THANKFUL Thursday

Why THANKFUL Thursday?  Actually everyday should be thankful.  But at this time of year we have amazing amounts of people who disregard what Thanksgiving means and they turn to athletic games on tv for their focus and stuffing as much food into themselves as possible and napping.  So...  I am here to join forces with THOSE who wish to be thankful and not focus on out the other distractions of the day.

When I grew up Thanksgiving meant a ton of stress (as did any holiday in my home) because my mom is a ball of stress and she is finally retired now and living the leisure life although she's still doing more than she should.  I pray for her and love her. 

My cousins would come over and any amount of visitors for the day was expected.  My sister and I would try to keep up in the kitchen for the demands of the meal.  We set a lovely table every year.  And as usual, we would stuff ourselves full of the good food that everyone contributed to the meal.

And then my cousins and my sister and  I would play and the adults would talk and have fun.   There was no alcohol in the home but you would swear that they were drinking and having the best time.  I'm glad that they could have the best time every without the need of alcohol!

In my married life, my mother in law (God rest her soul as of 2/15/13) would take her husband and my husband and I out to dinner.  We would then go back to her place and talk over the tv that her husband would blast.  Finally I got tired of that kind of Thanksgiving and took the meal and talking to my home.  Things were quiet and the tv was on for Bill but much lower than he listened to it.

Life moves on and my mother in law develops cancer of the colon and has surgery and all the chemo and then we have to place her in the nursing home on Hospice and her "husband" (they just lived together forever!) moved to a care unit near his son here in California.

So we then had wonderful Thanksgiving meals with my mother in law and enjoyed peace and quiet of the day and really treated the times we always had together as very thankful people!  We were thankful year round and did things (such as Random Acts of Kindness) and baked and cooked food for the staff at the nursing home and started our outreach to the "women's and children's crisis shelter" of which will not be named due to privacy. 

So today I am thankful for life given to me by God.  Thankful for each day that He gives me to live for Him.  I pray that my days will better reflect His love for all and that I will be all that He wants me to be.