  I'm thankful for that... he would say, still says.

And most of the time, when we go around at night to say what we're thankful for that day it will be more surface things.  Thankful for that we got to read a second chapter of Harry Potter.  Thankful for Daddy helping with the laundry.  Thankful for the rain.

But I'm trying to remember to be thankful in all circumstances.

Like the day, years ago when our back fence fell down.  Rotted off the nails.  LK was a minister at that point, and we didn't have money to spare.  We lived fine and we ate and we had heat and air conditioning, but we didn't have money for a new fence.  I was frustrated that the fence fell in and frustrated that the neighbors hadn't fixed it before now.  Didn't they know the rule- if the pretty side faces you, it's yours to fix?

But that night, as we said what we were thankful for, little Geo said "I'm thankful for that the fence fell in."

Maybe he was just picking up on what LK and I had spent the evening discussing- how to fix the fence as cheaply as possible (and yes, we held it up with bungee chords until we put the house on the market some 18 months later).  Or maybe he was speaking truth.  Maybe, through my child, God was whispering "in all circumstances."

I'm trying to remember to be thankful now.  Not only thankful on the days the when I lay in bed at the end of the day feeling like I owned it.  But thankful on the days when things are left undone.  When mistakes are made.  When the phone call doesn't come.

And so this the beginning.  The beginning of remembering to be thankful.  Remember how I was thankful.

February 18, 2012
-that my mother in law had the boys and LK and I could roam Half Priced Books and talk about spirituality, classic fiction, and world history.