Thankful Tree 2012

We welcomed December a couple days ago so I decided I better get on it & finish the posts from the happenings at The Valentine Nest in November.  I have a feeling this "catching up" is becoming a way of life for us, especially knowing what is to come in early 2013! It was fun this year to use my Silhouette Cameo to cut actual leaves instead of using a circle cutter : ) I went a little crazy & cut Jenny a set too.

So, this was year number two of having a Thankful Tree on our kitchen table.  Our hope was that leading up to Thanksgiving, each day would hold a time of reflecting on the great things the Lord has blessed us with that we are thankful for. 

I would love to say that we did one every single day....we did 22 total but we had some catch up days : ) I think as a family we were more inclined to think throughout the day about things we were thankful for & had much to share with each other when we were ready to transcribe them. 

This was our first day which followed Charlotte's best friend Mati moving to Miami by a mere week.  She loves to pray for them & misses them dearly....just as we do : ( 

Following the election our trust in God remains unchanged. 

I felt LOTS of movement this week from the little guys on the inside : ) 

Had the blessing of spending the day with the Lent's as they welcomed a beautiful baby girl into their life.

As we were struggling through  processing results from ultrasounds & words from doctors,  we were so very thankful for the fellowship with Jesus that we share.  

Such a great truth! "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:37-39 

Thankful Tree 2012:

1. friendship shared with Hugo, Juanita & Matilda
2. grandparents
3. nature- God's beautiful creation
4. joy & laughter
5. a time of plenty
6. our Life Group
7. God's provision for our nation
8. money to buy groceries with
9. friends who love our babies as much as we do
10. date night
11. a place to rest when we don't feel well
12. baby brothers
13. baby Audrey Elizabeth
14. peace & comfort
15. better days to come
16. possibility of transformed heart
17. the promise of multi-generational faithfulness
18. that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ
19. a call to 'taste & see'
20. God's patience with us
21. time as a family
22. a noisy house that is only getting noisier 

There are not enough leaves in this world to list all the things that we are thankful for but as we found last year, they can all be summed up in what has been provided for us by God through his son Jesus. 

I just moved the little leaves into a baggie to be stored away with the "leaves" from 2011. It will be neat someday to go back and read the many things that have been recognized as gifts from God throughout this season.