What are you thankful for?

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the talk of the season has been big. Especially at Brooke's school. Today they had their "Thanksgiving Sharing Feast" since today was the last day before the holiday (they're out of school next week). Each child brought one assigned item of food or drink and shared it with all the other students to make a complete feast. Brooke got to bring cookies! She was very excited about this. Earlier in the week she painted a picture of her family as she saw it. This was pretty big milestone in and of itself. Brooke is not a big painter. Her teachers often struggle with trying to find news ways to coax her into painting. I think she just doesn't like to get messy! So, this time, she was so excited to paint her family and even remembered to include a 'picture' of the baby in Mommy's tummy. How sweet is this little girl? Also, her teacher had marked today as a 'show and tell' day. Each child was instructed to bring something from home that represented what they were thankful for. So, yesterday afternoon, we tackled this project. I told Brooke we needed to find ONE thing that she was most thankful for in the house to take to school to show her teachers and friends. I started off by seeing what she would come up with on her own.

Mommy: "Brooke, so...what are you most thankful for?"
Brooke: "Ummmmm.......God!"

Mommy: (thinking hard), "Well, I don't know how we could put an example of God in the bag your teacher gave you. Can you think of one more thing that you are so very thankful for?"
Brooke: "Ok...the sunshine!"

Mommy: "Well, that is a very good thing to be thankful for, but I'm not sure how to put the sunshine in the bag either? Maybe you could think of something else? Let's walk around the house and see if you see something that you are thankful for that you could put in your bag."
(Walking around the house with brown paper bag in hand...)
Brooke: "I want to take Mommy to school."
Mommy: "Are you thankful for Mommy and Daddy?"
Brooke: (smiling ever so sweetly) "yes."

We ended up picking out a representation of Mommy. From her dollhouse, she chose her "Mommy Doll" to put in the bag to take to show everyone.

So, as the Thanksgiving season gets underway, maybe it will take a small child to show us what we really should appreciate in life. As I thought she was going to pick a toy, a stuffed animal, or something silly....her top 3 things in life she is thankful for (with no prompting from us!) were 1) God, 2) Sunshine, and 3) Mommy and Daddy.

So this season I will be remembering the important things....God, the things He gives us, and my family.