It has been a week of celebrations here! My birthday was last Sunday and my younger sister, Monica came down to visit for a couple of days. Bobby and I had been given some gift cards a few weeks ago for our house warming and she helped me pick out some nice things for our place and also made Muddy Buddies, which is one of our favorites.

For my birthday Bobby wanted to give me a gift card to our mall, but we don’t have any extra money so he wasn’t sure what he would give me. One day a couple of weeks ago, we were there making a return and he noticed an advertisement for $100 gift card giveaways you could win for the holidays and he told me later that he wished he could win one for me. The very next week one of our high school students met with Bobby in his office and told him that his parents wanted to give him something “just because.” It was one of those gift cards to the mall! So, Bobby gave it to me for my birthday after all. One of the things I bought with it was this really fun board game called “Settlers of Catan.”

The week continued with celebration because then Thursday was Thanksgiving! Bobby, Tyler and I spent the day with my two older sisters and their families up at my sister Alicia’s home. They had planned a beautiful lunch with tons of delicious food. Some of my favorite things we had were the stuffed mushrooms, sausage stuffing and peach spritzers to drink. I haven’t really had a traditional Thanksgiving meal that I am used to in a few years. The last couple of years we have spent the holiday with Bobby’s family at a country club, so there is a different spread there than just turkey and mashed potatoes. But I liked having turkey and some of the favorite old dishes jazzed up a little. It brought back a lot of memories of growing up together. My oldest sister, Gretchen (far left in the picture) lives in Northern California and I don’t see her very often so we enjoyed spending time visiting with them and watching our little ones play together.

Friday was our good friend Brad’s birthday, Saturday was my mom’s birthday and then today–well, Sunday always seems like a celebration to me! I really appreciated what Pastor Mike challenged us about the privilege and responsibility of responding to God in thankfulness.

“And God’s grace is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8

He said, “There is nothing you have that you have not received.” Ultimately, God receives all the credit for everything that we have in our lives. He is our sufficiency in everything. Even if we work hard for something, God is the Giver of all that we have. Sometimes I need to be reminded that God is not “Santa.” I think I can fall into the trap of asking God for things to just be easier or to change things in my life instead being truly thankful for the abundance of His grace that has already been bestowed on me.

We love the Giver not the gifts
In You alone is true goodness
You’ve turned our mourning into joy
You give us gladness

Godsong’s “The Giver” to hear a sneak-peak of this song, listen to their podcast!