Cultivating Gratitude.

I thought that I would share a holiday project that we have been working on in our family. Above are the two family gratitude journals that we created; actually, our whole church family made one in today's family service, and it was incredible to see families working on this project together. The one on the top is one that I made for our family; I plan to have our family make an entry in it each Thanksgiving, hoping that this will become part of our annual family tradition. The one on the bottom is so beautiful to me; it is a journal that my five-year-old daughter made all by herself. Depicted on the front is a drawing of our family that she made. I love all the colors and that she depicted us as a happy and unified family. She tied the ribbons on the rings all by herself, also. Inside, she drew pictures of things that she is thankful for, and this is truly an awesome thing for a mother to see. She drew a photo of a big Thanksgiving dinner....squash included! She drew a picture of "God's beautiful world" and the forest and a pond full of frogs. She drew a church, and craft supplies, and the new antique teacup and saucer that she received over the weekend from her great-Grandma Stahl. She drew her ABC's and said that she is thankful for school and learning to read. She drew rainbows and a unicorn and a picture of our house and backyard. Her gratitude humbles me and reminds me that she is watching me; she is learning from me and her father; and we have an awesome responsibility to continue helping she and Hayden to grow in thankfulness and gratitude to our great and awesome God.