Thankfulness.

This past November, in preparation for Thanksgiving, the kids and I put together a Thankfulness Tree.  I cut out a tree from brown butcher paper and then leaves out of fall-colored construction paper.  Every day (or at least, those days we remembered, which were most days), we would write down something that we were thankful for.  We also took this opportunity to teach the children a memory verse on Thanksgiving.  We chose:

"Oh give thanks to the LORD for he is good, and his steadfast love endures forever."  Psalm 107:1

I just recently took the tree down, but there was a part of me that hated to. The kids seemed to really enjoy recounting all of the things they were thankful for, and I do believe I saw fruit from this little exercise. It wouldn't hurt us to have a Thankfulness Tree up all year long! Instead of throwing away all of our leaves, I thought I would record the list of things we were thankful for in November.

-that Daddy has a career that he enjoys.
-for Liam's bunkbed.
-toys
-for food that God has provided for us.
-Jesus.
-that monsters don't get us because God protects us.
-for our Care Group.
-clothes.
-Granna and Geegaw
-playing outside on the playground.
-that God gives us our bodies.
-family
-God's Word, the Bible.
-Date Nights
-the dress-up box in Nora's classroom.
-mornings at home where we don't have to be somewhere.
-beautiful days to play outside.
-our healthy bodies
-the kids' teachers: Mrs. Neal, Mrs. Matthews, Mrs. O'Hern, and Mrs. Anderson
-Nana got to come visit us for a long weekend.
-the Lord.
-a warm, safe and comfortable home.
-Miss Suzanne -our church: Cornerstone Church of Knoxville
-Woody
-friends that God has given us to walk through this life with.
-Finn McMissile
-that Daddy has a job.

 I guess you can probably tell which ones the kids truly came up with all on their own. Such precious thoughts and memories!