Yes, I am so thankful! Happy Thanksgiving 2012

How did we arrive at Thanksgiving 2012?  I mean it seems like yesterday we were starting a new year and here we are at our grand national holiday.  Thanksgiving is more than what we have reduced it to: a mere ushering in of the Christmas season and the eve of black Friday.  And of course, this year the powers to be tell us that Thanksgiving Day itself should be spent shopping earlier and earlier!!

But Thanksgiving stands on it's own merits.  It is an awesome family holiday, a grand national holiday and day of wonderful, beautiful memories and awesome traditions.  Yet each celebration is a new opportunity to give thanks, to reflect, to pray, to reconnect and possibly start new traditions.

For this year, Thanksgiving 2012 comes in a year of great change and immense joy.  I will start my day with some early morning reflection time, then attending Mass with my Most Holy Trinity family and returning to my country home for a quiet celebration and dinner with Wendy and Elizabeth.  There will be the watching of parades and football but then after dinner, we will Skype with my North Carolina family and #1 grandson.

So that leads me to declare on this eve of the our grand national holiday of thanks that I am thankful for, among other things:

My Father, Almighty God, who has blessed me and my family with his abundant graces, love and mercy.

My Lord and Savior, the only begotten Son of the Father, Jesus the Christ.  He saved me by His blood, His sacrifice on the Cross and He continues to draw closer to me as draw closer to Him.

My source of power, strength and encouragement, the Holy Spirit. 

My incredible wife of now 35 years, a true life partner, the one created by God intended for me, my Wendy.  And the knowledge that I was created for her by God.  Together, we are partners on our way to holiness and eternal life.  I love my wife dearly. 

My phenomenal children, Jimmy and Elizabeth, who have given us great joy in both their childhood, and now as young adults; successful and talented.  Love my two amazing children!

***Here comes the biggest news from 2012, I am thankful for my #1 grandson, Calvin Tyler, born on September 6th to Jimmy and his incredible wife Sara.  I am so thankful that he is big and healthy and beautiful.  I am thankful that Wendy and I got to NC in time to see him just 1 day after birth and spent the first week of his life with him.  I am so thankful for my 3 day weekend visit with Calvin, just me and my NC family.  Love, love, love my little man!

Thankful for the incredible friends He has placed in my life.

Thankful for Aimee and Keith; friends that always go the extra mile for me.

I am so thankful for the ministry of my Permanent Diaconate.  Thankful that I minister to the people at MHT parish in Covington and the men of Rayburn Correctional Center.  Thankful that I am a Deacon, I do what I am called to do and that a Deacon is about being.  And it is another manner in which I can offer praise and worship to God.

I am thankful that I followed my heart and my head and after 18 years changed jobs.  I am thankful to my former employee and the wonderful people I worked with over the years.  And I am also thankful that I decided to leave an impossible situation with class and dignity.

I am thankful for my new professional family at FNBC Bank and the new people in my life that I work with.  For a professional organization that values people first over numbers and profits.

I am thankful for my life in Abita Springs.

I am thankful for the challenges, difficulties and storms in my life, they help to shape and mold me into a better person.  They help me to see God's hand in everything and to not take things for granted.

I am thankful for a wonderful country, flawed as she may be from time to time and that we still live free.

I am thankful for the 6 month Bible study I facilitated this year; what an awesome gift to grow in His word.

I am thankful for the Eucharist; truly "thanksgiving".

I am thankful for one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church; Holy Mother Church.

I am thankful for beautiful autumn weather.

I am thankful for Pop Tarts.

I am thankful that I can watch I Love Lucy reruns and The Walton's reruns.

I am thankful that I am 100% LSU, Geaux Tigers, LSU forever.

Yes, I am thankful for the Who Dat nation; Geaux Saints.

I am thankful for the state of Louisiana, again, flawed as she may be; she is the only state I have ever lived in and will probably always live in.

Did I mention I am thankful for Calvin.

I am thankful for all the babies I baptized, couples I married and families whose hands I held in both their joy and their grief.

I am thankful for Purple Haze, not the song, the beer.

I am thankful for my blog.

Yes, I am thankful to have reconnected with so many friends on facebook while making new friends along the way.

I am thankful for the garden Wendy, Aimee and Keith tended this past year.

And yes, I am thankful for all the many blessings in my life.

Did I mention #1 grandson, Calvin: