Because I’m thankful! For everything.
I’m thankful for my wife. She’s an amazing mother and wife.
I’m thankful for the home I’ve been blessed with. It’s truly a great gift.
I’m thankful for the greatest friends in the world. They’re also a true blessing.
And I’m thankful for my children.
How God saw fit to entrust their precious lives to us, I’ll never understand. But He did, and I’m thankful.
Life is far from perfect in the Berry household. This morning I cleaned up not 1, not 2, but 3 (yes, 3!) piles of dog poop on our recently cleaned dining room carpet. I grumbled and hissed the entire time. Yesterday, after communicating to our children that they must ask permission before rummaging through our pantry, I caught my daughter pulling out a box of M&M’s. My son threw his entire body on the hardwood floor when he was told it was well past his bedtime and it was time to head to his room. It wasn’t that much fun to paint over permanent marker on the cabinet doors in our family room because our 4 year old closely resembles an angry artist! Oh, and lets not forget the cold stare I received when I told my daughter that it was unacceptable for her to call her brother “stupid” for asking a simple question about the contents of a cereal box.
That’s life, however! And these are some of the bumps and bruises sustained along the parenting road. It’s frustrating, stressful, not always fun, and lots and lots of work. There are times when we want to scream and times when we want to laugh. There are tears and smiles, good times and bad. But all in all, I’m thankful for all of these amazing people in my life.
As we approach Thanksgiving this Thursday, in-spite of the enormous difficulties that may linger, be thankful for all you have!
I’m positive that long after the meal is over, and our kids are in bed, my wife and I will be chiseling sweet potato casserole off of our cabinet doors because someone “didn’t like sweet potato casserole” and screamed, then flung their fork!
We will probably not be smiling or saying “Christian” things in that moment.
Heck, we might even have to rent a sand blaster to grind down the chunks of turkey plastered to the hard wood floor beneath our table. And you can bet that holiday joy will not be evident in our spirits (although spirits may be evident in our holiday joy!…….see what I just did there?)
No matter what, we’ll give thanks- for the family we have!
Why? Well, it’s really simple……we’re thankful, even though it’s difficult at times.
Question: How about you? What are you thankful for?
