It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Okay, I confess my little one and I are a bit ahead of ourselves ushering in the holiday season, but we’re still singing and laughing as we go up and down the store aisles, oblivious to any stares from fellow shoppers. We’re not THAT loud, and it is a wonderful time of the year.
Happy Thanksgiving
I’m getting happy boosts every time I turn on the cooking channels, or see my one neighbor who breaks out the lights and wreaths weeks before Thanksgiving. High Five for initiative!
People are generally kinder during the winter holidays, and I have such tender memories of cooking, laughing, and family during Thanksgiving and Christmas. My Grandma would take me to church, and my Aunt would have so many friends and family over that the “kid’s table” was generally in some separate space where we’d binge our pint-sized bodies on pineapple coconut cake and sweet potato pie, among other delectable sweets.
Moving Up to the Big Table!
I’m truly thankful to be alive and raising my family in the 21st century. You have to admit it was pretty different just one century ago. My Grandma’s stories of how she gathered eggs and churned butter as a preschooler, then stored them in an icebox (precursor to the refrigerator) still has me shaking my head. Then there was her talent in wringing chicken necks and de-feathering them, which left me slightly traumatized when first witnessing her technique. Yikes!
Family Gathered: Near and Far!
Finally, and most importantly, I’m thankful that my Heavenly Father loves me, and through His Son has given me an example of how to live a life of compassion and forgiveness in my everyday relationships. I’ve experienced both great joy and heartache in my life, but the Lord has been the source of strength in all my circumstances. So, please share with me and The Exceptional Life family this week…
What are you thankful for? Share stories, pictures, video, the floor is yours!
The post took me down memory lane, and after popping through a few more country links I saw his bucket list of the most amazing places he hoped to visit in the future.
Whoa, I actually visited a few countries mentioned, and Jem…they are truly, truly, truly outrageous! He asked for reader suggestions, and I hoped to offer some place special where he could make memories of a lifetime. My travels have taken me many, many places, across five different continents. I finally settled on…Cambodia.
The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
What! Wait, why? Here’s the background:
My grandmother, God rest her soul, was known to be generous to a fault. Not the here’s a buck until you get on your feet generous. She was the real deal growing up people! The stay at my house, let me feed you dear, accompany you to the doctor and pray with you until things get better type of generous woman. Growing up there were people constantly staying with us “for a while,” and it didn’t seem odd at all that they came and went until I married and started my own family.
As a young wife and mom I changed, and became laser focused on my immediate household. If it didn’t concern the individuals within the four walls of my home I didn’t look twice, but during one family visit I noticed my Grandma was sick and it terrified me. She was dying, and I selfishly was not ready. When what I later describe as a complacency fog slowly began to lift off my life, I started praying for her and noticed she was also praying for me! My memories of Grandma were always of her serving others, praying for them and praying for me. She would sing soft, sweet songs of praise and worship while cooking and cleaning, and talk to me about being humble and thankful for God’s blessings. As I grieved her passing, I became closer to God by asking for forgiveness for living such a closed and selfish life. One day during housework, I began to sing songs of praise, smiled and thought, Grandma’s here!
Shortly afterwards my travel for work increased, and I hoped for opportunities to make a difference in someone’s life. During my travel throughout SE Asia, God answered every one of my prayers, and I returned home fundamentally changed.
Palace grounds in Phnom Penh
Before arriving in Cambodia I knew its basic history, involvement in the Vietnam War and the genocide that claimed up to a quarter of its population. Nothing prepared me for the realization of actually visiting and working with men and women one generation removed from those events and elbow deep into rebuilding an entire government to modern day standards. From the humbleness of the medical students I worked with, to the gentleness and shyness of the children playing in what we would sadly describe as garbage dumps, I felt calm even in the midst of the many apologies everyone gave ME for arriving during the wet, rainy season. As if I controlled the weather!
Worksite in Sihanoukville
Experiencing life through another’s eyes, and seeing how other cultures, faiths and norms exist just saturated the already deep and abiding love I have for my Grandma. I come from a long line of amazing women, and through faith and God’s grace can pass on the legacy of generosity to my children. My Grandma taught me with her life to pray, love and give. Cambodia opened my eyes to the reality of what man is capable of: heartache and resilience, beauty and redemption. Hopefully that makes it worthy of the Bucket List.
Visitor at the worksite
My prayer is that each of you has the opportunity to visit that special place, your Cambodia, where life shocks your socks and you’re forever changed. You are valuable, so special, and created for a purpose. You were created to live The Exceptional Life.
The Exceptional Life 