So very thankful!

I love Thanksgiving! One friend put on facebook something about how it's a fun, family, food filled holiday where nobody gives anyone gifts! And it's so true - we all get together, enjoy good food, and fun family time but no pressure of gift giving or gift receiving and it's a time to remember to be thankful.

I was thinking late Thanksgiving night for all the many things I have to be thankful for. First what comes to mind is my sweet family of Kyle and Tommy, and now baby to be. I absolutely LOVE and cherish my time with Kyle and Tommy. Kyle is so attractive, funny, genuine, masculine, a great leader, an amazing father, handy, smart (common sense and book smart), and so much more. Tommy is just a joy - his smile lights up my day repeatedly, his laugh makes me laugh, he loves me as his mom and his friend, he's a boy through and through - he already loves to wrestle (in a modified baby/toddler version), he's so smart and handsome, he already tries to hold his own when he's being told no (not necessarily a good thing but part of his personality that I will still love), he's so silly, and I can't imagine where we would be without him. As Tommy gets older I find us having more and more family time, where Kyle and I play with Tommy together, and oh do I love this! It's so much fun and I just feel like it creates such sweet moments to keep tucked away in my memory. And I'm getting more and more excited thinking about Tommy having a sibling - I'm well aware that the first few months will be a juggling act; but in the long run I love that Tommy will have a sibling close in age and I hope that we can encourage them to be close friends. Also, it's fun to see Tommy becoming Tommy and no longer just a baby, so I look forward to seeing who this little person will be as well.

I'm also thankful for my immediate family outside of Kyle and Tommy. For my mom and dad - we are so blessed to live in the same city and to get to spend so much time with them. And they sacrifice so much time, energy, money to host Thanksgiving for a big family event so all of us can come and enjoy the holiday together. My parents are the greatest - if you know them, you know I speak the truth. And I'm thankful for my three sisters! I love when we're all in the same city and get to hang out and spend time with each other's families. Jennifer and Dave we get to see most often b/c we live in the same city and it's so nice, we wish the other two couples would move here too! Jennifer is just craaazzzy over Tommy and spoils him rotten. She goes through Tommy withdraw if she hasn't seen him often enough. But we love their company, Dave has a great laid back nature and Jennifer dances like a mad woman just to get a laugh out of Tommy. Jeanne and Jody are so sweet and expecting their little boy very soon! They will be amazing parents and we cannot wait to meet him! They are always so much fun to hang out with and I'm always thrilled when I know they're coming into town. Julie, Brian and Eliza are such a blast too. Eliza and Tommy are close in age so it's fun for them to have time together to play - sometimes Tommy loves to play with Eliza and other times he acts like she has cooties but she just LOVES him and it's so precious. (She really loves everybody though, she's a very outgoing little girl) Brian and Julie always make me laugh and I love when Julie comes for random trips and we get to have lots of playdates together! And I'm going to be so jealous when Julie and Jeanne get together all the time with their two little ones and I'm stuck here, without them and their babies. (Jennifer that means you have to quit working and come hang out with me and Tommy and new baby, so I'm not sisterless during the day)

And the other big thing I'm thankful for is close friends who love me and don't judge me. It is so encouraging and also freeing (sounds weird but I'll explain) to have friends who you know you can talk to about your sin and they aren't going to think differently of you b/c of it but they can help you think through it. When I say freeing, I mean b/c you can literally think what you are sharing with them is embarrassing and stupid, but you don't feel embarrassed and stupid when you tell them. Does that make sense? If you have a friend like that then it should make sense to you. It's a pretty awesome gift to have someone who isn't your spouse and hasn't made a life long commitment to you, to know you - sin, stupid, embarrassing you - and all and still love you and even like you.

Now we know I'm not going to leave out my thankfulness for love and grace of God. Selfishly I thought about how all the above things wouldn't be there if it weren't for the Lord. They physically wouldn't be there b/c nothing would be created, but what I really mean is none of those things would be the same. My relationship with my husband, son, family, and friends would all look so different. So I'm thankful we have the bond of Christ to deepen and strengthen our love for each other. And selfishly I'm thankful we can all be saved by the blood of Christ and not fear death or hell b/c of the sacrifice of Christ. While they are selfish thanksgivings to the Lord - they are still b/c of God's glory.