Thanksgiving

I've been putting off writing a general "giving thanks" post. I don't know why. I know I am blessed with so many things, but I just haven't wanted to verbalize them. I guess I've not been in a very thankful mood. Shame on me!

We had planned, and are in the process of, putting out the Christmas decorations today instead of Friday. While cleaning up all the Fall decorations last night, I felt like I was cheating myself out of Thanksgiving. It felt wrong to be putting away the symbols of Fall before Thanksgiving Day. I thought to myself, "So what? Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of our Savior! What's wrong with hurrying to celebrate that?"

And then I realized that as a Christian, Thanksgiving should be about celebrating the birth of our Savior too! Shouldn't we use this time not only to be thankful for all the material things we've been given, but for the eternal life God offers us through Jesus Christ? Without the gift of Jesus, we would have nothing for which to be thankful! And most of all this Thanksgiving, I want others--my husband, daughter, family, and friends--to see Jesus in me.

Thank you, Lord for blessings you give!
Thank you, Lord for letting me live
In a country that's free
With my family.
Thank you for sending Your only son
To die in my place; for victory won!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adoption Awareness Month

November is Adoption Awareness Month! It was five years ago this month that God began laying on my heart that adoption was the path he wanted us to take to become a family.

I was reading Jen's blog this morning and was reminded of what a responsibility those of us who declare ourselves "Pro-Life" have. It's one thing to say, "Yes, I'm pro-life!" It's easy to say that the killing of the unborn is horrific. It's easy to say something should be done. But until you've touched the fingers and toes of a child saved from abortion, you don't really know how horrific it is!

Jen blogged about the crisis pregnancy center and adoption agency that her mom works for. This is the same agency through which we adopted Emma Leigh. How thankful I am that places like this exist to assist moms in crisis. How thankful I am that women like Cindy make themselves available to young ladies who find themselves scared and alone. How thankful I am that New Life was there when Em's birthmom had a choice to make about the life growing inside of her.

And even now, we are praying for the next child that God will place in our home. We are praying for the birthmom that may even now be struggling with a life-changing decision. We are praying that God will provide the funds for us each month as we walk down this adoption road again. Will you pray with us? Will you pray for the unborn children whose lives depend on the loving choice of a birthmom to choose adoption?

Soles 4 Souls - Buy 2 pairs of shoes for $5

I received this from Cindy Seay. What a neat thing!

Join the biggest blogging charity challenge ever!
Buy some shoes and then put this link on your blog, facebook, twitter, etc...
Get your credit card out and go here to buy shoes! Five Dollars is something we can all do.
Read more about where this idea started from Anne at flowerdust.net

Halloween Fun

Last night Emma Leigh was a "Dalamatian" for Halloween. She corrected me several times. She had to put that extra syllable in there!

We had a lot of fun at the First Baptist Fall Festival. Em got to play games and win all kinds of candy! She also played in the inflatables for a long time. She surprised me at how well she was able to climb up the big slide! Bryan and I manned the train station for a while, so Em got to ride the train for thirty minutes! The first time she rode it, she stood up about half-way around and began waving like she was in a parade!

I have to say a HUGE thanks to my new friend Juli! When I jokingly asked if she'd like to work on Em's costume, she said, "Sure. Come on over!" So at 7:00 Thursday night, as I cut more spots, Master Seamstress Juli used her sewing machine to attach all the spots! Had I continued doing it by hand--as I did most of the pants--I would have been up all night! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU, JULI!