Thanksgiving is for giving thanks

It seems with all the business of cleaning, cooking and entertaining over the last few days I've hardly sat and really thought about the reason we are doing it all. Simply put (as the book I've read to Eleanore all month says): Thanksgiving is for giving thanks.

I have so much to be grateful for...including what has kept me busy. I am truly grateful for a beautiful home to live in and for all of the comforts of life that we enjoy, and for the jobs we have that allow us to partake.

I am grateful for an outstanding family, extended and immediate. Although we are far away from much of our family, I am so happy that we are close enough to Rob and his family and Shay and her family to be able to celebrate with and not feel so alone in the middle of nowhere. Eleanore loves playing with her cousins and prays often for each of them...by name (sometimes the prayers get lengthy at our house).

I am so thankful for my beautiful daughter Eleanore. You know that song by Martina McBride, In My Daughter's Eyes? I heard it the other day and it is so how I feel. To Eleanore I am hero, but the truth is that she she "was sent to rescue me." She sees good all around her, is so innocent and pure and when I hold her in my arms or look into her beautiful face, life and what is important in it all seems much more clear.

I am so grateful that she is a happy, healthy girl and that we've had so much special one-on-one time over the last two years. As the arrival of the "little sisters" is fast approaching I find myself desperately trying to grasp every moment I can with Eleanore. Not to say I'm not excited about our expanding family, but I am also sad to know that this phase of life with my first baby is ending. She will automatically become the big sister and things will change out of necessity. It makes me kind of sad. Although at moments it is exhausting to chase a near two-year-old (like today at church when she thought it would be funny to run around the choir seats during the combined priesthood and Relief Society lesson in the chapel), every bit of exhaustion and used patience is worth it, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Still, I am also so grateful for the two spirits who are about to come into our home. Nothing is sweeter than a newborn baby. I am looking forward to meeting these girls and pray I will be able to provide all three of my daughters with the love and attention they deserve.

Lastly, I must say I am so grateful for Bryan. He is a man of honor who genuinely tries to do the right thing and who puts his family and God first. Although I may roll my eyes at his sports watching and video gaming, I truly have very little to complain about. Bryan makes me laugh every day...even when I'm determined not to. He is a great Daddy, as Eleanore likes to say -- he is "Super Dad." He honors his priesthood and works hard to provide for our family's needs. I couldn't ask for a better friend or spouse.

So Thanksgiving is for giving thanks, and although I am a couple of days late in getting specific, I really do have so much to be thankful for.