Thankful

We had our first snow last night, and I feel fall blending into winter.  Richness and bounty fill my life.  The chaos of finishing my master's degree has paid off in a much more balanced life.

I am only working a day and a half a week and then have more focused time to homeschool my younger children.  Andrew started school for the first time this year, and he has had a wonderful transition.  He enjoys his classes and has made a nice group of friends.  He has more balance after a lonely and isolated year last year.  while he misses his free time, he enjoys all that he is doing and learning.

I love having free time back.  Projects that were looming in the future are slowly but surely getting checked off my list, and I feel that I have time to just be once in a while.   I love the work that I am doing, but don't feel like it consumes my life like school did for three years. 

I actually had time to get the girls signed up for some extra-curricular activities which has been nice for all of us.  We are starting to make friends, but I don't feel frantic about the process and know that things will fall into place through time.

Nathan turned 40 this year.  We have both struggled a bit with feeling older, but we have started jogging a few times a week and are doing what we can to keep ourselves healthy for the next 40+ ahead of us.  We are ever closer and unified.  Our struggles have brought us together, and I so appreciate all he does to serve and honor me.  He is a wonderful husband.

We have come closer as a family as well through our transition to life in Oregon.  I love that my kids are friends and enjoy spending time together.  I know each of my children and feel privileged to watch their personalities and talents emerge.

Our tradition of learning has been a great blessing.  Their interests have led me down avenues that I never expected to explore.

My mom told me a story she recently learned from her sister about my grandma.  Grandma Cunningham had a difficult first marriage which ended in divorce, causing her a lot of grief, pain, and regret.  She talked very little about her first marriage and didn't want people to even know that she had lived that earlier life.

One Christmas, when my aunt Joetta was old enough to look forward to Christmas, they spent time looking at the window displays in anticipation of the holiday.  Shortly before Christmas that year, her husband disappeared taking all the money and leaving her hopeless and unable to buy a single present or even food for a nice meal.

On Christmas morning, when she woke up and searched the cupboards all she could find was a package of jello and a box of saltine crackers.  She made up the jello and they ate that with saltines for their Christmas dinner.  She didn't have the heart to tell Joetta that it was Christmas and so ignored the holiday that year.

I wonder at the heartache my grandma suffered and at her contrasting joy when later she married my grandpa and embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I also felt a sense of sadness for what she started with in life and the comparison of what I was blessed with from my childhood.  My children have an even greater start, and I hope they will be able to live up to their privilege.

This Thanksgiving as we celebrate our rich harvest from the past year, I feel gratitude for so many things that I often take for granted.  I am thankful for messes, because they represent fun and time spent together as well as rich material wealth.

I am thankful the generations who laid the foundation for my life.  I look forward to thanking them someday.