When praying before we eat, we tell Jackson to tell Jesus three things that he is thankful for. (I just realized the three reference– hahaha, a little slow on the draw sometimes). Sometimes he will look around the room and say I am thankful for, lights, leaves, flowers, birds, etc. Then he will sometimes get silly and say things like, poop, pee, etc. He is constantly trying to be funny!!! Then there are times when he is really sweet and will say, mom, dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Papa, JoJo, and Jesus. Those are the days when I feel like we might be doing something right as parents.

Which brings me to this. Have you heard that saying, what if you woke up tomorrow only with the things you thanked God for today? Let me tell you, I have been convicted by this statement SEVERAL times. Not because I am not thankful. But because I “dismiss” the idea of praising and thanking Him for all that he has given me on a daily basis. Not intentionally. I thank him for the big things but forget he has given me so much.

So thank you Jesus.

Thank you for giving me life, thank you for giving me breath this morning, thank you for giving me air to breath (and clean air for the most part), thank you for allowing me to get out of bed, thank you for giving me legs that move to get me out of bed and to where I need to be, thank you for giving me a house to wake up in, thank you for giving me a bed, thank you for giving me a husband to wake up next to, thank you for giving me Jackson, thank you for giving me food in our refrigerator, thank you for the food in the pantry, thank you for the hot water, thank you for the cold water, thank you for roads to drive on, thank you for our cars, thank you for the jobs we have, thank you for the knowledge we have to work those jobs, thank you for our family, thank you for our friends, thank you for the ability to run, thank you for our overall health, thank you for dying on the cross so that I may live the life you have given me and the list goes on and on and on.

This side of Heaven I am most thankful for the opportunity to be two things. One, I am most thankful for the opportunity to be JJ’s wife. He changed me. He changed my life. He changed my outlook on life. He changed the way I looked at life. He (and his family) lead me to Jesus. He has loved me unconditionally (even when I didn’t deserve it). He is so easy to love. He is smart, incredibly smart. He is gifted. He is an amazing teacher. He is an amazing dad. He is an amazing husband. He is an amazing son. He is (and has) an amazing brother!  He has made me whole.

Secondly, I am most thankful for the opportunity to be Jackson’s mom. I don’t ever want to take this for granted. I don’t even want to forget that we have been given this ultimate gift from God. It is a task I don’t want to take lightly. It never ceases to amaze me that we (out of all the people in the world) were chosen to be Jackson’s parents. He too has completed me. He was a missing puzzle piece that has fit into our lives from the very beginning. He is incredibly smart. He is outgoing. He is funny, so funny. And I will never forget that another human being gave him to me. A part of Heather. She so unselfishly, gave me the one thing I wanted most in this life. If you have an adopted child, you know this feeling. You know there will never be enough thank you’s or enough words to express the magnitude of your thankfulness for that person, for that decision to give a piece of them to you. But also the magnitude of thanks I owe to God for making all of this possible!