Oh Give Thanks...

There was always a dinner ritual (I guess you could call it ) at my grandparents house growing up. It was a good one, and one I wish I would have carried on with my family--and that is the returning of thanks. Most of us probably pray before meals, which we also did/do, but at Grandma and Grandpa Strohschein's house, it didn't end there. After we all had finished eating no one was allowed to get up and leave the table until we had "returned thanks", which was a prayer from Psalm 100. We all together prayed

"Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever. Amen."

Then you were free to get up from the table and carry on. There were no exceptions and no meals that skipped this ritual. After our tummies were packed full with my grandmothers delicious cooking, we all had to thank God once again for His goodness.

I love that we have a day to focus on being thankful, but that doesn't exempt us from being thankful each day, with each meal, with each new morning, with each God ordained blessing. We are to be thankful in plenty and thankful in need. It is so EASY for me to be thankful right now-- it is so obvious how richly we have been blessed, but true thanksgiving is unconditional. We know that no matter what the circumstances may be- God's faithfulness to us will endure. I daily think of all the individual things that God has given me that I am thankful for, and I could list many of them out for you now, but I won't. I will just emphasize that above all else, I am thankful for His faithfulness and love and His goodness that endures forever!

That of course, does not mean we don't love having a day dedicated to celebrating our thanks! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Ryan's side of the family. I truly always look forward to any reason to get together with family. We enjoyed watching the kids play and of course enjoyed a delicious feast of a meal. I did miss our traditional game playing, but hopefully we can make up for it next time around come Christmas =) Right guys?

Here are the pics from our day...

Bailey working on getting used to having a baby around =)

The men doing, you know, that manly turkey frying thing.

The kids anxiously but patiently awaiting their portion of the feast.

Those deep dark eyes, I'm telling you, they get me every time!

Love the face! Good thing we got a pic of the "little turkey" before she did her business all over the outfit! You'da thunk she had partaken in the feast!

Cousin love! Sweet girls!

Sibling love- I think we have a few pics that look just like this =)

Two words-- LOVE-- IT.

Mommy, Daddy and Sadie.

And of course an attempt at a full family pic-

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day! And can I just say-
"Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever!!"