I am thankful that there is a simple word that can have an immediate impact on my mindset and outlook. That word is YET

As Elias wrapped his arms tighter around my neck, it hit me. Slow down. Stay in the moment.

It’s easy to focus on the first part - their confidence that God will provide, where the real growth came when I read the next six words.

And outside of the biggest events of our lives, it is our church that has provided consistent, Biblical teaching on a weekly basis.

“I don’t know where the kids are?” Rachel said with a smile on her face. I play along knowing full well that the kids are hiding from me.

There is so much to be thankful and often some of the greatest things I am thankful for is the unexpected kindness of strangers.

Standing around the table sorting our childhood Legos reminded me of thankful I am for the relationships that have grown around that table.

We’ve been through mountains and valleys over the past fifteen years but there is no other person I’d want to go through this life with.

Sometimes improvement happens through giant leaps but other times it’s one simple step in the right direction.

Instead of keeping my work to myself, what I really needed was to ship the work. That’s why I’m thankful for this process as a whole.

When I looked in my rearview mirror a few moments later, I saw the face of a 4-year-old engaged in worship.

Linnea and Elias, through some convincing and encouraging, moved from the sidelines to the game tonight...and discovered fun.

The hug of a child - there's nothing much better than that. Elias reminded me of it tonight before putting him down to bed.

Life is filled with storms. Everyone will experience them at some point. But peace is possible even in the middle of the worst storms.

Kids are born curious. Eventually, curiosity leads to creativity. Racecar cardboard boxes. Pillow and blanket obstacle courses.

Whether your university on wheels is a car or a lawn mower, either is an option when you add podcasts or audiobooks to the mix.

Whether stressed out about my future after one of my last college baseball games or I hit my first-ever home run, my parents were there.

I am good at planning for tomorrow, next month, or next year - but living inside of today is often a struggle.

Moving the two feet of snow from my driveway gave me ample time to reflect. "Why do we live here?" was followed by thoughts of “that’s why."

Thank You, Veterans.