Have you noticed that the stores these days seem to go right from Halloween straight into Christmas? Come November 1st, the skeletons and costumes are pulled from the shelves and replaced by snowmen and tinsel.
What ever happened to Thanksgiving?
We’ve been talking to the girls about the pilgrims and the journey of the Mayflower. It’s really an amazing story. I just came across a fantastic article written by a woman named Shirley Dobson. She writes that with only a few resources the pilgrims were linked by an “interdependence” that is uncommon today. An essay was written titled “A Christian Model of Charity” and it called on the colonists to “knit together in this work as one man,….make one another’s condition our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together to keep the unity of the Spirit”.
Uncommon today….I think not. I couldn’t help but think of our military families and how we’re “knit” together in this path that we’ve chosen. I feel so thankful to be surrounded by a great group of friends who have been so supportive during our time in the Air Force. It makes such a difference in your day knowing there are others out there who are willing to make your condition their own...who will rejoice or mourn with you, labor and suffer with you. We may not be the pilgrims but I think we do still model the "unity of the spirit". There’s an old saying that I find to be so true: “Shared joy is double joy and shared sorrow half the sorrow.” This Thanksgiving I want to remember to say a special "thank you" to those military families and friends with whom we've been interdependent. I'm so grateful for you and all that you do.
Anna recently had her "Friendship Feast and Performance" at her school. All four kindergarten classes participated. They worked for weeks learning four songs which they sang the Friday before her Thanksgiving break began. I have video of their actual performance but I've attached a video of Anna and Lauren singing one of the songs instead. Before the school performance, each child had the choice to be a Pilgrim or a Native American. Anna chose Native American for the performance but still got to make a pilgrim hat. She wore it home from school the week before the performance. She looked so cute in it that I made Lauren one.
Anna is under the star above.
The Mathews, Our Family, The Larsens, The Tulls
As a family we're thankful for the following (see if you can guess whose is whose):
