I’ve been thinking so much lately about Thanksgiving and the meanings behind it.  When I was young, we learned about the first Thanksgiving – how the Pilgrims moved here, and how the Indians taught them how to farm here, and what animals and plants could be eaten. We were taught that first Thanksgiving was a day of sharing food between the Pilgrims and Indians- the Pilgrims were thankful for their new friends, for their new country, and thankful to God for bringing them through such hard times.

Why is it so hard for us to be so thankful? We as a country have so much to be thankful for.  While we are at war, we are not being attacked on our own soil (at least, not for now).

Our healthcare system isn’t perfect, it’s much better than what many countries have. Even the poorest people in our country have access to basic healthcare.

Our political system isn’t perfect either, but it works pretty well, for the most part. Folks get into leadership positions – and when they don’t do what they say they’ll do, sometimes they get sent back home.

And our economic system isn’t perfect. But I’m glad I live in a place where I can work for what I want, and no one can tell me that there are limits to what I can earn, or what I can buy, if I have the money to do it.

So, I’m thankful to be living where I am.

If you don’t have a reason to be thankful, look around you. If you’ve got a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear, you have more than most people in the world.

Give thanks in all things!

Mayor Joe Waller of Goshen called me a couple weeks ago, and invited the bikers from this area to come be a part of Goshen Elementary’s Veteran’s Day Program. Louis, Steve B., Angel and I were among those from the area to ride over and we had a great time.

We gathered at the Eagle’s Nest, and after mounting the bike flags, we headed to the school. All the kids were outside, lining the driveway to the school. I think each child had a flag and they were waving and cheering for us – what a great way to welcome the veterans in the group!

After we lined up outside, the kids marched into the auditorium and invited  us to join them. They had set aside seats at the front for all the guests.  The guest speaker was Mr Gene Nelson, who is retired military. He gave a good talk on what it means to be a veteran, and how we can show appreciation to them. One point he made was that the way the kids behaved during the program showed honor to the vets who were present.

Then he showed us how to fold the United States flag, and what each fold means.  To read something similar to what he said, check out this link.

The program finished up with a slideshow – children and members of the community brought pictures of their family members who have served in the military, and these were displayed, listing each person’s name and the names of those who submitted the pictures. I saw at least one child’s family had service members back to World War II. They will continue to add pictures to the slideshow each year to honor our veterans.

All in all, it was a wonderful program, and the slideshow made Veterans Day more real to the kids who were there. It put faces to names- I’m sure each child who brought pictures were very proud to see their family members in the presentation.

I can’t believe it’s November – the old saying about life is so true: Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes. I’m on the older side of 50 now, so I guess I’m on the downhill slide.

So many things going on here now, I thought I’d give you a general update along with my thoughts on them.

• our oldest son Brandon and his family moved up here from Crestview week before last. The girls are enrolled in school and for the most part are enjoying it. Dyllan will start this week (he moved up the week after everyone else).  They all attended their first Luverne High School football game on Friday night and seemed to have a good time. Brandon explained the basics of the game to them, and how to read the scoreboard, so they got very enthusiastic every time Luverne had the ball. it’s been so much fun being able to see the kids every day.
• we just adopted a miniature schnauzer a couple weeks ago. Her name is Tinkerbell and she’s 8 weeks old tomorrow. She gets along well with Cookie the shih tzu, and all three cats: Ricky Bobby, Garfield and Junior. She thinks she’s a rottweiler from the way she behaves, jumping on Cookie and wrestling him to the ground over any toys he’s got that she wants. I’m working on getting her used to the sound of the bikes so I can teach her to ride with me.
• our pastor’s last day was last Wednesday night, so our church is officially looking for a new pastor. We had a guest speaker yesterday morning, and last night we had a short devotional. I know this will be a challenge to our church, but I believe we’re going to grow together through this, and it will make us stronger as a family.
• our town’s homecoming weekend is next April, and we’re starting the planning meetings soon- I hope to have as many good workers this time as we did for the first one. We want to grow it into a nice festival and I think we’ve laid the groundwork for it.

Now, I’ve got to start getting my Christmas list together, and start working on our family’s Christmas card.