Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving was a drawn-out affair this year. Those are the best kinds of holidays I believe. Because of work schedules, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday instead of Thursday. As a result, we got together with some on Thursday, some on Friday and all of us on Saturday. Our rambling, country home provided a perfect backdrop for lots of family, food and fun, and we were honored to be the hosts for this holiday. There was much cooking, eating, laughing, hugging, talking and baby-holding. The snapshots of this day will live on in my memory forever.

At Thanksgiving, we all pause to think about people and circumstances in our lives which make us thankful. I am no different, even as I try to make a practice to be thankful every day of my life for God's blessings. Instead of listing all that I am thankful for, just know that I have reflected extensively on my blessings and have given all the thanks to God in prayer. I have also hugged those who are closest to me. For those that I haven't been able to hug, please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers and "I thank my God every time I remember you" (Phil. 1:3 NIV) :)

Life changes very quickly sometimes and you feel like you are tripping along to keep up. With this in mind, I have been trying very hard to simplify my life. That sounds so "cliche" but I am really striving toward this goal. There is no such thing as perfection in this world, so it will be something I work on for the rest of my life I'm sure, but I want to be more deliberate and purposeful in goal-setting and planning for the time that God has given me on this earth. First and foremost, I want to be a Godly woman whom God can use for His Kingdom. I believe, at this time in my life, my highest calling is to be the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin and friend I can be. So I guess this means I am really trying to work on being a better "me" for all. After that, I am praying and listening.

This quote comes from a blog post that Joshua Becker wrote at http://www.becomingminimalist.com/ and summarizes my feelings on this better than I can at the moment. The full post is here http://www.becomingminimalist.com/2011/10/20/tying-our-hearts-to-the-right-things/

"Our heart will always follow our greatest investments - whether it be our car, our house, our career, or our investment portfolio. We literally tie our hearts to certain things by the sheer amount of investment we put into them. And too many of us are tying our hearts to the wrong things. We are devoting our lives and tying our hearts to material possessions that will never last or bring us true joy. Lasting fulfillment can never be tied to things that are temporal by nature.

Instead, we ought to invest our money, time and lives into things that are truly important. Invest into your family, your friends, or the causes that you believe in. And as you do, you'll notice your heart naturally begins to be drawn to them more and more."