Enter His gates with thanksgiving

I am so thankful for my goofy husband, he is the best dad and biggest kid.

I am so thankful for Heidi's beautiful smile, her willingness to help and her sweet spirit.

I am so thankful for Luke's tender heart, his eagerness to be silly and work hard at the same time.

I am so thankful for this beautiful girl, her zest for life and her wild side.

I am so thankful for this kind girl, eager to be the best of friends and a gentle leader.

   James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."  This year we are so thankful for God's many good gifts to us.  He is the Provider of all things!!  The last several nights I have had trouble sleeping and so I have often lay awake, working thru what I want to say in this post.  I read a phrase on Facebook recently, "Talk more about your blessings, than you talk about your troubles".  I think that is a good challenge, and maybe is something that is easier to do at this time of year.  There are so many things we are overwhelmingly grateful for, and my pregnancy hormones are in overdrive, aiding in a more emotional thanksgiving.  So here we go:

• We are so thankful for Justin's job, every day we thank God for preserving his work (he is the only person remaining on the jobsite from when it began in January, all the others have been laid off).  And I am so thankful that Justin works hard to provide for us.
• We are so thankful for everyone's good health.  Once again, I thank God every day for keeping Justin safe at work.  Emily has had a very stable year (what they thought was a kidney stone is an area of calcification that has remained unchanged for several years).  God has kept Luke safe from serious injury, both during lacrosse and during gym/recess.  Heidi and Anna have had several years of good health, rarely even dealing with a cold.  And I am thankful baby is growing well, safe and sound for another 20 weeks.  We know healthy bodies are not something to be taken for granted, so we praise God for maintaining our health.
• This year I have been overwhelmed with gratitude for the kids' school and the staff that spend so much time and effort in caring for our kids.  4 years ago about this time we moved out of our home and I fought the idea of moving to our current town, and fought even more about putting the kids in the school where they are now.  Well, God certainly knew better, and He has continually made a way for us to stay in this school.  Emily has just had a great beginning to kindergarten.  Our nurse has attended two seminars on g-tubes, just for Emily.  Our gym teacher calls to check and see what Emily can and can't do in each new unit.  And because the school did so well on educating the students about Emily, everyone says hi to her, making her feel like a superstar.  Luke has a great group of boy friends (and a few girl friends too :) ) and a teacher who is helping him gain confidence.  A few weeks ago his glasses broke at recess and his second grade teacher walked by.  She stopped the entire field of boys playing soccer so they could help look for Luke's missing lens.  And of course my aunt was there to give him a comforting hug.  I have lost track of the number of people who comment on how kind and sweet Heidi and Anna are.  Their teachers, aides, Heidi's band teacher all share with my aunt how great the girls are.  I recently started going to the Moms in Prayer group at our school and am just amazed at the ladies that spend so much time just praying for the school and for the teachers.  About half of the teachers are Christians and more than half of the families.  I have heard many stories of students sharing the gospel with one another without a teacher having to say a thing.  We have experience in other schools enough to know that our school is a rare find, and I haven't even mentioned the academic achievements our school boasts. 
• We are thankful for our church, for a Godly mentor for Justin and for a great group of ladies in my Bible study.  Both Justin and I love the worship and are just thankful for music.  And between Awanas and church the kids are busy learning and memorizing Scripture.

Well, that hardly scratches the surface of the blessings in our life.  Emily did a cute Thanksgiving program last week in which the kids recite/sing 14 songs.  Many express "thank you", but it made me think, that people who don't know God, don't really get Thanksgiving.  Who are they saying "thank you" to?  Themselves?  The world?  We can be thankful, but that thanks belongs to Someone.  A devotional I read recently talked about how when our hearts express gratitude to God we are brought closer to Him, our souls are in a position to let God move and breathe and live in us.  When we focus on God's goodness the circumstances, our idols, of our lives "grow strangely dim".  Have a blessed Thanksgiving!