30 days of Thanks and Giving - part 5

Today brings us to our fifth and final recap of #30daysofThanksandGiving.  I'm quickly reminded that Thanksgiving isn't a holiday to only celebrate for one month of the year.  It's a choice.  An intentional choice to thank God for everything (both good and bad) that is happening in our lives.  It's easy to become upset or bitter when we can only see what's wrong but a quick look around at everything that is right will set our sights on Him.  We might not have perfect lives but we have the life that He has given us and that alone is worthy of praise.

My prayer is that sometime in the next few days, weeks, and months, we will become more aware of giving thanks.  Thanks to God, thanks to our spouses, thanks to our kiddos, and thanks to everyone that we come in contact with on a daily basis.  I'm thankful for you for coming along and sharing in #30daysofThanksandGiving and I look forward to sharing more ways that we can serve together.

No worries if you didn't have a chance to participate with #30daysofThanksandGiving - the ideas that we have used this past month would be great to use in a service oriented advent calendar!  ;)

Huge thanks and hugs go out to Sara for being my partner in crime and doing this challenge with me!  Your encouragement and joy for serving others warms my heart!

Enjoy a recap of our final week of Thanks and Giving!

                 Day 24

We are thankful for friends that bless our socks off.  We wanted to bless them right back so we put together a movie box for them to enjoy over the Thanksgiving holidays.

Hunter and Savannah are thankful for their daddy (and so is Sara!) so they packed him a lunch with love notes inside for work the next day.

                 Day 25

We are so thankful for the kids' teachers.  I thought they might enjoy some festive paper plates and napkins to use over the Thanksgiving holiday.  The tag reads:  Our Thanksgiving wish for you is less dishes to do!

Savannah and Hunter are thankful for their school so they made a donation to their school and their sister school in Haiti!

                 Day 26

Today we are thankful for food so we grabbed a few friends and headed to the food bank to help sort donations.











Savannah and Hunter are thankful for their neighbors so they baked them some yummy cranberry bread!

                 







                 Day 27
I'm super thankful for my kiddos and their willingness to do 30 days of Thanks and Giving so they woke up to some fun treats!











Hunter and Savannah are thankful for their car and all the places it takes them so they left $5 at a gas station for someone to find!









                 Day 28
The kids are thankful for dad's job (but not thankful that he had to work today!).  Since most people have the day off, we thought we would treat the employees at dad's bank with a little afternoon surprise of ice cream sundaes!








Hunter and Savannah are thankful for their Friday Pizza Nights so they bought pizza for the car behind them in the drive-thru!









                 Day 29
We are thankful for family so we packaged up Finals Survival kits for a few of our cousins that are in college.  We'll wait to share the contents of the boxes till after they receive them!  :)  Don't want to spoil the surprise!









Savannah and Hunter are thankful for their warm home so they bought gloves to donate to the local homeless shelter.









                 Day 30
Today I am thankful for Jesus and the grace that He gives us each and every day.  A couple of weeks ago, Holden and I were having lunch downtown and sat next to a gentleman that only ordered water. Something told me to invite him to have lunch with us, but I didn't.  And, ever since that day I have thought of him and how I wish that I had asked him to join us.  So, today I went back to the place we had been eating and asked the waiter if he knew who I was talking about.  He did and told me his name was Stewart.  So, I wrote a quick note to Stewart and told him how I wish that I would have eaten with him that day.  I enclosed some money and told him to enjoy a meal on me.  But, honestly, I hope that we go in there again and Stewart is there - so that we can eat with him.  Moral of this story - when someone comes along and pulls at your heartstrings - that's Jesus telling you to do something.  Thankful for His grace and a chance to make it (kinda) right today.

Hunter and Savannah are thankful for their church so they collected spare change to put in the offering plate at church!

If you missed any of the previous posts, you can find them here:

part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4

My dear, sweet friend, Shelly, has been blogging about her #30daysofThanksandGiving. You can read her final re-cap here.  Thank you for sharing!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends.  Even though it's December 1st, let's keep the spirit of Thanks and Giving alive!

Gig 'em and God bless!

Holly

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