In November the whole of the USA will be celebrating Thanksgiving. At this time of year I think it is a good opportunity even in the UK to stop and think about
Some times I stop and listen to myself and feel like all I do is grumble and moan when talking to others. Of course every ones lives have there ups and down and mine has not been any different. As a family we have been through times when we have struggled but we have always made our way through them and come out the other side fine.
I have so many reasons to be thankful and my family has to be the best reason. We have a wonderful little family, supportive, close and loving. We have always wanted three children and with our son's arrival in December I feel our little family will be complete.
A lot has changed for us in the last year. We moved into a house so the children now have a garden. I started working as a Childminder meaning I can work from home and of course baby bean is on the way. I am thankful for all these things.
There are over 21 bloggers who have joined forces because we believe that gratitude can be contagious and we desire to spend this month being grateful with our families. Each day a different blogger will walk along side of you in this challenge and share their experience. Stop by and visit their website on the date listed below to read their Contagious Gratitude story or activity.
I hope you join me in this 21 Days of being thankful.
It’s so easy to complain, grumble or to not be content with our situation, our body, our home, our kids, our food, our job, our spouse, our parents, our school, our friends and life as we know it. In effort, to be less of that and be filled with joy, I want to challenge myself, my family and you to be more aware of the blessings we are surrounded with each day.
My hope is that you will find beauty and blessings in the mundane, in the beautiful, in the ugly as you: change diapers, wash dishes, sit in holiday traffic, stir the pot of soup, look into your spouses eyes, hold your child in your arms… We are constantly surrounded by small miracles let’s open our eyes and embrace them. May the Lord open the eyes of my heart so I can see them!
We will discover joy when we discover gratitude.
1. Let others know about our 21 Days of Gratitude Challenge for the Whole Family and use the hashtag #21DaysGratitude. Our hope is that it’s contagious and 1000′s of families join in so help us get the word out. In the midst of our busyness it’s easy to forget to pause and be thankful. Sometimes we are in the midst of difficult circumstances and we struggle with being thankful and that’s when we need thanksgiving to intervene.
2. Stop, reflect and engage in a moment of thankfulness each day this month, with your family. It can be big or small moments of gratitude.
“Hurry always empties the soul.” ~ Ann Voskamp
3. Share your moment on your blog with a photo, on facebook, twitter, pinterest or your preferred social network. If you’re doing this as a family let your kids snap a photo of something they are thankful for. It can be as simple as a taking a picture of a note written on a napkin that says “I am thankful I get to hold these little pudgy fingers”. You can journal it or do a service project. Make it simple or get as creative as you like.
4. Don’t worry if you are getting a late start or if you skipped a day. Just jump in and follow along.
Photo or Writing Prompts Printable: Feel free to come up with your own reflections of gratitude or if you need some prompts see below. (right click on image, then copy and paste into your document and print) Adjust the list below for your little ones as needed.
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~To fully live we must embrace the small miracles of the moment.~
A complete home, definitely something to be thankful for! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete~mari