Relaxed enough to be thankful

There are days that more often than not, I am actually too busy to be overwhelmed and thus really, really too busy to kick back and remember to be thankful. This Thanksgiving has been wonderful. To begin, its the one year mark since Clay made it home from his second tour in Iraq which makes me thankful for a ton of reasons:

• Clay has been home - really home - for a year (this is the first time in our 7 years of marriage).
• In this year of togetherness we did not kill each other as some predicted.
• Being home, Clay has been able to watche the pregnancy and birth of his second and third daughters and has spent countless hours with his oldest daughter.

In this year since he came home, we were moved to Charleston. If you know the military then you understand why military families use the phrase that way - "we were moved" and not we moved. That is because this move, like every other in Clay's 10 years in the Army, was not my choice. In fact, as always, they didn't ask my opinion about it before sending a set of 'orders' to his 'dependent' to schedule movers to come get our stuff and punt us half way across the country to a place I had to look up on the map. But, alas after 9 months here in Charleston let me also say I am thankful for this move because:

• We won the neighbor jackpot. Everyone in SC has been amazing and welcoming.
• They have seasons in South Carolina.
• Clay's job is easy. I mean really easy compared to his normal life. We both needed that.
• See notes above on how Clay has been home for a year and we haven't killed each other.
• Our girls were born with the aide of fantastic (non-military) healthcare!
• Kayla has done beautifully in her school.

In addition to all the really good things that have happened, this year in particular marks the culmination of a heartbreakingly difficult journey to build our family. With Kennedy and Karsen soon to be 6 months old, I am almost to the point where I can actually be thankful for the painful lessons God taught me along the way. I can definitely be thankful - beyond gloriously thankful - for the the abundant blessings that resulted. (And the fact that they finally sleep!)

So, with 4 desperately necessary days off (of one of the many jobs I regularly find myself barely getting by in) I can kick back, relax and enjoy it all enough to be truly thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.