LEAH: Okay, she cannot write, read, or really even talk, so here is my translation of her answers. I am pretty sure she is thankful for cake. She really got into this cake on her birthday. Literally, she buried her hand clear to the bottom of the cake!
A - ba-ba - (that means food or her milk cup)
B - Dada - (self-explanatory)
C- Mama - (again, self-explanatory)
D - men - (this is what she says for Amen at the end of a prayer)
E - that - (when she is pointing at something she wants)
F - eese - (please)
G - this (pointing at something she wants and can reach)
H- Hi
Well, you get the picture. That is about the extent of her vocabulary so far. Give her a break, she is only 1.5 years old.
SARAH: Like Leah, she has a limited grasp on the alphabet and writing, but she can answer questions. So I sat down with her and asked her to tell me what she was thankful for that started with each letter. Sometimes I gave her suggestions of things that started with the correct letter, other times I just wrote down the first thing she said. Here is what Sarah is thankful for this year:
A- an egg
B- Bob the tomato
C- Apple
D- Dora splora and boots
E- Emma and elephants (She could not decide between the two!)
F- Fingers
G- God and gum
H- Happy Hippopotamus
I- Pillow case
J- Jesus
K- Kitty (or maybe katty, I was not sure)
L- Laughing
M- Me and mommy (she is thankful for herself and mommy)
N - Eyes
O- I like painting
P- Pee Pee on the potty!
Q- Clock
R- Click Clock
S- I lay down right here! (she had to adjust her position)
T- Crock pot, water and cracker, I need those for Christmas
U- Jesus
V- ummm, I love you!
W- My blocks and blocks
X- I want a computer for my birthday and a boat and a big house. This big!(she shows me with her hands, about 6 inches!)
Y- Pillow
Z- Daddies eyebrows (her attention span is about gone and she has started playing with my eyebrows)
Obviously, Sarah does not know her alphabet but she really thinks she is answering the questions. She is so cute. Not that I am at all biased!
RIAH: Now Riah is getting close to 7 years old and is very capable of doing this list. She wanted me to help her, and I did a little, but for the most part, I made her think about it and do it herself. Here is what Riah is thankful for in 2010:
Apples
Baby sister (that would be Leah)
Calvary Chapel (our church family)
Dogs (we do not have one, but maybe that is why she is thankful for dogs!)
Emma (I think she means her sister, not the neighbor next door)
Family (she actually likes us all!)
G- God
Help (either people helping her or her being able to help us)
Icicles (One of the words I mentioned to her and she liked)
Jesus
Keepsakes (all the girls have a box that they keep special things in. Mostly things that Brooke wanted to keep for sentimental reasons)
Lillie (a girl next door)
Mommy
Noni
Opal (because it is mommies birthstone)
People (she is just thankful for everyone in the world)
Quizzes (I guess she still likes school, although you wouldn't know it by how long she takes to do it)
Riah (either she is thankful for her name, or she is thankful that she is who she is)
Sarah (one of her younger sisters)
Toys (at 6 almost 7, toys are still important to her)
Umbrellas
Violins (Because she could not think of anything else that starts with V)
Winter
X-rays
Zoo (just not the peacocks! Click here if you do not know the story!)
EMMA: Emma is 9 now and loves to read, write and be creative, so I expected her to get into this assignment. Here is her list that she titled "The Thankful Alphabet, A to Z":
Authors in general and American Girl (her favorite book series)
Books (she reads a lot)
Cousins (does not have very many but is thankful for the ones she has)
Daddy (aww, how nice, she likes me!)
Ellie (her friend that lives next door)
Family and friends
God
Horses
Internet
Joys
Kindness
Lollipops
Lollipops
Mommy
Noni
Ocean
Power (Gods power)
Quilts
Rain (yes, my child likes rain! Where did I go wrong?)
Sisters (hers, not the mountains over by Bend!)
Tales (she likes to tell stories and listen to stories)
Umbrellas
Vans
Water
X-rays (I told her to get a dictionary and find something with X to be thankful for)
Youth Group (Not that she has been to one yet, she just thinks they will be fun)
Zoos (what else starts with Z)
BROOKE: Next is my beautiful wonderful wife. Once she finally sat down and write the list, she came up with 2 lists. One is a spiritual thankful list and the other is just things she is thankful for. Here is what she came up with:
Agape Love, Another year with my family
Belonging to Christ, Beavers (Oregon State University)
Christs sacrifice, Coffee (with a little fancy creamer)
Discipleship,Dates with John
Easter, Emma
Forgiveness, Friendship and fellowship
Grace, GPS
Heaven, Homeschooling
Isaiah, Internet
Jesus, John
Kindness, Kissing
Love, Leah
Mercy, Mom
New Life, Neighborhood
Omnipotence, Obedient children
Peace, Photography
unQuenchable thirst for the Word of God, Quiet
Redemption, Riah
Self-control, Sarah
Trinity, Telephone
Unchangable God, Unconditional love
Virgin birth, Video
Worship, Warm sunny days
eXtra grace, mercy, and love, eXtra dessert
Yahweh, You (yes you! : ))
Omega(its not a Z, but it is the last letter in the Greek alphabet and God says He is the Alpha & Omega, the first and the last.), Z the last letter of the alphabet
ME: Finally its my turn. I will try to not make this the same as last year, but that might be hard. We'll see. Here it goes:
BROOKE: Next is my beautiful wonderful wife. Once she finally sat down and write the list, she came up with 2 lists. One is a spiritual thankful list and the other is just things she is thankful for. Here is what she came up with:
Belonging to Christ, Beavers (Oregon State University)
Christs sacrifice, Coffee (with a little fancy creamer)
Discipleship,Dates with John
Easter, Emma
Forgiveness, Friendship and fellowship
Grace, GPS
Heaven, Homeschooling
Isaiah, Internet
Jesus, John
Kindness, Kissing
Love, Leah
Mercy, Mom
New Life, Neighborhood
Omnipotence, Obedient children
Peace, Photography
unQuenchable thirst for the Word of God, Quiet
Redemption, Riah
Self-control, Sarah
Trinity, Telephone
Unchangable God, Unconditional love
Virgin birth, Video
Worship, Warm sunny days
eXtra grace, mercy, and love, eXtra dessert
Yahweh, You (yes you! : ))
Omega(its not a Z, but it is the last letter in the Greek alphabet and God says He is the Alpha & Omega, the first and the last.), Z the last letter of the alphabet
ME: Finally its my turn. I will try to not make this the same as last year, but that might be hard. We'll see. Here it goes:
Almighty God
Blessed assurance of my salvation even when I stumble
Blessed assurance of my salvation even when I stumble
Changing Churches - This year we switched from going to Calvary Chapel Corvallis to attending Lebanon Calvary Chapel. Although we miss all our friends from Corvallis, it has saved us money and time. But more importantly has been very good for our spiritual growth in 2010 and we are able to serve more living in the same town instead of 30 minutes away.
Daughters, I have 4 of them and they bring great joy to my life, at least now while they are all under the age of 10!
Earth and all creation. The natural environment speaks so loudly of a creator it just boggles my mind that people can think that it created itself from nothing.
Freckles. Riah has lots of freckles and I just love them. I always tell her to be careful not to wash them off in the shower and make sure Emma doesn't steal anymore of them. Emma has just a few and I gave her a hard time that she stole them from her little sister!
Gods word. I get to read it everyday and study it to learn how to live the way God intended when He created all this.
Hobbies. I have a lot of them so I do not spend a lot of time on any of them. I also stay busy with the family, church and work so I do not have a lot of time for them. It is nice to know that I have things that I like to do if I ever find some free time to do them!
Ice cream. Yes I am thankful for Ice Cream. It is a very yummy dessert or main dish depending on the day and mood of the family.
Jesus. This letter has to be for Jesus. His sacrifice on the cross for my sins way back in the past is the only reason I have any of these things to be thankful for.
Kids. Children are a blessing from the Lord. I thank God everyday for the blessings He has given me and entrusted me to raise.
Love. I am thankful for the love of God, the love of my family and the love from my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Marriage. I am thankful for my marriage. God gave me a beautiful, wonderful, loving, caring wife that makes my life exponentially better than it would have been without her. Not to mention that today is our 15th anniversary!
Not stuck inside. Well, at least most of the time. I am thankful for a job that I can enjoy being outdoors and not stuck inside at a desk all the time. I am even thankful for this when the weather is bad. That should tell you how much I prefer being outside to being at a desk!
Oak trees. I am thankful for the Oak trees in our yard. Not as much this time of year because of all the work cleaning up their leaves, but the shade they provide in the summer is great.
Patience. I do not have a lot, but am learning it more as I raise my kids and just going through life. Things just do not always happen the way you think they should and you just have to have patience to know that it will be okay.
Questions from my daughters. I know this is the same as last year, but I really am thankful for the questions they ask because of the things it makes you think about and the entertainment value as well. Besides, Q is a difficult letter to find a word for. Especially when the dictionary is all the way across the room.
Resurrection. I am thankful that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ rose from the grave to defeat death and give us eternal life.
Snuggling with my daughters. They all like to cuddle up in my lap when we sit down to watch a movie. I really enjoy it when then do that too. Only about 2 at a time now. They are getting too big! Makes me want them to not grow up.
Thanksgiving. I am thankful that we have a holiday in this country that makes us think about what we have and all the reasons we have to be thankful.
Unmerited grace and mercy of God. I am thankful that God has given me blessings that I do not deserve (grace) and that he does not give me the punishment that I do deserve. (mercy)
Veggie Tales. I am thankful for these movies and shows with Biblical values. They are made for kids but I like them too. It also ties right into why I am thankful for the letter S.
Woodshop. I am thankful for my woodshop. I do not spend a lot of time in it, but it is there if I have the time. I really enjoy building things and having projects to work on. It will probably get used more when the girls all get older. What is my house going to be like with a bunch of teenage girls?
Xylography - That is the act or art of cutting figures into wood, in representation of natural objects. Okay, I did not know that, but I was looking in the dictionary for a word starting with X to be thankful for and found it. It kind of fits don't you think?
Yearning. I am thankful that God has given me a desire to know Him better and to live for Him to be an example to my family and those around me.
Zygodactylous! I just thought this was a cool looking word. It was almost the last one in the dictionary. I will let you look it up if you want to know what it means, but do not ask me how to say it!
Well, there you go. That is what the Jayne family is thankful for at Thanksgiving 2010.
Earth and all creation. The natural environment speaks so loudly of a creator it just boggles my mind that people can think that it created itself from nothing.
Freckles. Riah has lots of freckles and I just love them. I always tell her to be careful not to wash them off in the shower and make sure Emma doesn't steal anymore of them. Emma has just a few and I gave her a hard time that she stole them from her little sister!
Gods word. I get to read it everyday and study it to learn how to live the way God intended when He created all this.
Hobbies. I have a lot of them so I do not spend a lot of time on any of them. I also stay busy with the family, church and work so I do not have a lot of time for them. It is nice to know that I have things that I like to do if I ever find some free time to do them!
Ice cream. Yes I am thankful for Ice Cream. It is a very yummy dessert or main dish depending on the day and mood of the family.
Jesus. This letter has to be for Jesus. His sacrifice on the cross for my sins way back in the past is the only reason I have any of these things to be thankful for.
Kids. Children are a blessing from the Lord. I thank God everyday for the blessings He has given me and entrusted me to raise.
Love. I am thankful for the love of God, the love of my family and the love from my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Marriage. I am thankful for my marriage. God gave me a beautiful, wonderful, loving, caring wife that makes my life exponentially better than it would have been without her. Not to mention that today is our 15th anniversary!
Not stuck inside. Well, at least most of the time. I am thankful for a job that I can enjoy being outdoors and not stuck inside at a desk all the time. I am even thankful for this when the weather is bad. That should tell you how much I prefer being outside to being at a desk!
Oak trees. I am thankful for the Oak trees in our yard. Not as much this time of year because of all the work cleaning up their leaves, but the shade they provide in the summer is great.
Patience. I do not have a lot, but am learning it more as I raise my kids and just going through life. Things just do not always happen the way you think they should and you just have to have patience to know that it will be okay.
Questions from my daughters. I know this is the same as last year, but I really am thankful for the questions they ask because of the things it makes you think about and the entertainment value as well. Besides, Q is a difficult letter to find a word for. Especially when the dictionary is all the way across the room.
Resurrection. I am thankful that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ rose from the grave to defeat death and give us eternal life.
Snuggling with my daughters. They all like to cuddle up in my lap when we sit down to watch a movie. I really enjoy it when then do that too. Only about 2 at a time now. They are getting too big! Makes me want them to not grow up.
Thanksgiving. I am thankful that we have a holiday in this country that makes us think about what we have and all the reasons we have to be thankful.
Unmerited grace and mercy of God. I am thankful that God has given me blessings that I do not deserve (grace) and that he does not give me the punishment that I do deserve. (mercy)
Veggie Tales. I am thankful for these movies and shows with Biblical values. They are made for kids but I like them too. It also ties right into why I am thankful for the letter S.
Woodshop. I am thankful for my woodshop. I do not spend a lot of time in it, but it is there if I have the time. I really enjoy building things and having projects to work on. It will probably get used more when the girls all get older. What is my house going to be like with a bunch of teenage girls?
Xylography - That is the act or art of cutting figures into wood, in representation of natural objects. Okay, I did not know that, but I was looking in the dictionary for a word starting with X to be thankful for and found it. It kind of fits don't you think?
Yearning. I am thankful that God has given me a desire to know Him better and to live for Him to be an example to my family and those around me.
Zygodactylous! I just thought this was a cool looking word. It was almost the last one in the dictionary. I will let you look it up if you want to know what it means, but do not ask me how to say it!
Well, there you go. That is what the Jayne family is thankful for at Thanksgiving 2010.
