Thankfulness

The other day I finished a journal.  A journal that I started in 2011.  Crazy, right?!  I wasn't even a mom then.  I was still working and finishing my Masters and we lived in Chicago and life was SO different.  It's a little bittersweet reading over my thoughts and what God was teaching me.  At the end of every journal I take time to read over everything and then I take  notes at the end of my journal on the big things that God was teaching me in that season of life and I honestly couldn't get over what I wrote about thankfulness this time around.  It truly amazes me how gratefulness can effect my life and I couldn't just put aside my journal and leave all the notes I took on thankfulness and One Thousand Gifts aside.  So, on this Thanksgiving, I found it appropriate to remember everything God was teaching me about thankfulness and type up  this list.  Even though this was a tough year for Dan and I in a couple different ways, we have so so much to be thankful for.  How I pray that I can remember this every day and not just on Thanksgiving.  I hope you were able to gather with family  around a wonderful meal, and enjoy reminiscing about all the blessings that you have been given.  I hope this Thanksgiving is one to remember :)

Christmas time.. is here.

I probably should have posted this literally a month ago because that is when I busted out Michael Buble's Christmas CD and days later, when we had our first snow, I got out all of our Christmas decorations.  We really don't have any "real" Christmas decorations.  This year we invested in some stockings, but for the most part they consist of stuffed animals that I / we have gotten as gifts over the year.  Hardly the "pottery barn" vision I am going for but over the years I'm sure we'll gather little things here and there :)  And this year our big purchase was stockings.  Pottery Barn kids had some great deals and we got our names engraved in them and I LOVE them.  Dan questioned why I got owls for Jake.. but really, I don't see the problem.  Even when he's 15 he is still going to love cute baby owls, right?  ;)

This year we got an advent calendar from Naptime Diaries and I also ordered a Random Acts of Kindness Calendar from Emily Ley.  I know Jake is young and really has no idea what is going on yet, but I am excited to start these traditions now and I know in the next few years he will start to understand a little bit more.  And really, I don't think I give the kid the benefit of the doubt.. I think he picks up on MUCH more than it appears sometimes :)

So, here are a couple pictures of our decorations!  We wanted to put up the tree last night but some snow on our way back from New Hampshire made our trip a little bit longer than we planned.  So hopefully next weekend we will!

A lesson (re) learned in thankfulness . . . and some fall photos :)

I was driving back from our library's "story time," finishing off my coconut flavored coffee from Dunkin Donuts (seriously so so good) since I had just met a friend there beforehand, and I was having a moment.  An ungrateful moment to be exact.  I was thinking about how all I wanted to do was sit at a coffee shop and read all day long.  I was tired and already dreading the afternoon because it was too cold to go outside and I didn't want to go stir crazy inside with Jake.

{please note this was an empty coffee cup :) No caffeine needed for our little man}



That's when I came to a stop at a light and glanced out my window.  And saw another mom.  She was sitting outside the laundromat and was holding a baby that looked to be about 6 months old.  The baby was all bundled up and you could tell the mom was trying her best to keep her baby entertained as she waited for their laundry to finish.  She was bouncing her on her knee and smiling.  Then I saw her glance at her watch and continue to bounce her baby. 

 

I kid you not I almost burst into tears.  Here I am, a warm drink in one hand, a content toddler in the back seat, in our warm car, on our way back to our warm house, and there is this other mom outside in the cold with her little baby waiting for her laundry to get done.  All I have on my to do list for the rest of the day is play with my son.  I do not have cart Jake back in the car after his nap, with all of our laundry, to go to the laundromat to clean our clothes because in the comfort of my own home I have a washer and dryer and can do that whenever I want.

Perspective.  That's really all it is.  We have a choice every day to dwell on things that are lovely and honorable and worthy of praise, or we can dwell on our "if only's" and selfish desires which will only lead to discontentment.



I know what some of you may be thinking.  It's easy for any mom to become drained doing the monotonous tasks day in and day out.  It's understandable that we all struggle with those things at certain times and it's not awful to have a moment where you feel frustrated and beat down.  But to stay there, in that type of thinking, is what causes bitterness and a life full of disorder and not peace.  A thankful heart can totally, 100% change not only my thought life but also my actions.  I wouldn't be so frustrated doing the dishes if while I washed them I dwelt on the fact that these dirty dishes meant I had food on the table.  And the clothes I'm folding means I have clothes to wear.  And the bed I'm making meant that I had a warm place to sleep last night. 

Although I went through a whole book on thankfulness a while back, it is still something I think about often and am continually trying to cultivate a grateful heart.  That is partially why I wanted Jake's "verse" to be 1 Samuel 12:24 "Only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with your whole heart, for consider what great things He has done for you."  God loves us immensely and has blessed us immensely.  I just need to open my eyes and spend time considering all the wonderful things He has done for me.

A getaway to Ohio

I call our trip to Ohio a getaway because Dan and I got in TWO date nights alone.  That's more than we've had during our whole 4 months in New York!  My friend Cassie and I keep saying that we need to just go out after our kids are down at 7:30 and one of us will come over and just sit on the couch.  It was so fun to go out for a wedding and go out for my birthday just the two of us so hopefully we can do that more here :)

Dan had a conference in Chicago and while it would have been fun to tag along, spending money on plane tickets (last minute) didn't seem smart with Christmas coming up.  So, since we were in Ohio for a wedding (will show a couple pics later :) ) Jake and I just stayed there for the week while Dan was gone.  It was really nice to hang out with my mom and dad and just have another person to watch Jake while I showered and went on runs and my mom even watched him while I wandered over to Starbucks for a couple hours one morning to read :) It was a nice change of pace for a week! 

So, here are the first couple pics from the weekend.  We got to see Aunt Beth a couple days (she watched Jake while we went to our wedding) and visited her at the zoo (where she works!)  And she gave us a little behind the scenes tour.  We have a feeling Beth will be one of Jake's favorites when he gets older and understands how cool it is that he gets his own personal tour of some pretty neat animals!

We think this was a flying squirrel.. we can't remember haha

An armadillo :)

Jake's not sure about it...

An owl!!

We went to a playground in Hudson for a bit

Hope you had a wonderful weekend :)