Thanksgiving In Plenty and Want

This time of year is my very favorite and November is just a wonderful month!  My birthday is next week, and yes, I'm still like a kid on my birthday.  (Cake and ice cream and a birthday date with my groom are always something I look forward to!!)  I was born on Thanksgiving so I share it with the holiday week every year, but that's okay because Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays there is.  The sole focus is on God's goodness and blessings in our lives!  We have a tradition on the eve of Thanksgiving when we have the big dinner at my parent's house, where after the meal with a cozy sipper in hand we take turns sharing our heart on what we're thankful God has done over the past year.  It's really a beautiful tradition and probably my favorite Thanksgiving memory from years past.

No matter how amazing or downright tragic the year may have been we can always find blessings, even the shear fact that God promised to never leave us. 

I'll never forget Thanksgiving '09 was one of the very hardest to date.  That year my husband and I had been on "cloud 9" celebrating my miracle pregnancy after trying almost 3 years.  It was a surreal time!  As many of you know, just months later we buried the same baby girl that my body nurtured and we had prayed for.  Devastating!! To say the least.  It was the first major holiday I would've been big pregnant and uncomfortable stuffing my hormonal body with extra turkey and dressing.  All the while my moving belly would've been the show stopper of the night....I liked to have thought! Of course that Thanksgiving looked nothing like that as I felt oddly thin and lacked the presence of the our miracle growing inside.  I didn't "feel" Thanksgiving the same way I always had. Although I was still in the grieving process, when it came to sharing what we were thankful for, my husband and I still found blessings to share through our tears.  The most important one to us was that God had never left us!

His presence was still inside me and He promised in His Word to redeem us and turn that tragedy around for His glory. 

This Thanksgiving will be our 3rd one as parents!!!  We have two children that have turned our world upside-down with love and excitement and  has shown us what a full heart and home feels like!!  Although, I don't always understand God's timing or His ways, I don't have to.  Because I trust His plan is always better.  Through it all, it is well.

Today I'm overjoyed to show you a brand new item to my home and kitchen.  Yesterday I was just given this antique washstand that belonged to my great-grandmother, and it probably about 100 years old! 

To me, this heirloom is priceless!!  I treasure such a gift from my Grandmother that she must've grown up around! 

It has been in my grandparent's house since before I was born, and I was promised it since I was a little girl!  Now, we've moved back to my hometown and I have room to proudly use it in our new house!

It's in very good condition, especially considering it's age.  The mirror is beautiful and will reflect the pretty panoramic views we have in our kitchen.  The rod will be just perfect to display seasonal towels, which I happen to collect.

(Sorry about the overexposed pictures, but the lighting was so bright in some of these.)

Inside the cabinet is very clean and tidy.  I just wonder what it would've housed back in the early 1900s?  Was is used in a bedroom or a bathroom perhaps?  I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to store in there or how I'll decorate the top, but let me assure you I will use and love it!  I can see cakes and pies throughout the year served from here or refreshing punch at birthday parties.  Oh, the memories we will have with this heirloom piece! 

This is just one of the things I am thankful for, but there are countless others.

It's been an incredible year...

Mr. Cozy finishing his residency.  (And I lived through it! Whoohooo!)

We just found out today he passed his "Boards" and with flying colors!!

His has a great job as a pediatrician, where I see him everyday and he is home every evening.  (I'll never take that for granted again!)

Selling our Louisville house the very first day we listed and for asking price.

 

Buying our new house! 

God redeeming our children's past more everyday and making our family even closer knit!

My joy of being a parent is maturing! 

A son in kindergarten who is growing and thriving!

A daughter who is brave in Christ enough to fully trust us as parents and who is blooming in love!

A promise God has put in my heart since a youth.. to use my singing voice for Him by helping lead others into worship on our church's worship team and with my husband playing guitar again!

Living near our family and dear friends where they are actively in our life!

Learning piano for the first time and penning a new song.

Countless miracles of undeserved answered prayer day in and out that I couldn't begin to name all!

" Give thanks to the Lord for He is good,

for His steadfast love endures forever. 

Give thanks to the God of gods,

for his steadfast love endures forever. 

Give thanks to the Lord of lords,

for his steadfast love endures forever; 

to Him who alone does great wonders,

for his steadfast love endures forever. "

Psalm 136:1-4

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!