Giving Thanks

We are still in recovery from all the holiday frolicking we did last week (and from all the giant amounts of food I ate!) We had a great time this Thanksgiving, and as Drew gets older, it gets easier and easier to travel with him. We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with Daniel's family, and Drew had a great time being the center of attention. Nothing like several adults and only one toddler!! He loved playing with Granna, Grandad, and of course, Uncle Mick and Lindsey. He never did eat any turkey, but he did have ham and mac and cheese. He apparently missed the memo that says you're supposed to eat different things than you do everyday!

Saturday we went to the "Fantasy of Trees" in Knoxville with Grammy, Aunt Katy, Aunt Kristin, Weston and Lyla. Boy, did we ever have a great time. The kids made all kinds of crafts, rode the carousel and played on the pretend train. Drew also LOVED looking at the gingerbread houses (and man, there were some AMAZING ones). I'm pretty sure he loved them because they were made with tons of candy. The kid is obsessed. It was only a matter of time.

Saturday night we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family. The kids were so great and we all actually got to sit down and eat our dinner! Miracles never cease! The dads were all glued to the TV watching Phil Fulmer's final game as UT head coach. And, at one point we looked around the table and it was our little family all sitting there together...it was one of those very rare moments-especially these days, and it was wonderful. [Sadly our camera is on the fritz, so I have no pictures of any of these fun times. Bool.]

We have such wonderful family. So blessed, so blessed.

I have been thinking a lot about being thankful lately. And it is actually Drew who has me in a humble, thankful place. He is back in a phase where he wants to rock before he goes to sleep. We have started using this time to say prayers, which is very sweet. At some point, the prayer time sort of turned into a stalling the bedtime time!! At least that's how I looked at it at first. I mean, really, Drew was just looking around the room pointing things out and asking to pray for them. Praying for a humidifier??? Seriously?? And then I decided that we would indeed say a prayer of thanks for anything he wanted to. As I started thanking the Lord for the bed, and the paci, and the lights and the books and the clothes it stopped me dead in my tracks.

I am blessed beyond blessed. I flip switches in my house all day long and the lights turn on. When my child was a tiny baby struggling with reflux and congestion, I could run straight to the store and buy a humidifier for him-right then. I have received so many hand-me-downs from my sister that I have barely had to buy one single thing for Drew. My child and I both have beds to sleep in-really nice ones, too. We even have beds that lay empty night after night waiting for a guest to sleep in them. So. We thank the Lord for every thing we can see, and we pray for those children who don't have.

These little prayers, with my son each night, are slowly changing my heart.