Happy Thanksgiving

This past Sunday a speaker in our congregations spoke about gratitude. She commented that one of the greatest benefits of gratitude is its capacity to make us happy. She mentioned that when we are grateful we focus on what we have and not what we lack. This focus helps make us happy. Expressing gratitude does not make problems go away but it helps us feel joy through those trials. At this time of year, Americans everywhere celebrate a day of thanksgiving. We have made it our tradition to send a message to our friends everywhere on this day sharing with them what we are grateful for. Even if your culture does not celebrate the last Thursday in November as a day of thanks, we hope that our list of gratitude will help all of you take a moment to be grateful. We took a moment this past Monday and compiled the following list of things for which we are especially grateful.

BLP is grateful for. . .

1. Our warm home.

2. Her kindergarten teacher and that he is teaching her to read.

3. Her friends that play with her.

AJP is grateful for. . .

1. Sports. He loves to play and watch them.

2. His family and that we get to spend so much time together.

3. The location of our home. He gets to walk to school on good days but can take the bus on rainy days.

JTP is grateful for. . .

1. The kids. He is thankful for how hard they try at school.

2. Our neighbors. We have great families that live around us and he is really grateful they are so nice.

3. That he has a job. In this economy, having a stable and steady job is a huge blessing.

TSP is grateful for. . .

1. The ability to change and a loving God that supports and guides us as we try to become everything He knows we can.

2. The generosity of people. The last few months could have been a disaster on so many levels. However, thanks to the generosity of so many (especially my mother and mother-in-law) it has gone smoothly.

3. The fall colors. It is great to see the vivid red, bright yellow and the vibrant orange leaves in the trees and falling on the ground. I really missed that.