A Thankful Heart

Hello!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend.  We had the opportunity to fly to my hometown in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving which was such a gift.  We weren't sure if we were going to make it but after a very generous invitation to spend Thanksgiving with our closest friends here in Texas, I knew I would spend the whole day feeling sad if we didn't at least try to go home.  All 3 of my siblings made it home with spouses,  infants and pets in tow.  My Aunty and our close family friend Sharon were able to celebrate with us as well so there was no shortage of adults to snuggle the abundance of babies in the house or help devour the incredible food my mom prepared for us.  We had fun!

The first time all of the cousins were together!
Caleb & Isaac 8 months old, Nicole 1 year old, Abigail 7 weeks old

My brother Jonathan with Cabela, Nicole & Isaac

I didn't want to let Thanksgiving completely pass me by without taking some time to practice thankfulness.  I find that the combination of shorter days, a full schedule and the nagging presence of cold and flu season make it incredibly difficult for me to maintain a thankful heart throughout the day.  Since I don't want a stuffy nose and a busy schedule to keep me from counting my blessings, I intentionally set aside some time to sit down and give thanks.  Any time I need to pull myself out of sadness, fatigue or grumbling it usually takes me a couple of minutes to mentally pursue the truth God has in store for me. This mental exercise takes some work because it's easier to wallow than it is to rejoice.  I don't want to be the kind of person who allows the most challenging parts of my day to define who I am or how I feel so I fight the urge to dwell on my challenges, and instead look for the glimmers of hope, provision, love, kindness and perseverance in my life.  Once I get my list started, it's easy to keep it going and in no time at all, I feel completely transformed by the thankfulness I hold in my heart.

After making my list, I realized that there are three things that I kept coming back to over and over again.  I thought you might enjoy giving thanks with me for these three things:

Shawn & Nicole.  When I first made my list, I simply wrote 'family' because in addition to loving each other, Shawn and I both deeply love our families.  Parents, siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles - we love you all.  We can't imagine life without each one of you in it.  In addition to being truly thankful for each member of my extended family. I am incredibly thankful to be a wife to Shawn and a mother to Nicole.  I believe that God is using both of these roles to make me into the woman He created me to be.  I have become more flexible, responsible, organized and a better house keeper over the past two years but the real gift is that I have had to trust God for really big things.  In and of myself I don't have the ability to love Shawn the way God desires for Him to be loved or to raise Nicole in a way that ministers to her heart.  But God does! It is because of Him that I get to grow in my roles as a wife and a mom and I'm so thankful for the love, support and grace that Shawn extends to me as I grow.  

Texas.  It's no secret that I cried every time Shawn and I talked about the possibility of moving to Texas for months before this ever came to be.  Apparently, something about this Southern State makes me cry because I had tears in my eyes the whole time I was writing down the list of things I'm thankful for here. I'm blown away by how lovingly and faithfully God has met all of our needs.  My neighbor is one of my closest friends, our church feels more like home than any church I've been apart of since I graduated from high school, I know my way around (kind of 😁), we've been able to travel home to be be part of things like baby showers, the birth of newborns and Thanksgiving, we were finally able to establish primary care for Nicole and it's nice enough to be outside! Additionally, our home is comfortable and we've been able do far more hosting than I ever thought was possible.   I routinely put myself in situations where I will have the opportunity to meet people but I can't help but acknowledge the fact that all of the friends that I have here, God brought to me.  Much of our story is yet to be written, but I have to admit that my faith in what God will accomplish in and through us grows on a daily basis.

Faith.  Faith is really what holds all of this together.  It is because of faith that I can look beyond my circumstances on my most challenging days and rest in the fact that God never changes.  Faith allows me to see my relationships and commitments as things that have been entrusted to me.  Faith equips me to trust that even in my weaknesses, God has a purpose.

I am deeply thankful for you and all of the ways that you support us, cheer us on, pray for us and care about how we're doing.  When I think about you I feel surrounded in all of the best ways and it makes my life here in Texas a little less isolating.  Thanks for following along on our journey - I'm so glad you're here!

What are you thankful for?

With love,
Erica