Thanksgiving will be here before we know it! If you're like us, you have an extra pumpkin around the house right now. I'd like to challenge you to Thirty Days of Thankfulness for the month of November. By the end of the month, you'll have one thankful pumpkin on display to kick off the holidays! You'll also have a family that realizes they have much to be thankful for! I thought of this idea one year when I was visiting family. I was trying to think of a way to use a little pumpkin that my niece and nephew had for decoration. So we sat around the table and tried to list everything we were thankful for. As they contributed, I wrote keywords with a marker all over the pumpkin. Even when we were done with our brainstorming activity, they would think of things to add to our thankful pumpkin. It's a simple yet meaningful activity that encourages children (and adults) to find things they are grateful for in their lives. When you're not writing on it, place the pumpkin in a spot where everyone can see it every day. It serves as a reminder, not only for all the good things in life, but also to continue the challenge with quality family discussions. If you made these decorative pumpkins, and don't want to save them, you could paint them a neutral color and write or paint all over them too. We're going to use a regular picked-from-the-patch pumpkin in our house. The following document gives brief instructions for this activity. You can clip it to the fridge for this year and/or file it away for next year if you'd like. Or, you can make the conversation more interesting by cutting out the prompt strips from the document and placing them in a jar or container. Each day when you sit down to write on your thankful pumpkin, you can have your child choose a strip to start the discussion. The author believes that this activity: - Brings families closer together - Creates family debates - not enough information - Creates family arguments
Brings families closer together

Manny had Bob Marley cranking on the stereo, his van was full of passengers, and the air conditioning was working after a long week of giving him trouble. The sun beat down on the wet-looking asphalt road that ran along the harbor, next to the concrete waterfront. It curved along in front of the brightly colored Dutch Colonial warehouses of Charlotte Amalie, which were now converted restaurants and jewel shops. Tourists in day-glo shirts and daubs of sunscreen rubbed over peeling skin crowded both sides of the waterfront road. Manny slowed somewhat, keeping an eye on them. On the sidewalk by the shops a tall black man stood by a food cart. The hand-painted wooden sign hanging from the cart's side had faded letters. The man wore a grand suit with tails, like an orchestra conductor, and a top hat perched on his shaved head. A cigar burned in his mouth. For a brief second he held Manny's attention. Then the food cart's owner stepped forward and the strangely dressed man disappeared. Manny looked at the other side of the road. A white girl with oval shaped sunglasses and pink leather pants stepped off the sidewalk into the road in front of his van. He slammed on the brakes, trying to dodge her, but the van couldn't respond that fast. Her ponytail flew up towards the windshield and her head struck the star-shaped hood ornament. She bounced along the asphalt. Manny weaved the van to a stop, with swearing from the passengers in the back. He opened the door and stepped out into the heat. Get up, stand up, the radio cried out, and that was what Manny hoped would happen. He hoped that she would at least just stir and be okay. But she just lay there. Manny saw the man in the coat tail suit: - not enough information - at the same time that he saw the girl with the oval sunglasses - before he saw the girl with the oval sunglasses - after he saw the girl with the oval sunglasses
before he saw the girl with the oval sunglasses

My mom has been married three times, (nothing against her) and the first two times ended up a total mess. My dad, the first one, ended up just being a shot gun wedding. He was abusive and too young to be married with a child. They got divorced shortly after. A couple years later she met a man named Rob. He was fun, loving, kind, great with me, everything she had been looking for. They dated for.. a few months I think? Maybe a year. Then they got married and we moved to Texas. They were married for 5 years and she was just as miserable those 5 years. He was mean, he lied about everything, he was addicted to porn and stole from his job. He was controlling and wouldn't let anyone else handle money. It was a rough house to grow up in and hard on my mom as she tried to keep me from the abuse. Eventually he cheated on her with one of her best friends and she kicked him out. I didn't even notice he was gone for a week because he was so absent in my life. He apologized, turned into the man she first met and they tried again. He again cheated on her and she left him again, that time for good. They ended up finalizing the divorce a year later. I remember her telling me that she confronted him about his change of character and he had told her "Everyone puts on an act at first." As if it was a normal thing. He had depression and I believe he wanted everyone to be just as miserable as he was. After they got divorced he had on and off again relationships, got a girl pregnant and got married, then she divorced him. He lived with his cousin for a while. The only stability he ever had was with my mom and I. I think that's why he wanted to leave. Stability meant he had to become an adult and he didn't want to have to take responsibility. Who was too young to be married with a child? - The second husband - The third husband - not enough information - The first husband
The first husband