Thanksgiving 2017

Thankful..oh so thankful.

Thankful for family, both our immediate and extended families. Thankful for our home, jobs, health, food, clothes, clean water, WARM water, safety, beautiful weather, music, freedom, our faith in Jesus and so much more.

These four...ooooh, they know how to make a mama heart full.

We went to Inman, to Ben's aunt/uncle's house for the main Thanksgiving meal early afternoon. Mid-late afternoon we went to Mitch's house, where the rest of my family had eaten at noon. We played games, and went to his neighbors yard to see their horse/cows. It was a unusually WARM day, mid 70's at least. It was a full day, but blessed to have people we love to share days like this with.

Thankful

We have much to be thankful for....

and although we are thankful all year long, it is especially noted this time of year with Thanksgiving.

We are grateful for family, both near and far...and in between!

Ben's parents came the day before Thanksgiving to visit. It was nice to have them here...the boys certainly enjoyed it too.

Thanksgiving day, we went over to Mom and Dad's for a noon meal. So good..as usual. There was PLENTY of food, good food. I had to work at 3, but Ben and the boys went onto the Hershberger gathering after Jonah woke up from his nap.

 Thankful and Blessed.

Thanksgiving [Hershberger family]

We didn't attempt to go to more than one Thanksgiving gathering...so the day after Grandpa and Grandma H, and Sam came over to our house. 

They brought pizza and played games. It was still very cold and icy out, so we stayed inside.

 Playing Suspend

We hadn't seen Sam for quite some time..so we attempted a picture with all three boys.

 Thankful for a good time together....we had fun eating and playing!

Thanksgiving Day

 My heart is thankful.

We have these three beautiful boys...and I am so grateful and blessed to have a wonderful husband/Daddy...thankful for sure.

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We went to Mom and Dad's to celebrate Thanksgiving. Brent/Alyssa's family, Mitch, and the Moyo family also joined us. It a very delicious meal...Mitch made a smoked turkey this year.

Noah was showing Ron the magnet toys....

We went around the table saying something we are 'thankful' for.

Noah took Grandma's hand to hold. And on his turn he said, "I'm thankful for water."

Melt my heart.

After the meal and dishes were taken care of....it was time to start setting up for Christmas. 

Their house turns into all things CHRISTMAS! Mitch was not quick enough to get up and help...so he became decorated with the stuff that needed put away.

It was really cold. Freezing rain, just very wintery. That evening, Ben, being the good chicken farmer he is...went out in the dark to set them up with a heater. I'm certain they are thankful for him too!

So thankful. Family, health, home, food, water, safety, jobs, love, faith...so thankful.

Thanksgiving [2014]

I am thankful.

Thankful for our home, my husband and three little boys that I share it with. Along with that, I am so very thankful to be a mama...it definitely has its challenges, but they each bring me such JOY.

Thankful for our health (our overall health, as right now we have a bit of sickness going around that has lingered for a couple weeks), and grateful none of us have major health concerns.

Thankful for our families, and glad they share a love for one another and the Lord.

Thankful for our jobs, Ben enjoys teaching at McPherson...and although I can't say I'm "excited" about going back to work in January, I do enjoy the work of helping mama's bring babies into the world.

Thankful for our friends. It seems as though it is going to be a season of change among several of our friends that live nearby and they will no longer be living close to us..but I am still thankful for their friendships, even if it means we will get to see them less often.

Thankful for our faith. I am SO thankful to know that I am not alone in this world. That even if I didn't have all these wonderful things to be thankful for..I would still have my faith in God.

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So here's a little bit from our Thanksgiving this year. We started off the day a little something like this...

Poor Christian and Noah have had a cough and just overall not feeling well off and on for several weeks. So there have been many moments of grumpiness, fragile-ness, neediness, and just not doing so hot.

Our three sons...each so different, yet so special in their own ways.

Jonah's first Thanksgiving.

Oh little boy, we are all so thankful for you...and are SO happy to have you in our family.

We drove to Topeka for a Hershberger extended family gathering at Ben's parents new house. We got back late afternoon, and went to Mom and Dad's for supper. Brent and Alyssa's family and Mitch were over there as well.

Gpa & Gma H {Thanksgiving Weekend}

I was scheduled to work on Thanksgiving Day...

however, I went in the night before and helped..and ended up staying until 6 am. SO...they were so nice and let me have Thanksgiving Day off :) 

All that to say, because I was scheduled..we planned on spending Thanksgiving with my side here in town. So Ben's family, including Sam and Ruby (his cousin from Germany) came over on Friday morning to see us. 

Grandma H. brought a Pete the Cate book, and character for the book.

Christian LOVED it. 

I love the picture of him and her. I was also impressed Noah sat still long enough for a picture :)

Give Thanks

We have so much to be thankful for...

so much.

Health, Family, Our home, Jobs, Faith, Friends....just so much.

This year, we had a thankful tree on our table. And everyday (well, nearly everyday) we would add a leaf of something we were thankful for. Christian and I contributed the most to the tree...but Ben had a few, and Noah had a few (via Christian). We had found the perfect branch for it on a walk. 

I had fun doing this. It was so sweet listening to the things that Christian would say he is thankful for. Somedays, he was much less creative...but other days, throughout the day he would say, "I know!! We should put THIS on the thankful tree...

"the beautiful sunshine","the colorful trees", a family member", one of his buddies at preschool, "steamy cinnamon milk", trains, race cars.

I think the two he picked for Noah, were "bananas" and "anything I can climb on"...very fitting.

Some of mine...

A handy husband, warm showers, a washing machine!!! (this was on a day that I think I did 6 loads..involving sickness...yuck), music/my piano, our cozy bed, my boys (Ben, Christian, Noah)

And Ben's...

laughter, Jesus, vacation (as in the brief break from school over Thanksgiving)

This an so much more we are thankful for. 

We are blessed. And I'm grateful that even as a four year old, Christian can recognize that God has blessed us with things we are thankful for.

So thankful, so blessed (part 1)

Thanksgiving is such a good time to celebrate all our blessings in life. We are blessed in so many ways. One of them is having both of our families living in the "area". This makes holidays and celebrations double the fun. On Thanksgiving, we had dinner with the Hershberger family and Bergey grandparents at Mark and Beth Goertz's home in Inman at noon. Table(s) full of homecooked food made for a wonderful meal. It was also Grandpa Hershberger's 82nd birthday!!!