The Leen

I remember writing last year’s Thanksgiving post, and feeling a huge sense of awe at how blessed we were at that time. I wrote that our previous year had been pretty bad (and it had) but that I was so thankful for where we were at that moment.

This year, I feel that sentiment even more keenly. All of the major things I was thankful for still make my list this year, but topping that list is one that wasn’t there last year.

Above all, I am so very thankful that I am alive this year, to enjoy all of the other things I’ll list below. I realize more and more as time goes on how close I was to not being here to enjoy the many wonderful things in my life.

That’s a perfect segue into the next things I’m thankful for: Brett and Elanor. I said last year that Brett and I only seemed to grow closer in the previous year, and that has proven true in this past year as well. I love him more than I did a year ago, and in a more free, deep, amazing way than I thought possible. Seeing him be a father to our gorgeous daughter is incredible and wonderful.

And Elanor, oh, that girl. I love her in a way that I never dreamed possible. She is a joy and a blessing and I am so, so, so very thankful that I am here to be her mama and see her grow and change and get big and do all of the things babies do.

I’m also so thankful that I am at home with her. I’ve known for a long time, maybe about 9 years, that I wanted to be home with my children when I had children some day. I never knew how it would work, but I knew that was what I wanted more than any career. And now I am doing just that.

Again, there are many more things to be thankful for, just as I listed last yaer: family, friends, our home, our church. All of those are true blessings as well.

But at the end of the day, I am most thankful just to be here, to be with my little family, and to be able to love and care for them.