I have had several families ask us how we celebrate Thanksgiving since we have several various nationalities and cultures in our home.  Well - we do have a few differences, but nothing too strange!  Since my husband is not a turkey person, we do chicken instead.  We keep all the other trimmings, but we add rice and occasionally eggrolls to the table for the Asian food lovers.  Occasionally we have other families from the area in to celebrate it with us.  It’s a great way to introduce foreigners in particular to our Lord and Savior as we reminisce on God’s goodness.  Our most favorite part of Thanksgiving is the praise and testimony time.  Many years ago I purchased plain vinyl placemats for each child.  (As God gives us another child at our table, we add another placemat for him/her.) Before we partake of the Thanksgiving meal, we all take our placemats and grab a handful of permanent markers in various colors.  Then we choose a small 3″x3″ area of the placemat to write and illustrate what we are most thankful for that year.  Each year it’s fun to look over every person’s placemat to see how their praises have changed and how they’ve matured physically and spiritually.  We always chuckle over Daddy’s because each year he draws a picture of God with his arms around each family member.  About every two or three years, another family member with his/her unique features is added to the fold.  The toddlers’ placemats have pictures of their blankets, pacifiers, and bears.  Then that special year comes where there is a picture of the cross to signify that they were saved and added to God’s family that year.  Occasionally there is a picture of heaven to remind us that a loved one has gone on to be with the Lord that year.  After we are done praising the Lord for all his blessings, we then enjoy the food God has bountifully given us.

This year we plan to add on another new tradition.  We are going to see how long of a list we can make of ALL the blessings God has given us.  In preparation, we’ve purchased a big roll of paper and we’re going to see if we can make it stretch across the whole house.  No large writing allowed!  Sometimes it’s good for us to remember all the little blessings, not just the big ones!  We also plan to open God’s Word see how many different passages of thanksgiving we can find.  Last, but not least, we plan to discuss how we as a family can reach out in practical ways to other families with the blessings God has bestowed upon us.  To end tomorrow evening, Grandpa plans to come over to spend the evening with us.  He’s bringing a dramatized story of the First Thanksgiving in America so that the children in particular can be reminded of God’s goodness shown to America.  (We now have this audio CD, Thanksgiving, A Time to Remember, available in our bookstore, www.godseternalmasterpiece.com if you would be interested in it for your family.)

As you celebrate Thanksgiving, may you, too, take the time to remember what an awesome God we serve.  May our children see that we have been blessed beyond measure each and every day of the year.  Most of all, may they see for themselves God’s most special gift to mankind - His only Son!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Everytime we see our children, we can’t help but praising the Lord for allowing us the awesome privilege of raising 7 children for Him.  They are special gifts sent straight from Lord himself.  God gave me the joy of giving birth to our first six children.  Because of their Filipino/Chinese blood, they were little and petite.   One of my doctors had said that I probably wouldn’t be able to have any children after a tumor was removed a month after the birth of my 2nd child.  However, God in his awesome power allowed us to have 4 more beautiful children.  God then turned our hearts to another avenue for receiving these special gifts of children.  As we began opening our eyes to the hurting world around us, we soon saw that there were many children right here in our own country that needed loving families, spiritual upbringing, and a home to call their own.  Although we knew that the child may not come as a little newborn, we said yes to the ministry of opening our home and family to children from other places in this world.  Soon after that God placed a handsome little infant boy into our home.  (No, that’s not quite right.  He was actually a big baby (compared to my babies) and he rapidly put on more weight when we began feeding him on a schedule. We were given a 20 minute warning before he was to be handed over to us.  Although he was constantly wanting to eat and needed special attention in various ways, we and our children quickly fell in love with this bundle of energy.  Before too long, I heard those special words “Mama” and my husband heard “Dada”.  Little Jonathan was constantly wanting to dress up in his brother’s medieval outfit.  When he was only 15 months old, he would tromp through the house with his foam sword, the cape and shield, sunglasses, and my high heels!  He’d have a silly grin on his face and he would quickly get my attention no matter what I was doing!  It soon became apparent that Jonathan had a few extra challenges to work through.  His language skills waned, but that didn’t stop him from singing a bunch of Sunday School tunes with every note in tune perfectly.  Play a classical number and he’ll hum along with it almost immediately.  Maybe he can’t speak, but he sure is brilliant with music!  Isn’t that just like God?  Although He may allow one weakness in a person’s life, He balances it out with a strength in another area.  What an awesome God! 

October 6 was a very special day for us because on that day we adopted Jonathan and gave him our name.  Although Jonathan didn’t realize what was going on, we realized it fully with somberness and yet an air of celebration.  Everytime I get him up in the morning and everytime I tuck him in, I can’t help but thank the Lord for giving us Jonathan in such a unique way.  I can’t even imagine what life would be like without Jonathan there to teach us patience, perseverance, and humor.  It’s an awesome thing to think that God also adopted me - with all my imperfections and weaknesses.  He loved me and accepted me just the way I was.  As God continues, Lord willing, to give us more “special gifts” in various shapes and sizes and with different strengths and weaknesses, I pray that we will not only be thankful, but that we’ll always remember God’s unfailing love shown to each of us every day of our lives.

For more resources on parenting and God’s gift of children, check out www.godseternalmasterpiece.com.