This is my family.
And I absolutely love them.
I wish we had a closer picture so you could see their faces, but you get the picture.
I will be seeing each of them this week except for my grandmother who passed away in March. This will be a sad holiday for that reason, yet happy because my family is still together and getting along. She did a good job at raising her 5 kids to be respectful and get along with one another.
I have been so blessed with a wonderful immediate family and a wonderful big family too--cousins who I have so much fun with, an amazing grandmother, an incredibly sweet grandfather-- just lots of Godly people.
So, this Thanksgiving I want to be thankful for what I still have here on earth, my family, as we celebrate the fact that Nanny is having the best Thanksgiving she's ever had in Heaven.
She gave me the best Thanksgiving that I have ever had last year when she miraculously got up from her bed after being there for 40 days, and she walked alone and then joined us at the table for lunch. I am thankful for those happy holiday memories with her that I wouldn't give up for anything. I am thankful that our family can remember her together with tears and with laughter.
It's a day to be thankful--thankful for the things that you wouldn't always think you could be thankful for, like the death of a dearly loved grandmother and friend. If I can't yet bring myself to be completely thankful for her death, I can be thankful that she is with Jesus, that I got to have her for 20 years in my life, and that she was the foundation for this close family that I have been blessed with.
So there we go, it's a start. I'm thankful in a different way this year. It's harder to be thankful, so it's different, but I'm thankful all the more.
"Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17
