Happy Thanksgiving

Five years ago at this time, on the night before Thanksgiving, Nathan and I were safely settled into two seats on an Austrian Airlines flight headed to Vienna.  We had navigated some very busy airports in Cincinnati and Washington D.C. with lots of travelers on their way to visit family, and so were we.  Except we were on our way to be with our daughter whom we had not yet met!  Every Thanksgiving week since then I can't help but let my mind drift back to what we were doing on that day of that week -- from packing our suitcases, to checking in at the airport, and waiting at crowded airport gates.

Five years later, that baby girl is now a gangly 6 year-old for whom we are even more thankful for than we were in those first weeks and months of the parenthood-honeymoon love.  As we endeavor to cultivate a heart of thankfulness in her, we are reminded that gratitude is not a 'natural' state of the heart. Naturally, our hearts long for "the next best thing," failing to recognize the blessings which surround us each and every day. So as we anticipate Thanksgiving tomorrow, I am grateful for a day set apart to remember God's blessings and a reminder to daily thank Him as the source of all things good.