Thankful for...Family

Carrie's November Thankfulness List - Sunday (22)

• Family - That's today's thankfulness item. Tonight we'll be celebrating my sister-in-laws birthday (early - it's actually tomorrow), and that made me think about how thankful I am for my family. Sure, there are moments (even l-o-n-g moments!) that they have been known to make me shake my head and drive me crazy, but I sure wouldn't trade them for anything. No matter what happens in my life, no matter how little I see them, I know that they would be there for me if I needed them. It's nice knowing that.

My whole family hasn't been together (spouses and all) since our wedding - 9.5 years ago - and we've never all been together since we've added two more kids and a sister-in-law. Who knows if that will ever happen again. But I hope it does. At any rate, here is the last family picture we have of all 5 of us kids and my parents. It was taken 4 years ago (almost to the day - on Thanksgiving 2005), right after my dad had some major health issues. We were thankful he was still around. :-)

Peter's family hasn't all been together since his brother got married in England in Januray 2007 (coming up on 3 years!). His brother, sister-in-law (who is British), and our nephew all live in Papua New Guinea where they are missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Peter's parents live in Florida and we rarely get down there to see them - even though we live in the same country! This picture was taken in December 2006 when we were last in Florida over Christmas and Peter's brother and (then) fiancee were visiting.

I know many people will be with family over the upcoming holidays, and I know that's not always an easy or joyful thing, but I encourage you to try to find ways to make it a better thing than it has been in the past. And if you have wonderful relationships with your family - count it a blessing! :-)