A Thanksgiving Post

Seriously, look at that face!!!!



I love this picture...I can just hear him saying, 'look, mommy, look!!!'
This is his content smile!
This picture makes me laugh...the photographer wanted a few pictures of just me and Eric...well the Stink wasn't about to have that!

This is such a sincere laugh picture! He's so ticklish...when Max was just a baby, Eric and I would compete to see who could make him last faster...it really never was a challenge...he's such a good boy with such a happy disposition.

I have my mom to thank for this one...Max just loves to swing!
I was originally planning on making this a family photo 2010 post...but I thought in light of the season and that I hope my posterity will one day read this, I thought I should write a Thanksgiving post. As I sat here and began reflecting on this year...I realized how tough this year has been.

No major tragedies have occurred this year...so, I've been reflecting on why it's been so difficult...

It dawned on me that as I have gotten older I have become more 'realistic' (cynical).

I had a friend ask me if I was an alarmist. First, I thought, 'what, like Dennis Quaid's freak brother and wife who think that all of Hollywood is out to kill them?' So, I googled it and was shocked to see some of the definitions as being faint of heart, pessimistic, voice of doom (my personal favorite). So, maybe there is an alarmist in us all and we have to choose not to embrace it...or we'll end up constantly running from the 'Star whackers' and become Hollywood refugees!'

Trials have broken my heart , but that's what life is about...working through things and enduring in your endeavor to find and put all of the pieces back together. The difference recently versus my childhood, is that the hope and belief that everything would be o.k. has been replaced with fear and trepidation...often masked as worry...and how harrowing is a task when you feel like it's outcome is hopeless?

This season, I've found that hope and faith ...and as quickly as heartache can push you down, a renewal of faith can buoy you up to higher ground.

I am thankful this season for so many wonderful people that love me...the best husband whom I love so dearly, the cutest boy in the whole wide world, parents who never want anything but my happiness, my brother who has always been such a great friend and example (whom Max asks for all of the time...Peeta...Peeta) , great friends, friends who care enough to ask if you're an alarmist, wonderful in-laws who love my family...I truly am overwhelmed with gratitude for all of my blessing...and here are some pictures of my two favorite!