Thanksgiving and Thankfulness

I woke up early.  I woke up at 4:50 AM.  This is on a day off and one where I would think that most people would take the chance to sleep in.  Me?  Not so much.  I woke up with my brain going at 100 miles per hour.  All the things that I can do with this day...all the possibilities!  So much to think about!  So much to say.  But what takes priority?  Journaling?  These are thoughts I write down, but pretty much just keep to myself.  Blogging?  These are thoughts that I like to share.  And if I blog, what of these many thoughts running around in my head want to be written down? 

I think I will just start simply today.  Looking over the week, several things stand out.  We have been taking a class to help get our finances in order.  It is the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class.  The class covers from the basics of checkbook keeping, to more advanced issues like how to invest, to the  real meaning of STEWARDSHIP.  I mean the idea that all we have belongs to God and we are just taking care of it for a time.  This is a great class and it teaches good, old-fashioned values of how to give, save and spend.  I sometimes forget the spend part, so Tim and Carl have to remind me.  Yes, money is for fun too!  Sometimes I forget. 

So on that same line of thought, I wanted to talk about being thankful for having the opportunity through that class of building community in surprising places.  Everyone in the class except us go to the church that is sponsoring the class.  I just found it on the Dave Ramsey website.  What a neat group of people they are.  We have people who are just younger than my parents, who are in their 80s, to people who are half my age, newly married and looking to grow a family.  And since they have child-care, we get the added bonus of Carl making friends too.  And although we are already active members in our own church, we have invited ourselves to join them on their Tuesday evening get-togethers.  They have these for three months each session at different times of the year.  They are happy that we would want to join them.  We are happy that they would want us. 

So today, I am thankful for having the opportunity to build community in places unlooked for. 

And looking back over the year regarding food.  We have made so many changes.  Changes for our health.  Changes for the environment.  We so enjoyed participating in our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for the second year.  We enjoyed meeting and talking with our farmers and their family.  And we enjoyed having fresh food that was grown lovingly and with no chemicals.  I have to admit that we had a little bit of a hard time using it all this year.  But I think that this was mainly due to our move.  But I think about the fact that we got our fruits and vegetables all summer long in one box.  We cut down on packaging and using plastic as well as getting wholesome and fresh food.  And we supported local growers...who, by the way, have a lovely growing family. 

So today, I am not only thankful for good, whole food, grown fresh and locally with a minimum of chemicals, but I am also thankful for knowing my farmers and for loving their family.  And on top of that, I am thankful that we were able to cut down on the amount of plastic and packaging that we used. 

We are eating mostly organic food now as well.  We try wherever we can to choose organic and to choose bulk food.  Cutting down on packaging and cutting down on chemicals used has become a habit over the last year.  That is good stuff.  I realize that it is not just good for us, but it is good for the land and it is good for the people who grow the food.  And by the way, I give a special thank you to my husband.  I think up these things and he implements.  What a great team we are. 

Chickens -- you know I have to say something about our chickens.  Let's see...when did we get our chickens?  I think they came to us in the Spring.  So it hasn't been quite a year.  What a crazy and wonderful idea to get them!  They have such wonderful personalities and they help me look at things so differently.  They talk to me when I come out in the yard.  And we have so much less food garbage because of them.  They have helped me make a commitment to lessen garbage all around.  At our house now, if it is organic (as in organic matter) and comes from our home, it has a place to go.  All our veggie scraps go to the chickens.  If it is meat, it goes to our dog.  If it is a little too far gone to give to the chickens or if it is tea bags or coffee filters, it goes to the worms. 

And I cannot forget to mention the eggs!  What a cool recycling process!  In goes our veggie scraps and some organic feed...out comes lovely eggs.  I gave some to my parents.  They laugh because the eggs are so small.  But I know that they are packed with nutrients...nutrients that we put there. 

Health...our health is better overall because we eat better.  Tim still has a lot of trouble with the neuropathy in his feet though.  We are working on that in a variety of ways.  I feel for him.  My goal for this upcoming year is to figure out how to get us up and moving more as a family.  We have tried several ideas, but they never seem to stick.  I know that there is something...I will keep looking.

We are working on building community in other ways too.  We have had a couple of Carl's friends over for play dates.  It is so much easier to do now that we live so centrally.  He has loved that and the boys have been so good.  Chatting with parents is a lot of fun for Tim and I as well.  And I have reconnected with old friends through FB.  I am working on reconnecting face to face as well. 

I had better say a few words about central heating.  If you have never lived without central heating, you have been very blessed.  I have lived in several places without it and I am telling you that I am VERY thankful to have it now.  I could expound on this, but I think you get the picture. 

I cannot close my thankfulness message without giving a tribute to my Gabby-dog.  I am so thankful to have had her in my life.  I am so thankful to have had the honor (and trial) of being with her when she passed.  She was a great soul and one that I am honored to have walked on this planet with. 

Love to you and yours on this day and every day.

A little song of thankfulness from Bing Crosby