Giving Thanks

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone here at the farm.

It was a delightful day filled with memories that will last a lifetime. This year, we invited our friends and had a "down home", bring-a-dish celebration of each other and all the blessings we continue to enjoy. Nineteen people in all, twenty, if you count our neighbor poking the nose of his truck around the corner and into the driveway to acknowledge the pie wedges we'd slipped onto his counter while he was out. And, we were elbow to elbow!

That didn't matter, though.

New friends, old friends, family. Zak is home, now, and we were ready to celebrate! The food was delicious--a beautifully browned turkey, a wonderful ham, traditional side dishes and guilty desserts. The day was beautiful, albeit cold, and we elected to dine indoors, turning our living and dining areas into one LARGE table. The crowd ebbed and flowed throughout the day, visiting the nursery to sneak a treat or two to its occupants, or to gaze over the fence into the main pasture, enjoying the view and the interaction of the farm's inhabitants.

One tradition we enjoy at our Thanksgiving meal, as the dinner gets underway, is for each and every guest to reflect on the year that has past and announce at least one thing he or she is thankful for. This year, with all its struggles, posed a challenge in my mind. But, as I was pleasantly surprised, our guests poured out their hearts and showed just how grateful a people we can be. We have all faced challenges--some of us seemingly unsurmountable ones. Yet these very ones were the most adamant in their thankfulness! I am honored and humbled to be included in such a group of thanks-givers.

My early-morning e-mail summed it all up:

May you, like us, pause for a moment today to consider the innumerable,
yet undeserved, blessings that we are so privileged to enjoy.
May we focus on the bounty we have and give God thanks for it.