thanksGIVING!

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving. 

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, 

and bless His name."

Psalm 100:4

On Thanksgiving day

our family was able

to volunteer together

in serving over 350 

a wonderful meal.

Over 30 meals were delivered to 

the home-bound

and over 300 bags of food

were sent home

with those in need.

This was

one of our

most favorite

days

we have had 

as a family.

If you ask

Big Guy

what he did

for Thanksgiving,

he would say 

"I helped people get their seats

and drinks".

It warms my heart

to hear him say this

with pride.

It is so hard

to know how to teach

our children

that the world

doesn't revolve around them.

To provide for them

all their wants and needs

while preventing

greediness and possessiveness

to enter in.

That

"Everything has come from You

and

everything belongs to You."

1 Chronicles 29:16

While I do know that

we can't force

a child to be selfless,

we can lead by example.

To show

what it means to give with an open heart,

to share,

to serve.

While it isn't always easy

to follow this path,

we are seeing

the giving spirit

shine in our 3 year old.

Recent examples 

that bring tears to my eyes

are small but mighty

to a mom.

We recently had a very

special house guest

whom said she needed

to go work on her computer

after supper.

Big Guy pipped up,

"We have a computer,

you can use ours!"

He also made sure she had

a bag of special mints

to take with her to work

that day.

This evening

while waiting

to see a 

Live Nativity scene,

he offered his chair

to his Grandfather.

Those things can not be taught,

especially to a 3 year old.

He is a true believer,

strong in his faith

who probably 

can teach us better

than us him.

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect

the Lord's glory,

are being transformed into His

likeness with ever-increasing glory,

which comes from the Lord,

who is the Spirit".

2 Corinthians 3:18

We are so thankful

that we are not alone.

That He knows

the plans in store for us.

And that,

at this time

we feel that

we are on that correct path.

SO Thank FULL

for the giving hearts

I am surrounded by.

We recently heard 

of a great Thanksgiving idea

that we are going to be undertaking

over the next year.

Start a jar in your home.

When something occurs in your life

that you are thankful for,

write it down

and put it in your jar.

On Thanksgiving day,

read them over

and reminisce over all that was good!

Good luck!

love, the rockinryans