Thanksgiving

I am sure you have seen all the "I'm thankful for..." posts people have been posting on facebook. Every year at Thanksgiving, people start with these posts on November 1st until Thanksgiving day. It may sound like a weird thing to be thankful for, but I posted that I am thankful Josh and I started our life together with nothing really. I mean, we have a lot of junk, but not a lot of assets. I am thankful for this because I feel like it helps us to be more thankful for the things we do have, especially each other, and for the things we do acquire.

As a former insurance sales person, I saw a lot of different situations. One situation that always bugged me were the kids that got brand new, expensive cars for their 16th birthday. It didn't bother me when parents got their kids cars, but there were certain kids that never learned to appreciate anything. These were the same kids that "refused" to do the journals for a 10% discount on the insurance. I don't understand that. If your parents are giving you a car, isn't the least you can do is a little journal?!? These were usually the same kids that didn't think it was a big deal when they totaled the cars. They'd just get a new one. The kids that had to work for the car, or start with a beater, seemed a little more thankful. I am not saying this was always the case, just a big percentage.

I have found myself not being as thankful as I should be lately. Maybe it wasn't as much a lack of thankfulness as it was a loss of perspective. Everyone should know by now that I hate bugs, and have been having a hard time adjusting to that part of life in Tennessee. It has gotten to the point where I was thinking, "what in the world was I thinking. I wish I could just go back to freezing my butt off." I know we would not be happy in Alaska. I WASN'T happy in Alaska. I lost my perspective. Look at this gorgeous state I live in, full of sunshine! And a beautiful, spacious house for my children to run in that my mother-in-law has so graciously allowed us to occupy!

My mom posted a photo this morning of the first house we lived in when we moved to Alaska. Talk about an eye-opener! It was a 96 square foot room. We had a wood stove for heat, a camping stove to cook on, and a bucket with a hanging sheet around it for a bathroom. We didn't have running water for over a year. The first shower we had was a bag that we filled with water and sat in the sun for HOURS, and then hung from a nail so we could stand under it. Some people would gasp at the thought, and believe me, I don't want to have to live that way again. However, we had everything we needed. We had heat, food, and shelter from the snow. We survived, and are definitely stronger for it. At least I know that if we ever had to, I could do this again.

I got to hear Miss Kay, from Duck Dynasty, speak a few months ago. Someone asked her how she feels about her sons now living in these huge houses. She said that she always tells them that they have to remember where they came from, and that if they ever forget, she hopes it all gets taken away. That sounds harsh, but it's just like my favorite Veggie Tales says, "A thankful heart is a happy heart, that's why I say thanks every day!" We don't have to want to go back to where we came from, but we should be thankful for everything we have been blessed with now.