We are thankful Mitchell has such wonderful grandparents. He really is a lucky kid to be so loved. Chris talks so fondly about all the great memories he has as a young kid going to visit his grandparents. And even now, if he is in the mood to get spoiled (haha, nooo, not Chris;)) then he will say he wants to go visit his grandparents (or go to the "spa" as he calls it). I unfortunately did not have the same type of relationship with my grandparents; my grandmothers passed on before I was born, and both my grandfathers passed when I was still very young (plus, I grew up overseas so I did not have a lot of opportunities to see my grandfathers very often). Obviously, these circumstances were no one's fault, but it still makes me a little sad thinking about what I missed. The relationship between a child and their grandparent truly is special. I am thankful Chris had that and that I get to experience that as an adult through him (his grandparents on both sides have been so gracious to me and I really feel like a part of the family). I am really excited for Mitchell to get to experience this. I see my parents with their other grandchildren (our nieces and nephews) and it warms my heart. The kids always run into their house so excited to hug them, they love sitting on my dad's lap as he tells them stories, and love helping my mom cook or do a craft. I can't wait for Mitchell to have those experiences with them. And Chris's parents are already so loving to Mitchell. Mitchell doesn't even know what a tablet is, but he uses it to Skype with his Meemaw weekly. Pictures are sent back and forth all the time through email, and we haven't been out here but a few months and already have had visits from his Meemaw (and Opa and Oma) with many more already planned for the future. That is another thing... Mitchell has been blessed with double grandparent duty because he also has his great grandparents. The way they hold him and look at him, I know he is greatly loved. It will be so exciting as he gets older and starts to recognize his family more, to see his face light up when we say, "We're going to Meemaw's!!"
With Papa and Meemaw:
With Grandpa and Grandma:
With Opa and Oma:
And with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma:
NOVEMBER 11TH:
Since it is Veterans' Day, it is only fitting we say how thankful we are for our veterans and our country. We have a lot of military veterans on both sides of our family, and we know they sacrificed a lot so we can be here, enjoying our lives, country, and freedom. The United States really is a great country. Now, no matter what political party or persons you like, dislike, agree with, disagree with, etc., you still have to know that this country is one of the greatest in the world. Chris and I have both spent time living outside of the United States and although we enjoyed our experiences in those other places, it did make us extra grateful that we are U.S. citizens and have the freedoms and protections this country offers. We believe the U.S. constitution really was God inspired and something incredible the world had never seen and has never since. There are so many rights and freedoms we have, that we often take for granted until we hear about people in other countries who were denied these rights: women who can't vote or drive or get an education, no freedom of religion (I recently read a story about a Muslim man in Egypt who converted to Christianity and when his government found out, he was put in prison for 10 years before a Christian coalition group could get him freed and moved out of Egypt... craziness!!), limits on how many children you are allowed to have, media and Internet outlets censored, and the list goes on and on. So, the next time you DRIVE to the store, or go to the CHURCH of your choice, or VOTE in the next election, or take your rifle and enjoy some HUNTING, or watch the 6 o'clock NEWS, or know that you are INNOCENT until proven guilty (haha, hopefully never needing to experience this due process), or just want to take your CHILDREN to the park, swimming pool, or ice-skating rink, please remember that these are all freedoms that not everyone around the world gets to experience. God Bless The U.S.A.!!!
Ok, here are a couple of videos to help you feel patriotic through song. The first is just a funny, sweet, happy tune about "what is American." It made me smile.
This next video is a tribute to my mother. I believe the number one reason I am so patriotic today is because of her and the lessons she taught me about the U.S.A. Growing up in Saudi Arabia I did take U.S. History in school, but beyond that, my mother wanted to make sure that me and my siblings fully understood where we came from and how grateful we should be that we were U.S. citizens. Once a week we would have a family night in our home where we would have a little lesson (maybe over a scripture, or how we shouldn't fight with our siblings, or our family's escape plan in case of a fire), do an activity together (sometimes we would go bowling, play a board game, or play hide-in-go-seek), and have a treat of some kind (usually ice cream). But no matter what we did each week, we would start out the family night by saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the song, "America The Beautiful." Did my mom want us to be patriotic or what?! Well, here is a great version of that song because it combines some of the greatest things about America: fireworks, BBQ's, baseball, and a classic, American movie:)
And here is Mitchell being patriotic from the beginning, as soon as he left the hospital:
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| Born in the U.S.A.!!! |
We are thankful to have a garage. Ok, now since we have our first home there are a lot of new things we now have which we are greatly thankful for: we already did a washer and dryer, we're thankful for our fenced yard, back porch, multiple rooms (the most we had before were two), etc. So, I'll spare you guys us listing everything in our new home we're thankful for, but, a garage is super awesome and super important here in Idaho. This will be our first winter here in Idaho, and we've been told they can be a doozy. They can have feet upon feet of snow that last for weeks, because as it barely melts it is quickly replaced by more feet of snow. And with Chris leaving by 5:30am every morning for work, the last thing he wants to do is have to get up extra early to go out in the cold and scrape his windshield. Since we have never had a garage before, he was so sweet and did that for me in Missouri whenever I had to go to work in the snow. But apparently that was nothing to what Idaho can bring. So, allow us this indulgence to be thankful for our garage!! Haha, now he just has to get up a little earlier to shovel the driveway so we can get out of the garage:)
This is a picture from January 2013 of a snowfall in Idaho Falls. Haha, now do you see why we're ecstatic to have a garage?!
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