giving thanks

Many of the blogs I follow have been featuring Thanksgiving related posts and I figured it was time for me to add mine to the list.

I have many more things to be thankful for than I can list in one post, but I think I'll focus on some specific things that are happening (or have happened) this week.

First, we had a wonderful collection week for Operation Christmas Child. We had great fun for a great cause. On Monday I took our final paperwork to our area coordinator. This is one of my favorite parts of collection week. I love getting to talk to the sweet lady who is the coordinator and it is wonderful to see the next step for the boxes. We'll go a step farther later this week, but I'll tell you about that later.

Another great thing about this week is that Ronnie took the entire week off of work. This is very unusual for him, and we have been enjoying hanging out at his mom's house this week. She lives a couple of hours from our house, so it is nice to get away and leave the normal responsibilities at home. Plus, it is nice to get to spend the time with Ronnie, just relaxing.

I am also thankful for a wonderful opportunity that LB has had this week. My parents, along with my oldest brother and his wife took a trip to Montana this week to spend Thanksgiving with my sister-in-law's family and after much, much deliberation, we agreed to allow LB to go with them. I have to admit that it was hard for her Mama and Daddy to say that she could travel completely across the country without us, but we finally decided that we would put aside our fears and give her this special opportunity to spend the time with her grandparents and do something she'll remember all her life. From what we hear, both from LB and from my Mama and Daddy, she is having the time of her life! I'll even add that I am thankful for snow in Montana. LB was so hoping to see real snow (remember, we live in MS) on this trip and she has gotten to see LOTS of it! I can only hope that the adults who are with her are taking lots of pictures of my girl in an element, totally outside of her natural element.

This weekend I am going to get to do something I have been wanting to do for several years and I want to add this to my list of things that make me thankful. Ronnie and I, along with a few other people from our church are headed to Suwanee, GA *best I can tell this is somewhere northeast of Atlanta, but I'm not driving, so it really doesn't matter if I know where it is* to work in a processing center for Operation Christmas Child. I have been taking part in the local end of packing shoeboxes for years now and I am super excited to get to see, and take part in, the next phase of the process. I can't wait to report back next week about the trip this weekend!

Finally, I am thankful for all my family, especially our son who just turned 8 this week. I'll dedicate a whole post to his birthday when I get back home and can load my new pictures on my computer, but for now I'll just say Happy Birthday, JW!

(This is not a new picture, it is just the only one I could find on Granny's computer of just JW)


I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.