Honestly, we’ve been really MIA on Facebook, Instagram, and here on the blog this week. I know this post is going up a day late, but instead of taking time to blog on Thanksgiving, we spent the entire day with family. For business purposes, being absent from social media, isn’t really a good thing- it’s actually not the best business move. But this was exactly what we needed. We needed intentional time with our family and each other. We spent time first taking Peterson family pictures on Thanksgiving morning with the pretty fresh snow and with the two new additions to the family since our last pictures two years ago!  After pictures were finished and my toes felt like ice cubes, we headed back to the Peterson home for that table full of food and the pants that would stretch to accommodate our full bellies. We spent the afternoon laughing and chatting with one another of family memories and inside jokes.

Because we took intentional time away from our phones this week, it gave us a lot of time to reflect on this year and what has happened for us and the things we are so very grateful for. Our lives have truly been blessed by our adding video to our business, our families and friends, our struggles, and our marriage. These are things that we are always so grateful for and that we constantly recognize, but we wanted to take a few minutes and really think about things that aren’t our typical answers, things that this year really have been huge blessings to us. 

1. Relationships. This year we have met some of the greatest people through our business. We have made incredible friendships and relationships with these people. From the woman named Julia that I met on the plane ride home from a conference to our “mentors” to our amazing couples. Our lives have been blessed and changed because of them and their hearts. They have taught us about love, trust, and true friendship. We have laughed, cried, and found a listening ear in these people. These are people we know would always be there to help us and we will always be there to help them. They are also the people we cheer on as they announce their pregnancy or acceptance into a school program. These are our people (Grey’s Anatomy anyone?!) Without all of these people, we would not be where we are now.
2. Time. At the Peterson’s Thanksgiving table we all wrote something we were thankful for; some answers were much more lengthy than others and then we get Logan’s one word answer- time. After we all got our laughs out, he told us he wanted to explain that. After the recent Paris attacks and other world tragedies, it brought into perspective for Logan and I how quickly things in our lives can change. We never know when it is our time or a loved one’s time to go. For that, we are so grateful for the time we’ve spent with them this year and for the time we still have here on this earth. It’s time we still have to serve and love others. And for this time we have been given, we are so grateful.
3. Bed. This year we have been lucky enough to travel quite a bit. We’ve stayed at condos, relatives, friends, and hotels. In each of these cases we have felt so grateful for the hospitality of friends and family. We have also felt so grateful for the chance to travel and be with each other, but as wonderful as Hawaii was or the chance to see Oregon and Texas or the many trips to Utah were, our bed has always given us the greatest sleep and comfort. Our sleep patterns have been all over the place this year, but we know that as soon as we get home our big bed is going to help us correct all those jet lagged, late nights, early mornings and tired minds. We also know that it’s our place for early morning snuggles as we put off working just a little bit longer every day.   I made this printable for our bedroom and I’m sharing the link with you to download it and print it out for your home! Ours is printed as a 16×20 and we did it at Alphagraphics! Click here for the link to download!

We hope that you took some time to put the phone down and be intentional with your time, to really focus on your loved ones and to enjoy the season of thanks and grateful hearts. Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!