Simply Thankful

Our Thanksgiving holiday and weekend went by all too quickly. My brother and his family came to stay with us for a few days. It was great to have them here--our plan is for them to come stay with the girls while Tim, the boys, and I travel to Korea. I wish I had taken pictures with them--the kids had a great time doing "shows", riding scooters and roller blades, and just hanging out.

In the middle of the month, we did our traditional (remember how I am about traditions?!) tree of thankfulness. It starts with a walk to find the perfect broken branch on the ground. We put it in a glass vase filled with marbles or sand. (It makes for a very fun and colorful center piece.) We take turns writing or drawing on the leaves, then sharing what we are thankful for. Not so pleased with the picture, but here it is:

The leaves always range from sweet to silly to serious. This was one of my favorites this year. I can't remember which girl drew this one because they each did one, but I got a picture of Lindsey holding this one.

Can you tell what that is? The kids were all thankful for their little brother or sister in Korea!

And as I sat listening to each child and Tim share and thank God for what they put on their leaf--I smiled with thankfulness. I listened to a little girl, who was orphaned for reasons we will never know, pray for Jesus to bring her baby home.

So, this is where I thought I could come up with some really spiritual saying, to sound impressive and holy-like, but simply put.... I am thankful.