Being Thankful Overseas

I've been thinking a lot recently of the Bible story where only one of the ten healed lepers returned to thank Jesus ... it makes me wonder how often I am one of the 9 who didn't return.

This month, David & I tried to help our family focus on an "attitude of gratitude". When we truly pause and think about God's blessings in our lives, it truly is mind-blowing. It honestly makes me speechless.

We are grateful for a wonderful November and a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. We hope you enjoyed God's many blessings as well.

Here's a look at my
2008 Thanksgiving "checklist." =)

1. Continue our Garland of Gratitude tradition, helping each family member see how God loves and blesses us!

2. Glitter & glue 40 placards.
3. Make my share of the Thanksgiving feast ... ham, sweet potatoes, cookies and a few appetizers.

4. Take a pre-dinner photo of the sisters ... before they have sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie smeared on their faces and dresses! =)
5. Enjoy the calm before the "chaos" - the table looked so pretty!
6. ENJOY THE FEAST WITH OUR AMAZING FRIENDS! And every dish felt like an extra special treat since tracking down specific ingredients here isn't always the easiest task.
7. Throw together a very last-minute Thanksgiving play. Some of the kids were really hoping to do some sort of Thanksgiving show. So we literally threw it together in 30 seconds. I read from a Thanksgiving board book and they acted out what I read. The costumes make me smile - Annalise has someone else's black tights on her head!
8. Exhibit zero self-control at the dessert table. And enjoy post-dessert satisfaction with some games and the Wii.
9. Let Verity skip school on Friday so that we can all cheer on Annalise & Moriah at their preschool's Thanksgiving play. In our next post, I will upload more photos from this darling preschool performance. Verity had to skip school because her (international) school only gave one 1/2 day off (on Thursday) for the Thanksgiving holiday since not all of the students are American.