So for those of you that stumble upon this blog, I have an idea for you - 10 days of thanks.

Thanksgiving is a week and a half away, and I choose to start giving thanks today. On your blogs, or to your family, or at your job, or to total strangers, start giving thanks today. Tell people how thankful you are that you know them. Tell your family how thankful you are to to be associated with them. Pick up your kids and whisper your praise in their ears. If you can't touch those that you are thankful for, send them a hand-written letter that paints a picture of your thanks. Give thanks to those around you. 10 days of thanks, culminating in a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Don't let Thanksgiving be just a transition day that fires the start gun of the Christmas shopping season.

I will post each day something that I am thankful for. I will make notes throughout the next 10 days that I intend to present to my family at our Thanksgiving table. I challenge you to start this year making Thanksgiving a true time of giving thanks.

My first post of thanks: My Family.

I am thankful for my Heavenly Father. He never lets me stay down when I fall. I am thankful that He lets me fall, because I can then be compassionate for others when they do the same thing. I love my wife dearly. She is responsible for the joy in my life, and life would not be worth it without her. My kids are great kids. They allow me to have fun, and they teach me how to be a parent. They are both my sanity and my insanity, and I would not trade the wild ride of fatherhood for anything in the world.

My mom and dad are fountains of inspiration. They teach me how to be a good parent, and they kept me tethered to God through prayers when I tried to run. Without them, I wouldn't know how to be a husband, father, and man of God. I love my sister and brother-in-law. They show me the meaning of "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

I have aunts, uncles, cousins, and nieces spread from sea to shining sea (literally.) I have family in the frozen tundra of Alaska, the lush garden of Seattle (even though the lush green comes from depressing rain), the frying pan of Texas, the hills of Tennessee, the valleys of Mississippi, and the crawfish pot of Louisiana. My heart is full of thanks for all of my kinfolk. I won't thank each one individually, because it would make for a very lengthy post. I do have to mention one specifically corny thing that my Aunt Latrice will appreciate (because we are both corny.) I think of the Hay family every time I open my freezer. They live in Alaska, and the freezer reminds me of the frozen tundra.

I am thankful for my church family. Through times where you get punched in the mouth by situations, they wrap their arms around you and make you feel like a million dollars. God shows me how to love without bounds through my church family.

I am a dearly blessed man because of all of these. Thank you, Lord - help me to see these things that I am thankful for each day.

That is my first post of thanks. Tomorrow - Friends.

Your turn.