So this week I started paying attention to all the things that I am grateful for that might otherwise go unnoticed...and made a "Thanksgiving Day Resolution" to start being more aware of them each and every day.
I am thankful for the ducks that live near our house. Camden and I have spent many sunny afternoons sitting on a bridge on the walking trail by the canals feeding those ducks. I love to watch his reaction when they all swim up and start quacking like crazy.
I am thankful for the cabinet full of Tupperware and other assorted plastic items that Camden can play with while I attempt to make dinner around him. I am thankful for the fact that he is content to sit at my feet and play with a bowl so that he can be near me rather than in his room or in the family room playing with one of the 4,972 toys he has. I'll try to remember these days when he's in junior high and thinks that his mom is totally lame.
I am thankful for my mommy friends who have been so transparent with me that I have learned I am not the only one who has my days where I feel like I am climbing "Mount Guiltmore" - at least if I am climbing it, I am not alone in my adventure. I love having other women that I can call when I feel like all I have done all day is give time-outs and say "no, stop, give that to mommy, don't throw that, put that down, that doesn't go in your mouth"...and so on, and so on, and so on...
I am thankful for hand-me-downs...yes, I do realize this cuts into my shopping opportunities...but I figure while they're little and could care less, I can save money for when they think it's only a totally lame mom that would think they would want to wear something someone else has already worn...and heaven forbid, was last year's fashion. (And I am especially thankful for all of my "mommies of girls" that have offered their adorable "preowned" clothes for our expected bundle of joy. I could really get carried away shopping for a girl - and I'm pretty sure Dave Ramsey would not approve...at least that's what Ryan tells me.)
Today I learned that I am thankful for silly Thanksgiving songs that make my child laugh. I had to sing "Hello Mr. Turkey How Are You?" about 900 times tonight. I sing and Camden, Ryan and I all do the motions together. As soon as we finish he says, "more, more, more" and we do it again...and again...and again. I will also try to remember this one when he thinks that my music is totally lame - and trust me, it's not...there is nothing lame, nor will there ever be, about Led Zeppelin and The Allman Brothers Band.
Most of all, I am thankful for laughter. One of my favorite quotes is from Nicolas de Chamfort and it's "the most wasted day of all is that in which we have not laughed." I try to remember this every single day. Whether I am laughing at something hysterical my child has done or said or just laughing at the overwhelming circumstances I find myself in, I have found it best to just laugh. I am a worrier by nature and I cling to the verse "Can worrying add a single moment to your life?" (Matthew 6:27 NLT).
So my Thanksgiving Day Resolution is really a two-part deal - in focusing more on what I have to be thankful for...which is SOOOOO much, I concentrate less on what worries me. I know that all the good things I have to be thankful for come from God - and if He's in control, what do I really have to worry about anyway? So on this Thanksgiving Day I want you to know that I am thankful for all of life's "little things"...and for craft time with my kiddo. I think his Picasso-esque turkey is a true work of art.
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