Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday for more years than I can remember. I LOVE that I can make time to meditate upon my immeasurable blessings. It overwhems me when I think just how incredibly fortunate. And I don't truly deserve one. The fact that I was born into such an incredibly strong and loving family goes without saying. What doesn't is the fact that I won the lottery when it came to parents. Mine are to literally die for. And they have become surrogates over the years to my friends as well. A fotrune cookie once read, "You are a credit to your parents". But the truth is, when you have parents like mine you will do anything and everything to honor and reflect all the love, respect and integrity-given guidance they have give to me.
Another blessing has been the school district in which I live. 15 yrs. ago when my husband and I decided to buy our home we had no children. And one of two deciding factors on the home we selected was the strong school system. (The other was the 1/2 acre now almost non existent lot) which has also proven to be a great decision.
We knew that even if we never had rugrats, we wanted our home in this school district and the allotted schools. The value of our investment would be strengthened with its schools. And so far, they too have held their credibility. We do have some of the best schools for miles. And I don't take for granted a single moment that our children are receiving excellent public educations. Not only has our school earned the Excellence in Education rating for another year, there are several more in the district with this distinction.
Our district has faced many many struggles with incredible growth. In fact, we have been one of the fastest growing areas in the state. And our school have done what I consider to be their best effort to meet and forsee these challenges in a proactive manner. Not everything they do is on par, but no one's record is. Something that most people don't realize is that our school system has in place a children's well clinic. Not only do they reach to educate, they realize that if a child is ill, then they can't learn s easily and can sometimes fall behind. Healthcare has been the single most economic struggle for the majority of families. Many can't afford to go to the doctor due to the rise in healthcare prices. And others do not have the insurance to provide care for their kids. Our school district has maintained a free or sliding scale clinic to help alleviate these issues so kids can stay strong and healthy. Recently, their efforts have been helped by a 1/2 million dollar grant to build a free standing clinic to serve even more. In fact, if a parent has one child in the school district,then they will extend their health services to all children in the family.
Our school district has also held clinics on positive parenting tools held on Saturdays to help parents become stronger role maodels. I have personally attended this seminar and went home with many awesome tools to help turn difficult behavior around with my kids. What I didn't realize is that our schools are now equipped with interventionists and extensive training for teachers in our many schools. They help our kids as they proceed through difficult behaviors and life instances.
Which comes to my blessings today. One of the very best programs our schools have implemented is the mentoring program. I mention this to bring awareness, gratitude and recruitment to this exceptional program. For the past 4 yrs. I have mentored 2 incredible boys. Anyone who knows me has heard about these special fellas. Kids today have to face such incredibly painful life situations and problems. And the mentoring program has been established to let these kids know someone is there for them. We are their friend, sounding board, safety net, interventionist if needed, and just a buddy to listen and care. We joke, play games, listen to each other and at times have cried. I LOVE these boys!! And they teach me to be a better person. Who knew kids had such incredibly great advice and insight? Well I do.. now. Unfortunately, they learn through the university of hard knocks. The lessons hurt and don't come free. But they handle them with grace, character and humor.
Our school also hosts a wonderful Thanksgiving Meal w/our kids. And so I leave in a few minutes to begin the first of four lunches. I will be turkeyed out after today. And I will nibble at each meal.. Filling up on laughter, love and friendship. My two always look forward to having me with them at lunch as I with them. And I am honored to share a meal with my fellas. They think I am doing them a favor.. Little do they know.. It is an HONOR to have lunch w/them. I am a truly blessed parent in that I don't have resposibility which obligates me to be somewhere else. I also believe and know that each parent wishes they too could be there. So for the moms working, I thank you for your blessing. And for the father in heaven watching down upon us today and everyday, I hold this day in honor of you. You have a most incredible son..who I see you in..even though I never had the honor of meeting you. He is growing into an exceptional fella with his sights on you and the guidance and love from his mom. I will gladly eat as many turkey lunches to be blessed with 4 Incredible Kids!!
Who could ever ask for anything more? I am so abundantly over blessed~
So thank you for the turkeys...oh my!!
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