I LOVE November. I love the reminder to have gratitude fill up our hearts.
Lately, I feel like I've been barely scraping through life by the skin of my teeth. And when life gets nutty, I start getting mad about dumb things and hyperventilating and giving lectures and all that jazz which sure as heck doesn't help anything.
But I had an epiphany this week as I have walked past our "thankful tree" each day and have Thanksgiving on my mind: I am SO thankful. I am generally a very thankful person. I strongly believe that gratitude has a direct correlation to happiness. And I realized that I must have forgotten to be as thankful as I could/should be lately because I've been a walking-stess-case.
I love how when gratitude seeps into your heart the worry and stress start to dissipate.
I'm thankful for Claire and her descriptions of the world around her. When she notices one of her siblings is not jumping in doing the jobs we do together in the house she says that they are "lazing around."
I'm thankful for those moments when Lucy gets in her loopy moods and can't stop the deep belly-laughs from rolling out.
I'm so thankful that Dave brought me flowers last week "just because" and that he keeps our family's schedule going so well.
I'm thankful for the twinkle Max gets in his eye when he catches one of his sister's doing something cute...and for how he'll still give me a hug when he leaves for school.
I'm thankful for the little snippets of time I've been able to spend alone with Elle as I've walked with her to the neighbors to help her take care of their dogs while they're out of town.
I'm thankful for "Insanity."
I'm thankful for the chance to learn from the girls in the Young Women and from their wonderful families.
I'm thankful for Claire's first-grade handwriting and the chance to sit with her as she writes sentences for her spelling words.
I'm thankful the weather is finally starting to cool down and how it's now a little nippy in the mornings.
And I'm thankful for Grace and that she's a "go-getter" and that she likes to break into song when she does the dishes.
Yes, I am so very grateful for the little things. And the big things. And I'm so grateful for November to reflect on my gratitude.