30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 27

Today I am thankful for my two beautiful children. They fill my life with joy and laughter every single day. Their smiles can pull me from the darkest mood. Their sweet innocence, their fascination with discovering the world around them, their learning new things every day – all these things are a joy to watch. It is a great responsibility to be a parent, to be completely in charge of these young lives. I am responsible for keeping them safe, for teaching them how to survive in the world, and for teaching them to take care of that world, to be a positive part of it, and to leave it better off than they found it. I don’t take that responsibility lightly. But when I look at my children, I am proud and excited to have that responsibility. I know that with my help, and with the grace of God, they will grow to be a young man and a young woman that I am proud of.

I am thankful for Ryan and Katie.

Today, I am also thankful for educational television programming, classic children’s books, and the simple joy a small boy can find in a plastic dump truck.