Our Neck of the Woods: Thankful!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! I think it is important to look for and appreciate the blessings in our lives throughout the year, but I don’t mind taking an extra day in November to put this thankfulness up on a pedestal. We had a nice thanksgiving this year, hosting a dinner at the farmhouse. We are very grateful that nearly all of our family (on both sides) from the Spokane area was able to join us to feast on lots of great eats!

This list is just something that has been bouncing around in my head as I think specifically about the blessings in our life this year. It is by no means comprehensive and is not entirely in order of importance but I hope you find it a small inspiration to think of all the wonderful things you have in your life, not just on one day in November, but all year long!

And of course if you make it through all my wordiness, you will be reward with a few JJ pictures at the end :)

- Our God, which is ultimately the source of every blessing on this list, and the giver of a future beyond this life. There isn’t anything worth being thankful for more than that!

- My husband, he is the hardest working, most loving man I have ever met and I am so glad he is mine! Plus he is a pretty awesome dad to our little girl. I could go on about how wonderful he is in many ways, but I don’t want to make other wives jealous so I will just stop there.

- Our special Jayney Joy and all the fun, craziness and love she brings into our life. It is hard to remember what life was like before she was in it, because she just makes our family feel a little bit more complete. I am so thankful for what a happy, easy-going little lady she has been since day one!

- Having LOTS of family very nearly by. Seriously close in fact! We have four family members (two households) within walking distance of our house. If we take a short drive of less than 15 minutes we can add eight more family members (four households) to that list. It is wonderful to know there are so many people we can count on, such a short distance away. It also makes finding a babysitter quite simple too!

- The tiny “Tin Box” we call home. Despite its phone call dropping properties, sometimes slightly soggy ceilings, and limited square footage, I wouldn’t trade it for the world! No, it won’t be our home forever but it is just perfect for the three of us right now. We are very thankful to be on the farm, not to have to rent and can instead save for our future house, whatever that may look like.

- Dusty’s job working on the farm with his dad. Even though at times I do get frustrated with the long summer hours and drop-in hay pickups, I know that it is truly a career path that Dusty has happily chosen. I couldn’t ask for a much better blessing than Dusty having a job that he loves going to and doing every day. I am also thankful for the way Dusty (and Tim) have managed the farm finances/crops so responsibly to provide well for our families.

- I am thankful I can be a stay at home mom! I do have days where I miss my classroom life and teacher friends but they don’t even compare to how glad I am that I’m able to play and watch Jayney grow everyday! I can’t even imagine missing all the special moments I get with JJ if I had to go to work away from home. I am glad Dusty has accepted and supported the sacrifices we will have to make, in addition to shouldering the extra finical accountability that comes along with only one income maker in the house.

- Our health has been great over the last year. As I quickly turn into a seriously big whiner when it comes to being sick and I am not very sensitive to anyone else being ill either, I am especially thankful that through my whole pregnancy, labor/recovery, Dusty’s hectic summer work, and the first ten months of JJ’s life we have not experienced anything worse than a headache or slight sniffle here and there. Such a huge blessing to be healthy!

- Friends! We are so thankful to have some great friends both close to home and those that are far away. It is really fun right now, as we seem to be at a stage where many of our friends are soon or have recently started expanding their family too. I look forward to the years ahead when our kids will all be running around and playing together. It is truly a blessing to have people to share the joys of life with, now we just wish they all lived a really close to us!