A Thankful Heart

We had a very fun filled Thanksgiving at Bibi's last week. It is the first time that my three older sisters and I have been together at my mom's house in a very long time. So, it was great to be back home again. Anna Dixon had a blast being in the same house with her cousins too! One morning my nephew, Samuel, had the two girls crawling and then marching around the house behind him while the adults sat at the table eating and enjoying the show. As always, there is so much to be thankful for this year, so here is my attempt to narrow it down to five...

1. My precious family of three. I still look at my sweet angel from above in awe and thank God for bringing her into our family!

2. Good health and family. Tommy and I are both very close to our families. It is such a blessing to have strong relationships with them. Also, we have had some sickness in our family this year. Everyone seems to be doing better this holiday season, and I am thankful for that.

3. Wealth...yep I said it...wealth. I'm pretty sure everyone reading this blog has food on the table every night. By some countries' standards that is wealthy. I'm so thankful for my Jehovah-jireh who provides for all of my needs.

4. Freedom. I'm so thankful to live in a country that is free to elect its own leaders. I'm even more thankful that no matter what the outcome our King is still King, and He's got this!

5. The Christmas season is particularly special to us because the Lord brought us Anna Dixon in December (yep she is about to be 2!!). For the past two years I have reflected on how much joy this baby has brought to me. Then I think about Christmas as the celebration of our dear Savior's birth. I think about how much more joy He brought to the world, when he came to earth as a baby and ultimately died on the cross for our sins. How great our joy! I'm thankful for a Savior who saved a wretch like me!

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend and this fall...but first a couple of long promised beach pictures from the summer...

afternoon toddy!

the pumpkin patch with Anna Holt

yummy s'mores!

Whoo Whoo Whoopy Halloween!

Can you guess what Anna Dixon was for halloween...a "whoo whoo" owl! She was a champ again this year and wore the hat that went with her costume pretty much the whole day. She really got into it this year too. She loved her costume (even wanted to nap in it) and would answer "whoo whoo" whenever we asked her what the owl said. And, she really racked up on the candy this year. So far her favorites are dum dum suckers and M&Ms, but to be honest Tommy and I have been eating most of it so far! Life has been busy as summer has morphed into fall. So, I need to play catch up on the blog a little bit. I'll be posting more pictures soon, but for now here is our little whoot owl...

with her play group friends