Project Thankful Heart

We are heading into Thanksgiving this weekend and as I approach this holiday I am forcing myself to think of all the things that I have to be thankful for. Last year my project was to smile at random strangers and see if I couldn't improve their day by just a little bit. It's been an interesting experience, one that I should probably spend more time Blogging about because the reactions have ranged from sad to touching and sometimes just funny. Kaleb is the master in this particular study, and he always gets good results! This year, while I will still continue with Project Smile I will also be expanding my horizons and starting Project Thankful heart.

Here is the premise. Everyday I will think of ten things that I have to be thankful for, and before I close my eyes on the day I will take the time to say thank you to God for those things. I will Blog about some, and others I will simply do in the privacy of my relationship with God, but I won't miss a day.

My biggest reasons of course for thanksgiving are my boys and my husband, my parents and my in-laws and the friends who have held us up in prayer countless times. They are the obvious yes, but they are not the only things and my project will be more creative than the obvious. I want to stretch myself to see past the normality, the things I take for granted, and I want to say thank you.

Today, my ten things are the simple things in life that we do every day, things that I am blessed because I have them, because I can do them. I have two working legs, and those legs allow me to move freely around my home, my community and they are also the most taken granted for part of my body. I can run around the backyard with the boys because I can run, I can walk to the store because I can walk, I can kneel down to talk to the kids because I can bend.

I can type, I can eat, I can write, I can take photographs, I can brush my teeth and hair, I can caress my children because I have working hands.

I can hear Kaleb giggle, and Josh trying new words out, I can hear my husband tell me he loves me because I can hear.

I can see the smile on Josh's face when his brother hugs him, I can see the dangers in the path of both kids, I can see the light in Kaleb's eyes when he makes me laugh, I can see the tender looks Tim gives me because I have eyes that see.

I can breathe the fresh crisp fall air, because I have lungs that work.

I can pump blood throughout my body because my heart is working well.

I can feel pain because my body has nerves that work.

I can eat, anything, because my body can tolerate food without causing me to be sick.

I can smell the ocean, smell the shampoo on skin of my sons, smell the earth after the rain, smell the dinner cooking, because I have the gift of scent.

I can enjoy the little things in life because I have been given a working body that works well together, that until now has been taken for granted and treated harshly at times. I have a body that allows me freedom, it does not trap me in anyway. Not all of us are so lucky.

Project Thankful Heart has begun... want to join me?

(I was informed that I needed to add coffee to this first list or I would be in trouble... so, to avoid future issues I will add coffee under the thankful for smell (coffee smells divine), and also under the heading hands, because I can hold the cup, under the heading eyes because I can see the wonder of that dark liquid, and then again in the thankful my body because I have a mouth that I can use to drink, a tongue in which I can taste, and a brain that needs the dark drug to function.)