Growing Thankful Hearts

If there's one thing I really want to ingrain upon my kids, it's a spirit of thankfulness. There's so much materialism and consumerism in our society that it's easy to become discontent. Every time we turn on the TV, we're bombarded with new toys and products we can't live without. Every five minutes a new phone or game system or whatever comes out and the one you have is obsolete.

I really, truly think of my family as wealthy. We don't have the newest car and I don't even own a cell phone. We don't eat out every week and we don't plan on taking the kids to Disney anytime soon. But we have plenty of food. We live in a comfortable house. Everyone has shoes that fit. We never miss a bill. My kids have toys exploding out of their closets and will get a few more when Christmas rolls around. We are doing great, and I want to make sure my kids- and I- appreciate it. I want to make sure we always remember all these good things are from God.

So this past week being Thanksgiving, I used the time to focus on our blessings, or as Caleb would call them, "bressin's".  It wasn't an original idea, but we put up a "Thankfulness Tree". Just like a tree grows from a seed, I wanted to plant seeds of thankfulness in their hearts, nourish them, and watch them grow.

         It was really simple to make. I cut up used paper grocery bags and taped them in the dining room.

                                                       
                                                       I added an owl just for fun!

Then I cut out some leaves. Every morning after breakfast, the kids picked at least one thing they were thankful for, and we taped the leaves to the tree. Then we prayed and thanked God for those blessings, then recited Psalm 118:1.

                                                                             
As the week went on, the things they were thankful for went from the "standards" to more creative things- napkins, a woodstove. It was great to see the wheels turning, to see them realizing that these things we take for granted are indeed blessings to be thankful for. As a mom of a toddler, I too, am very thankful for napkins!                                                    

                       By Thanksgiving our tree was full of bressin's, and our hearts were full of thankfulness.

 

Then it was time to start preparing for the big day. While I baked pies, the kids occupied themselves with their own "Thanksgiving dinner".         

                                                                 

                                  Luke got bored and decided he would help me make the pies.

                                                                           
                                              But he really just wanted to steal my apples!

Then, the night before Thanksgiving, the boys got sick with fevers and runny noses.Instead of going to Grammy's, she sent over some Thanksgiving "take-out".

As we sat down to eat, we realized just how much there was to be thankful for. The boys just had colds, and not a chronic illness. We had a loving family that sent us over food. There was pie and whipped cream and a toasty fire in the woodstove and each other.
                                                                    
Thanksgiving day might be over, but I want to continue cultivating those seeds of thankfulness all year.         

Thomas, We Love You

It all started one Sunday morning when Gracie was 2 and 1/2 yrs old. She was home sick from church, and while flipping through the channels we stopped on Thomas and Friends. Since we were usually at church at that time, Gracie had never watched it. Little did we know what had started...

Gracie fell in love with Thomas. While most girls were sporting pink and white princess sneakers, Gracie was proudly showing off her Thomas sneaks. Her toddler bed was decked out in Thomas sheets and we started collecting wooden trains at $12 a pop. Her 3rd birthday was a Thomas theme. Finally, we made the Pilgrimage to the Mecca of Thomas fans- Day Out with Thomas at the Strasburg Railroad.
               
Then Caleb arrived, and the obsession intensified. His first word was, "THOOOMAA!" shouted at a very loud volume. More trains arrived. More clothes. I found myself on Ebay looking for size 4 Thomas sneakers because he refused to wear anything else on his feet. Books, videos, more parties and trips.
                                                                            

                                                                                  

                                                                                        
                                                                                     
Now we're on kid number 3- and you guessed it- another Thomas fan. We're just happy to be getting a good return on our investment. We've probably sunk $400 in Thomas paraphernalia over the years, so the more use it gets, the better.
                                                                        

                                                                                     


I'm not just blogging about Thomas because I have no life now. My point is, I love Thomas too.Because Thomas helps me homeschool.

When we started this year, it became clear that Luke was having none of this school-time nonsense. As far as he's concerned, it's all about him, and he lets me know that loud and clear. There was a point about three weeks into this year when I was pretty sure I was gonna have to pony up five thousand bucks and send Gracie to school. The thing was, I didn't want my boys camped out in front of the TV so I could teach Gracie. I wanted them to happily play or do something constructive, not turn into mindless slugs because the TV rotted their brains. But after a month of screaming, temper tantrums, and head banging, it became clear I had a choice to make: send Gracie back to school or turn on Thomas.

I chose Thomas. And now, I'm ok with it. There are worse things as a parent then letting your kids watch TV for 2 hours every morning. Even as I type that, I feel embarrassed, like I failed. But the way I see it, they're not stuck in daycare all day. I spend lots of time doing things with them the rest of the day. So if watching a big blue train helps Gracie learn math and language, so be it. It really is my only option for now.

I'll leave you with my all-time favorite Thomas video. I hope you find it as inspiring as I do.