Thanks-giving

If you know me well, you’ve probably heard me ramble on about “an attitude of thanksgiving” more than once. It has been my “theme,” if you will, for the past year, and I have loved seeing the Lord work on the hardened parts of my heart through simple lessons of thankfulness.

I’ve always loved Thanksgiving, but this year I am loving it even more as we seek to see all the little blessings of the Lord in our daily lives. We’ve been filling up our "thankfulness jar" with scraps of paper bearing the written names of gifts from the Lord, from large to small. Eli dictates his thankfulness to me daily, and I write them all down… candy, airplanes, bicycle, Daddy, stickers, red leaves,… We add all of our thankfulness daily to this jar, and we’ll read through our writings on Thanksgiving morning.

And the image of an empty glass jar slowly, over the course of the month, being filled up with scraps of yellow and orange paper? It’s a perfect analogy for how thankfulness can fill up our hearts, leaving little room for complaining.

So, this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for a whole jar-ful of little gifts, from chilly, rainy mornings to candles flickering to a bouquet of fresh flowers. I am thankful for our cozy little home and daily provision and my family close by. I am thankful for my husband who loves me and my son who is healthy and my God who gave me all of this.

But more than that? I am thankful for the cross of Christ, His blood spilled on my behalf, the peace I have, eternally, with the God of the universe, because Jesus paid for my sins. All other gifts pale in comparison to this one. But I believe that as we thank God for all His many blessings in every day, we are brought into deeper communion with our Savior who died for us.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving! May we rejoice today in the abundant gifts of our Father.

Thankful

Raising a child has taught me so much about my own sin and shortcomings. I sometimes watch Eli get worked into a frenzy about some minor issue and think, "Geez! Get a better attitude!" And then I remember that I oftentimes am guilty of doing the very same thing!

This year we have been working hard to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness in our home. Part of this includes listing, at various times, what we're thankful for in any given moment. I've been learning that turning my thoughts from complaining to thanking really does work to change my whole attitude!

I've loved observing this in Eli as well. When he gets frustrated about something or is upset, I try to, instead of just silently brooding over how much I dislike his bad mood, start listing things that I'm thankful for. It takes a minute or so, but Eli will eventually chime in. Before we know it, we're both coming up with a long list of things we can be thankful for in the moment, and both of our attitudes are totally turned around!

I'm thankful for how the Lord uses my three-year-old to teach me how childish I sometimes act! And I'm thankful that He has compassion on me just as a "father has compassion on his children" and remembers that I am "but dust" (Psalm 103).

And I am thankful for all the things that Eli says he is thankful for! I love them all! Rainbows, candy, cousins, paint, red leaves, his bicycle, a car to drive, a Daddy who works hard, his friends, rain,... I can almost picture God in heaven just smiling as He hears the thanks of little children as they take joy in all His bountiful gifts.

We pray that the lesson of thanksgiving continues to change our attitudes and our hearts. Because, truly, God's gifts are abundant.

Halloween

For people who aren't too big on Halloween, we sure did a lot of Halloween-related events this year! :)

We started with costume night at Awana. Here are the three of us in our costumes- doctor, dinosaur, and detective (minus the giant magnifying glass that was later added to the costume). The suit was Phil's dad's years and years ago, and Eric is the only one skinny enough to fit into it! :)



We went to a couple church "festivals" too in the past week. Eli loved it all. Here a couple shots from the fall festival at Mimosa Lane...

Pony rides:



Giant slide:



Playing games:



Eli, Timothy, and CJ:



Yesterday afternoon we carved a pumpkin, and then we joined some friends for trick-or-treating. This was Eli's first time, and he absolutely loved it!

Eli with Eric's "Japanese warrior" pumpkin: :)



All the kiddos- this picture cracks me up! :)



Our trick-or-treat-er!

State Fair

Eric and I haven't been to the Texas State Fair in years, but this year we decided that Eli and Timothy needed to experience it! Phil and Kelly left Charlie with my parents, and then we all loaded up and went to the fair on Thursday night. The boys were totally blown away by all that there was to do and see. They just rode around on Eric's and Phil's shoulders with their mouths hanging open as they took in all the lights and sounds and people. It was adorable to watch. We tried to give them a good sampling of fair food, took them to see the pig races, saw the parade of lights, and let them ride a couple rides. They also just stood in amazement at the ferris wheel for quite some time. :)

When we saw Big Tex, Eli said, "Him not bite us?" :)

A few pictures...

By the ferris wheel- us and then Phil, Kelly, and Timothy:






I look like a dork in this one, and you can't really even see the boys, but I love how they're looking at each other! They just stared at each other and laughed and laughed the whole time!



Another ride, this time with Kelly:



Before we left, they shared a drink and a fried snickers. They were absolutely giddy with excitement and exhaustion. :) It was a perfect childhood experience for them!

Family Camping Trip Fall 2011

Last weekend my whole side of the family (Bergstroms) went our our annual fall camping trip. As usual, it was a fantastic time of relaxing and playing and enjoying being outside and with each other! Here are a few pictures from the long weekend away...

Everyone getting ready for a hike around the lake:



Going for a swim with Pop-Pop:



Eli and Cooper partaking in the plethora of unhealthy snacks we had this weekend: :)



The park had a "grand reopening" event on Saturday with some cool stuff for the kids to do, like this giant slide. I love the expressions on everyone's faces (Pop-Pop, Eli, and Timothy):



Part of the festivities included a visit from Smoky the Bear, who happens to be Eli's idol right now, for some reason. :) Eli and Jacey were so excited to meet him and hug him! Eli keeps saying, "Smoky the Bear loves hugs!"



Our little family:


A great time was had by all!

The Hi-Light of Eli's Week

One might guess that the hi-light of a three year-old's week would be a trip to the zoo, a camping trip, a pumpkin patch visit, playing outside with cousins, or a baking fest with his mom, all of which Eli has experienced lately.

But the thing Eli has been the most excited about lately? A trip to the dentist. :)

I don't know what this says about him... maybe he's headed for a career in dentistry? that he's picked up on the habits of his oral-hygeine-loving parents? that he's just wierd?

Whatever it means, it sure was cute. :) He woke up yesterday morning and said, "I can't wait to go to the dentist today!" (We had been talking about it daily when we brushed our teeth.) He marched into that dentist's office, gave everyone a smile and a hug, and let Vickie, our wonderful and amazing hygeinist, count and clean his teeth! I was so proud of him. After Vickie was done, Eli asked, "Where's the dentist?" :) Dr. Taylor came by to say hi, and Eli was enthralled. I was so proud, also, of the really good report they gave him of his clean teeth!

He picked out two tubes of toothpaste and a new toothbrush, which he carried around with him on our other errands, and then as soon as we came home he brushed his teeth for a good 5 minutes with his new toothpaste and toothbrush. And he repeated the whole thing once Eric got home from work.

Crazy? Perhaps! But at least he has super-clean teeth!

*The picture is unrelated- just cute! :)

My Little Pumpkin

The obligatory fall pumpkin photo...

Fall 2011, 3 years old:



And just for the sake of comparison,

Fall 2010 (2 years old):



Fall 2009 (17 months old):



Fall 2008 (5 months old):



I can't believe how much he has grown! It makes me a little sad...

I wonder if he'll still let me take a photo of him in the pumpkins when he's 16. :)