Thanksgiving is for Family - all kinds of family

From Ane:

Thanksgiving is especially poignant this year. Another family member, my dear sister-in-law -- my brother's wife, Dora, went home to be with the Lord just a couple if months ago. I'm thankful for the twenty years she was in our lives.

I'm thankful for my husband of 37 years. We have a new Thanksgiving tradition. We go to the home of friends of our son, Greg's. I'm thankful for their welcoming spirit.

On a day we think of family, I want to focus on my writing family: I'm thankful for the ladies of Novel Journey (my critique partners) along with ACFW, are a family. A special one to me. I'm thankful God led me to them.

I'm thankful for my friend and mentor, Diann Hunt, and for her successful surgery.

But most of all, I'm thankful for a Savior who loves me in spite of me. That's grace.

From Gina:

Every year we do this I worry I'm going to leave out someone important. This year, I decided to just limit it to what I'm thankful for at this moment.

I'm writing from the porch of Jessica's house. She invited my boys and I to spend the holiday with her family. I stopped on the way up and had lunch with my good friend, Cindy Sproles who dropped everything at the sound of my voice to meet me. My boys, Jacob and Levi are laughing, chasing Jessica's daughter around the yard.

Jess' husband, Scott served us coffee and Jess kissed him. I'm thankful for that too. For friends and love and children and laughter. That's what I'm thankful for at this moment. And I'm thankful to you who cared enough to read this.


From Jessica:

This has been such an incredible year and there's so much to give thanks for. First, I am deeply grateful for the friendship I have with Ane and Gina. To find one golden friend (and I'm not talking about Ane's age) would be lucky, but to find two such friends is simply amazing.

Recently the International House of Prayer (yes I-Hop) has opened and Nashville, and I'm thankful that among other things the group prays for Christians in the arts. I'm grateful to God for leading me there to heal.

I'm thankful for Watermelon Ministries for allowing me to be part of them.

Lastly, I'm thankful for my husband and daughter for reasons I don’t need to explain.