Thankful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the blog friends out there who read my blog!

Today it is a balmy 80 degrees in Southern California. The base is peacefully quiet as most of the students have gone home for this short holiday break. There are still green leaves on each tree and many flowers are still perky in this glorious weather. The base is really a pretty place.

I am thankful to live here.

A handful of the remaining students and a few of the staff got together this morning and cooked for all of us who chose this place to celebrate and give thanks. We ate about one hour ago and I found myself sitting with some of the students whom I have witnessed tremendous freedom, hope and joy arise in over the past 9 1/2 weeks that we have been together. Young people who have come here with an array of backgrounds; some secure and safe, others tragic and frightening. Yet all are reaching upward toward the same Jesus who saved their souls.

I am thankful for them.

Next to me at the dinner table was my handsome life partner, my inspiring, bold husband. This morning was a tough morning for the two of us. We had a "marriage moment" that wasn't so blissful, but rather difficult and somewhat draining. The kind of moment where we realize we have a choice in communication. The kind of moment where characters are tested and all the hidden filth of our heart gets aired out for the other to see. The kind of moment where God wants us to choose love and growth over resentment and bitterness.

I am thankful for this man whom God has chosen for me and the difficult days that we go through because I am becoming more like Jesus through this marriage.

Today, my house has been filled with the curious questions of a certain precocious preschooler and the excited babble of a certain lively toddler. There has been wrestling, playing, and cartoon watching. There has been food and spills cleaned up and faces wiped and hands washed and fits thrown and kisses given.

I am thankful for my children who make my house a home.

I will get to partake of another meal today. This one with three special people whom we parted with when we moved a little over three months ago. My sister, Christy, my brother-in-law Tim, and my niece, Heather. I will get to wrap my arms around them once again and share laughter and stories and a good meal together.

I am thankful for my family far and near, all who have influenced me and have made me who I am today.

Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for?