-Thankfulness-

November is one of my favorite months of the year. Unfortunately it is the month where the weather really starts to turn cold, snowy, and gloomy in Colorado, however that does mean warm holiday drinks! mmmm.. It is a favorite month because I spend the whole month thinking of all the things I am thankful and trying to think of how to narrow it down to 3 things to list off at our Thanksgiving dinner. While it is very important to spend the entire year being thankful for all of our blessings, Thanksgiving really seems to bring it to the forefront of everybody's mind. As we drove home from spending 2 -very short- days with family, I decided to get on facebook and I was overwhelmed by all of the posts about people being THANKFUL! Thankful for family, friends, food, football, pie, life, puppies, skype, any many many more things. I am so encouraged that there is so much to be thankful for in a world where there seems to be so much darkness, sadness, and hurt.
This November was a month so packed full of blessings I didn't even know where to begin when it came to our tradition of going around the dinner table on Thanksgiving and saying what we are thankful for. Jason? Elijah? The rest of our family? Life? Food? A roof over our heads? Freedom? Grace? Love? Koa;)? Health? You know you are so incredibly blessed when you don't know where to start, and you can't begin to count your blessings. However, this year I have been reminded that everything we have been blessed with isn't really ours. We are given the opportunity to enjoy our blessings, and it is important to not take them for granted, but ultimately they are God's, not ours. Good will give and take away as he sees fit, and it is so important to enjoy the family, food, and life we have been given while we can.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." -James 1:17

So speaking of things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving, it wouldn't have been the same without Elijah. Our little man is 3 weeks and 3 days old right now. Where has the time gone? I feel like the first few weeks are just such a whirlwind with Doctor appointments, newborn screening, dirty diapers, and feeding every 3 hours. Also mixed in with the madness though are alot of baby snuggles, sneezes, and gassy smiles. I feel like every day I wake Eli up in the morning he is leaps and bounds ahead of where he was the day before. This wiggly little guy has even ROLLED TUMMY TO BACK 2 times!!! Where was the newborn stage? I talk to people who have 5 and 6 week olds that are finally fitting into 0-3 month clothes, and here is our big boy who never wore newborn clothes, and is wearing 3 month outfits already! 2 month olds that are finally 9 lbs, and our little munchkin is 3 weeks old and weighs 10 lbs! It is so exciting and fun to see the smiles forming and eyes focusing. Jason is really enjoying that he can start to interact with Eli and he recognizes his voice and face. Such a fun fun time, and we are learning the importance of taking it one day at a time and enjoying the baby steps.