Pausing to Give Thanks

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This is the season when time seems to speed up and we cram as much activity as we can into each day. However, I want to savor the time this year as we go through the month of December and enjoy each moment.

So I'm going to start by pausing to give thanks for all the many blessings of the past week. If I don't intentionally look for the abundance in my life, then I can very easily give way to complaining about the lack. I'm trying to be better about being grateful for the little things in my life. 

💓I love baking and making food from scratch and I'm thankful for a mom and grandmother who taught me how to do that.


💓 Seasonal favorites.


 💓My Thanksgiving plans got changed, but we had a really nice day despite the weather and different plan.

💓 We still were able to have my father-in-law and daughter and son-in-law over on a different day and celebrate a mini-version of Thanksgiving. 

💓 We got my father-in-law down our stairs (took three of us), but he was able to watch some football. I'm so glad we were able to get him. It was a hard holiday for him as it was the first without my mother-in-law. That's why I felt so bad that the weather prevented us getting him on Thursday.

💓 Texts and messages from many friends and family wishing us a happy Thanksgiving. 

💓 Being able to encourage a family member on the phone.

💓 Dan and Stephen playing together.

💓 Sending an email out about a need in our church family and having that need met less than an hour later. 

💓 Those who came to help decorate the church on Saturday morning. It's always a fun time.

💓 Beautiful decorations.


💓 Thanksgiving leftovers which makes my life easy for a few days.

💓 Praying together with friends.

💓 Getting our tree up and decorated (doing the rest of the decorations today).


and finally...

💓 The pause that comes with Advent as I spend time each day reflecting on the message.




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