I love Thanksgiving. I love that Christmas is right around the corner. I love the Black Friday deals that follow Thanksgiving day. Most of all, I love the food, friends and family that this holiday brings. Unlike most other commercialized holidays, Thanksgiving is definitely one that has stayed true to it's roots. I've seen Facebook status after Facebook status from friends posting about the things things they are grateful for. It is simply beautiful to stop and recognize both the little and big things we are blessed with. (How ironic, though, that we throw that all out the next day during Black Friday shopping, but I digress...)This past summer I started the book, One Thousand Gifts. Since then, I've been trying to focus more on gratitude and contentment. I'll admit, I'm still only 50% through the book but her main message is clear: the author gives her testimony of her journey of re-discovering blessings. She begins to record all of the things she is grateful for and that truly transforms her perspective on life. If you click the "1,000" tab on the side of my page you'll see what I've started...I still have hundreds more to list but it's neat to be able to look at an already long list and see how good God really is. I encourage you to do the same. Keep a list of everything you are thankful for. Blog it. Journal it. Write it down and don't lose it. Don't let Thanksgiving be the one day (or month) that you recognize and appreciate the blessings you've been given. Happy Thanksgiving, friends! May you have a fun (and tasty!) holiday weekend with lots of Thanksigving leftovers :)
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. -- Psalm 107:1
Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. -- 1 Chronicles 16:8
Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. -- Colossians 2:8-7
In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. -- 1 Thessalonians 5:18
We had the opportunity to camp in Gualala, California over our Labor Day Weekend. A few days before the weekend started, we got a text from one of our friend's saying that a family backed out of the camping trip and they had an extra space for us. We had just gotten our camper back and were itching to go camping so it worked out perfectly!The drive was insane. We decided to take an "alternative route" which (we later found out) was meant for sport bikes. Imagine poor Ethan having to deal with the stress of driving our giant truck and camper on tiny, gravel roads. There were a lot of one lane roads and several points where I could look down and see rocks falling. Add some crazy, windy curves and you've got yourself a sick stomach and a nice headache. After three hours of driving, we arrived at our campsite. It was small, but gorgeous. We were surrounded by tall redwoods and within walking distance there was a river.We spent the next three days with three other families. The kids played their brains out and we spent most of our time huddled around a campfire sharing stories and laughs. It was pretty cold since we were minutes from the beach. (It's still mind blowing for me every time I'm at the coast...to think that I'm at the edge of our country is pretty cool.) Our travel trailer was amazing. I loved that we had a space of our own amongst all the tall Redwood's. It was warm and comfortable. The other families would joke around and say stuff like, "Have fun sleeping in your condo!" Nonetheless, this trip definitely confirmed our love for the trailer. No more uncomfortable air mattresses. :)We had no cell phone service which was amazing. We all kept saying that normally we would have our phone glued to our hands. It was a refreshing time to just step back from the busy of life and just hang out. All these pictures are kind of random. I didn't take near as much as I normally do and I think that followed suit with the desire to set technology aside. I'm learning to be in the moment instead of merely capturing it. However, I still am posting a bunch of pictures so this is kind of a long post! Hopefully this will give you the camping itch. There's still time to go before fall arrives. :)
