Black Friday....

Today is black Friday. Which lets be honest, is kind of a depressing name. Yet for me, this day does not hold countless stores, lines, debit card charges or merchandise. For me it holds a few different things. One thing is that every “day after Thanksgiving” my mom halls all the Christmas decorations out in hopes of sprucing up our house to reflect the festivities of the season. This, I love for it brings back all the warm fuzzies of what the Christmas season consistently holds: good food, family and really catchy Christmas songs. But another thing this post-thanksgiving day holds for me is a reflection of the day before. I don’t know about you, but Thanksgiving itself is often too busy to actually give any sufficient time for meaningful, well thought out gratitude. Especially this year, I found myself, so busy enjoying the day that I didn’t really take a breather to let my God know what I really thought. So today, on Black Friday I want to take a moment to actually share the gratitude that seems to be, at this very moment, overflowing from my heart. In making my annual thanksgiving day list, there were a few things that really stuck out to me. Two of them being additions to our family and one of them being a simple fact of geography. Let me explain. On November 6, at about 8:08 am Joshua Top Statema was born into this world. My brother and sister-in-law, who live in Minneapolis, Minnesota had their first born, and since the winterizing job that I had been doing was just finishing up, I was able to take off with my family to go see the little bundle of joy. Now I'm going to be honest, infants scare me to death. I mean they are so fragile. They are so dependent on you, they need constant attention, and you don't even know what they are thinking. I usually pass on holding the new ones because I have these weird fears that they will suddenly stop breathing while in my arms or they will start crying and I will have no idea how to fix whatever ails them. However, for the first time ever I actually enjoyed holding an infant. Joshua is an adorable little guy and I can't wait for him to grow up to see what kind of a guy he will be! Plus, even though it could be argued that I have some bias as his aunt, he's actually really really cute as opposed to some infants who look a little funny when they pop out of the womb. So on this post thanksgiving day, I give thanks to God for Joshua! The second addition to our family is a little more recent. For the longest time, about 3-4 years, I've been trying to convince my parents to get another dog. Though such a small thing as having an animal in the house might not matter to some, it really does to me. The love and joy that a dog brings is truly priceless. However, my parents remained unconvinced! In considering the prospect of moving home for a while, a dog was something that I was truly praying for! Well, a few weeks ago, unbeknown to me my mom had discovered Craig's list and stumbled upon an advertisement for a free Chuawawa. Out of many responders to this ad, the owners chose ours to impart the dog to. They were getting ready to move to Tijuana to work as missionaries for the CRC world mission. They chose our family and we are now the proud owners of CoChu, our cute little five pound bucket of fun! God does answer prayers and I am grateful for that on this day after thanksgiving.
Finally, I am thankful for my current geography! One of the hardest prayers for me to offer up sometimes are prayers of thankfulness for my location in the world. When I missed my family and friends while I was Venezuela, it was hard to be thankful for my presence there. When the heat in my third floor apartment in California was unbearable, it was hard to show gratitude for my presence there. But this thanksgiving, I am so incredibly grateful for a chance to just BE home! True, as the weather gets colder I do long for warmer days where wearing flip flops actually makes sense. True, Zeeland Michigan does not offer a whole lot of choices for weekend activities and adventures. But, it does offer so much more in the richness and simplicity of just being with family and friends in a familiar and beautiful place. The pace of my life has dramatically slowed down, but with that pace change I have found my life abundantly overflowing with simple joys filling each day: Walks taken through the woods with cousins and aunts, books read quietly in coffee shops, cookies made lovingly for my family, pumpkins creatively carved in a pole barn, movies watched in homes and theaters, runs in spandex and layers through winding trails, kisses given to grandma's and little cousins, little kid soccer games watched on a fall morning, church services attended with familiar faces, old friends rediscovered, winter storms observed from the warmth of my window, barn yard games played for hours with cousins in the chill of fall, Thanksgiving day spent for the first time in three years with my own family, and time spent idly just being in my favorite place in the world.
So though life looks much much different than living in LA, I find myself brimming with thankfulness for all that God has subtlety filled my life with here! How can I not give thanks on this black Friday for all that I already have. Ahh the simply joys of living!! Though I still have no clue what is next, I realize that what God has asked me to do now is to just be and enjoy, And so here I am, doing just that! Continuing to breathe deeply!