I'm so thankful

I've been trying to work with Abby lately, trying to teach her about being thankful.  I feel like I've really ruined this one and should just throw in the towel.  But no, I will stick to my guns until my kid is so stinkin thankful that she oozes gratefulness like Eli's nose oozes snot.

So here's what I've tried so far:
1. Watch the Veggie Tales "Madam Blueberry" and talk about having a thankful heart.  Try to remember the words to the song at bedtime.  Remind her in the mommy voice, "have a thankful heart," (or else, I think silently).
2. Pray before our meals, and pray at bedtime, emphasizing that we're thankful for stuff.
3. Threaten to take away all her toys, clothes, books, movies and make her eat only bread and water until she can learn what she's thankful for.

Okay, that last one might have been done in a fit of frustration and exhaustion.  I try really, really hard not to make threats or promises I can't follow thru on, really.

Then it dawned on me.  Hey genius, what are YOU thankful for?  Do you even know?  Do you share it with your kids?

Ouch, talk about feeling a little sheepish.

Baa.

So I'm vowing from this moment forward to be thankful, daily and out loud.  I'm not going to make it a huge event.  Trumpets blaring, "Attention children, Mommy has a proclamation:  Today I'm thankful for my coffee."  But really what I need to do is simply check myself.  Instead of complaining about how cold it is I can remark on how thankful I am that we have a warm home.

And I am.

So that's my first thing I'm really thankful for.  I'm thankful for my warm home.  Four walls, a floor and a roof.  Heating, carpeting, running water, etc.  It's warm in here, it's safe, we're a family in this home.  I look out the window sometimes right before I go to bed at night and I'm thankful for my warm home.  I think about homeless people, and homeless families, teenage runaways and single moms and my heart cries for them.  How cold these nights have been, how harsh, snowy, windy, miserable.  I'm thankful I have the same place to come home to, I'm thankful for the security that my kids feel.  I pray they never have to worry about where they're going to sleep, or where their next meal will come from.  And I pray for the families out there who do worry about that.  For the mothers whose hearts are burdened with the pain of knowing they don't have a place to call home.  And I pray my kids grow up with that same empathy for those that are truly in need.

And I think they will.  It just takes time for them to learn.  I don't want them to have to learn harsh life lessons, like the fact that there are homeless families, kids who don't eat, child abuse, hatred, and murder.  But they will.  And I will be right here to talk about it with them.  To hug them if they cry about homeless kids without toys.  Because I'm their Mom, and that's my job, good and bad.  And I'm thankful for that too, so very, very thankful.