As our family gathered together this morning for our devotional time, I asked the boys, “What are you grateful for this year? Why don’t we focus our thoughts on what we really appreciated in 2015.”
One by one, Micah, Jake and Caleb began to list all of the people, events, and things they could think of.
Here’s some of their list in no particular order of importance:
Papa Murphy’s Pizza
PEP (our Summer OC Mission Debriefing Program)
Nana and Grandpa
Grandma
All of our Family (Many of our Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins were listed)
Our Family Trip to Washington DC
The Happy Blue School
Overflow at Sunset Presbyterian Church (Micah’s High School Discipleship Group)
Our Trip to Gearhart and the Northern Oregon Coast
Claire, Mark and Piper
Burgerville
Being in the States for Most of the Year
Micah’s Trip to Athens, Pompeii, and Istanbul with Gordon and Jeannie
Alpha Omega Academy (Micah’s High School)
Erin and Teresa and Our Trip to Idaho
The Fourth of July Weekend in Manzanita at Grandpa and Nana’s Beach House
Red Robin
Our Morning Walks
Christmas Eve Service at Sunset Presbyterian Church
And more….
It was fun to listen to the boys share their highlights. They reminisced with delight! This was gratifying because although it has been an amazing year, 2015 had its share of challenges too. Every year does though. Every year is a collage of joys, sorrows, blessings, disappointments, victories, and defeats. As we remembered the year, we could have focused our discussion this morning on the pain and hardship. Micah, Jake and Caleb could have outlined a very specific list detailing their personal challenges and how they overcame some of them. They could have also shared their failures and disappointments. Because they happened too.
Not today though.
Today, we wanted to remember 2015 with gratitude.
Too often, we focus on the few things that wounded us, embittered us, or could have destroyed us. We forget the long, long, long list of blessings we received through the generosity of family and friends. We discount the wonder of the day to day and the joy of living life. We set our sights on what didn’t come to pass instead of what we did receive this year.
On this final day of 2015, I wanted our boys to remember this year with gratitude. For indeed, this year offered our family many joys – too many to count today – and that’s a wonderful thing!
I hope you can look back upon 2015 with gratitude too!
It’s a great way to end one year and begin another one – don’t you think?
insteadbless 
😀 Ah, only a little gratitude on my part. 2015 goes down as one of the worst years of my life so far, but it has set me up for a lot of good things in the year to come, I think, so for that I am grateful and proud. All the best to you and your family in the coming year!
Happy New Year, Evan! It’s great to hear from you! I’m sorry that 2015 was so difficult for you. However, I am glad you are looking ahead to this new year with hope and expectation. That’s the wonderful thing about a new year – it’s a wonderful way to begin again! My prayer for you is that your experience joy and fulfillment in your relationships, your work, and in the day to day moments of wonder! Love, heather
Thankfully we were blessed to have had the opportunity to see you all again and spend some time with you in DC. We pray God’s richest blessings and watch care over you all in 2016.
Thank you, Vicki! Spending time in the DC area and seeing you and Lee was one of John’s and my highlights! I hope you and Lee have an amazing new year! love, heather