This year has been one of the most thankful years to date. So many blessings have happened this year that I can only be overly thankful for all of them.
This Thanksgiving I had the day off and was able to spend it with Cory's parents and the family. I spent the day before at my mother-in-laws house and helped prep for the Turkey dinner. While doing so, I also learned some of her recipes and some family traditions for the holidays. Traditions are something I love and learning about my husband's family and theirs is always a lot of fun. With it being just us two, we have a few traditions we've already started. I'm looking forward to making more of our own, but continuing the ones that our families have done for years (and generations).
Here is what our Thanksgiving looked like this year:
The night before Thanksgiving Cory made a huge fire and we spent the next few hours making Pierogi. They have always been a tradition in our little Polish family for generations.
Our Family Photo {& a little out-take that I love}
The day after Thanksgiving I worked. I was beyond thankful for the sunrise that I got to witness.
I am thankful for....
We had little cards that my sister-in-law made that had that phrase at the top with lines below for us to fill in. It was nice going around the table and sharing what we were most thankful for this past year. Of course the paper wasn't long enough to share everything that we are thankful for, so I thought to write down a few more.
1. My Husband & Our Marriage
My husband is my greatest blessing. This year we have grown so much and have fallen more in love with each other than I thought was possible. I am so thankful for the man he is, the kindess he shows to me, the patience he has with me, and the way he makes me laugh so often. I am thankful that he is sensitive to my needs and goes out of his way to provide for me. I am thankful that he is handy and loves to create in our house, making it more of a home. I could go on and on about that man of mine. He is my blessing.
2. Our Families
Cory and I are so blessed to have families that live so close. All of his immediate family live within the Portland area and most of mine do the same. We are fortunate to have such loving, supportive, giving families. Developing the relationships I have with his side of the family has been fun, challenging, exciting, and rewarding. I know I need to make it more of a priority in this upcoming year. I do not want to take for granted the people that mean the most in our lives.
3. Our Home
Buying a house was in my 5 year plan for our marriage. Definitely not my 1st year. Over the first few months of our marriage we had family and friends talk to us about how "great the market is" and how "now is the time to buy". We didn't know if we were quite ready to enter in to the home-buying world, but we decided to trust the Lord and rely Him to make the ultimate decision. We believed that if it was in the Lord's will for us to have a home this year that things would fall into place. His timing was and is in charge and we followed that. After lots of pray and searching, we found a home that we fell in love with (and that seemed perfectly reasonable for our newlywed-budget). Everything did fall into place and on our first anniversary of marriage our first mortgage was due.
This house that we have purchased has been a true blessing. It has allowed us to explore our hobbies, further our relationships with friends (having more friends over), expanded our relationships, and allowed us to grow our family. Creating a home for us and growing together through the challenges that come with home-buying and homeownership has been something I am very thankful for. I am so at peace with our house and excited to see how our family grows in it.
4. Our 2 Little Pups
Gretta & Lucy have been such a blessing this year. I have always had dogs in our family and we knew that we wanted one when we got a house. This year seemed like a perfect time to add to our little family. After getting Gretta we realized that we couldn't have her be just a single pup in the house. Lucy was a quick decision for the both of us and one that we don't regret. Having two dogs is a must. They both are such great companions, entertain each other easily, and not to mention are pretty darn cute. They are two big parts of my life that I am very thankful for.
5. Our Health
Working as a Nurse I see a lot of illness; lives that have been put on hold to tend to someone's health. Not a day goes by that I don't thank the Lord for the health that He has given Cory and I.
6. Vacations
Who wouldn't be grateful for vacations. They are the things that we look forward to so much during our busy work weeks. This year has not been scarce of amazing vacations.
We have a few trips planned for this upcoming year and I am so thankful that we have jobs that let us have the time off, family to help us with these vacations and go on with, and a partner in life who enjoys exploring the world as much as I do.
This year has made my heart full of joy and gratitude.
xo leah
This year has made my heart full of joy and gratitude.
xo leah
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