Perspective = Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving.  What's it all about?  It's a day originally designed to remember how the original settlers were able to survive.  Over the years, it's become a day to remember what you are thankful for.  The typical things to be thankful for are: family, a home, health, friends, and employment.

I'll admit it, today I'm struggling because not all of these things are going as I was hoping they would.

Thanksgiving was always a big holiday growing up.  My parents would invite families from our church who didn't have family locally for a big Thanksgiving meal.  We sort of became a new family of sorts each year.  Although my parents live 10 minutes away, they are not in the area this Thanksgiving.  That's because today they are out of town celebrating their 40th anniversary. 

I've been fighting a cold, but the last couple days I've been feeling much better.  However, last night around dinner my daughter came down with a stomach bug and still isn't back to normal.  My kids and I were going to go to Busch Gardens with some friends today, but that obviously didn't happen.   And why wasn't my husband invited to Busch Gardens?  Technically he was, but he had to work last night as well as tonight, so a day awake in the middle would not be a good idea.

This post is not designed to make you feel sorry for me.  On the contrary, it's about how I've decided to be thankful because of these issues.  How's that?!?  Because I've gotten some perspective.  People I know and love are struggling with some of these things in a much bigger way.

I have a friend who recently lost a family member to cancer.  Aside from said family member's birthday a week or two ago, this is the first holiday without her.  That can't possible be easy.  I have another friend who gave birth to a stillborn child on Thanksgiving, 13 years ago.  Although she knows she will see her son again in heaven, this can't be the easiest holiday for her because of that.

I work with people trying to purchase their own home, and I've seen a few recently who have not been able to realize their dream and are relegated to renting for the time being.  I also know people who are living on a fixed income who recently found out that their community fees are going up.  I know someone else who's job moved them so they had to sell their house at a substantial loss (as in they are paying back a loan in order to sell their home).  I also know someone who was told they will only be employed through the end of the calendar year.

So today, I'm going to be thankful.  Because:

1. I have parents that showed me how to love on friends and how to make it through 40 years of marriage.  I also have a new niece that I'm going to see next month.
2. Although the last couple months have been tough with our house, we have a house with equity that's allowed us to make the repairs we've needed.
3.  A cold and a stomach bug are nothing considering what other people are enduring.
4.  Although we are not spending time with friends today, we have friends that cared enough to invite us to join them today.
5.  And yes, my husband had to go in to work, but he has a job.  That's more than some people can say.  In fact, this time last year he didn't have a job.

I pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you were able to keep perspective today as you celebrate those things you are thankful for.

Connecting?

One of the things about being a homeschooler and moving to a new area is the fact that you and your kids don't have the opportunities to make friends in the same way that families with kids in school do.  It's only compounded by the fact that our neighborhood is half empty because it's a snow-bird community and very few of the people who are living here have kids (much less kids as young as mine).

We are members of two homeschooling groups, one of which is relatively local.  The second is based one hour away.  So far, I have made better connections with the people who live farther away.  I'm hoping that PE class with the more local group this week will remedy that.

The other way that I've found to make friends is at church.  Unfortunately, since moving to Florida we have not been to church.  Last week, I was sick and this week the kids both had tummy issues and I wasn't willing to chance it.

We've only been here for 10 days so I'm certainly not going to sweat it at this point.  Just an observation that although I've mentioned homeschooling's advantages, it also has some disadvantages.