I would be remiss if I didn’t say that 2024 has been a challenging year.
Sure, I could brush everything under the “digital” rug and claim that my heart is “BURSTING with thankfulness and gratefulness” this Thanksgiving – but that wouldn’t be entirely true.
I am very thankful today, but it’s a different kind of thankful.
I’ll share more in our upcoming Family Christmas Letter coming in just a few weeks, but it’s been a hard year. It’s been a year of learning, adjusting, and change.
And we’re still learning, adjusting, and changing.
Through it all, I’ve been learning to rely more fully on Jesus, to trust His plans and His timing, to enjoy and appreciate the “little” things more, and to be present in the current moment. We’ve said so many rounds of “Goodbyes” this year, it’s changed my perspective, my attitude, and my outlook on things – and in many ways, I still find myself grieving different losses at different times.
Today though, I’m most thankful for my family.
Derrick remains our rock, our consistent leader, the one who pushes us forward. He has worked harder than ever this year for our family and words truly do not encapsulate how grateful I am for him.
Braelynn how grown and matured this year in ways I could not have even imagined. She has a sensitive, thoughtful side (when she acknowledges it) and we’ve grown a lot together this year.
Leander keeps us laughing continues to grow into a sweet, caring gentleman. His random hugs and snuggles are precious and I love watching him grow and mature.
I am so thankful for my little family and our home together. The kids might fight and tensions might be high and I might not be able to see the floor, but there is no place I’d rather be than with my people.
We decided to do something completely different for our family photos this year. We always pick out fancy, cohesive outfits, go to a local park, and take photos in the fall (like a lot of people do!) But this year, since we don’t have our Abby-dog any more, we decided to switch it up and we went to KENNYWOOD!
Kennywood is our “home” amusement park and we’re there on a weekly basis anyway. So we figured: what better place to capture our family?
We picked an evening toward the end of summer, grabbed my sister Ellen, and went off to Kennywood for a fun evening! Kennywood park is SUCH a beautiful, photogenic place! I’d been planning this for weeks and had been scoping out locations every time we visited, but I felt like we found even more awesome locations around the park as we were just walking around. We had such an amazing time and I LOVE how our photos turned out! They PERFECTLY capture our family in this season of life.
And, because what is a post without photos? Here are a few of the family photos that my sister (and favorite photographer) Ellen took of us a few weeks ago (I’m obsessed with them!)
If you’d like to take a trip down memory lane, check out the last few year’s Thanksgiving posts where I highlight our family’s photos that Ellen has taken for us (maybe grab some tissues first – how are my babies growing so fast?!)
2023’s post: https://karaabbey.com/happy-thanksgiving-2023/
2022’s post: https://karaabbey.com/happy-thanksgiving-2022/
2021’s post: https://karaabbey.com/happy-thanksgiving-2021/
2020’s post: https://karaabbey.com/happy-thanksgiving-2020/
2019’s post: https://karaabbey.com/happy-thanksgiving-2019/
2018’s post: https://karaabbey.com/happy-thanksgiving-2018/
2017’s post: https://karaabbey.com/happy-thanksgiving-2017/
And 2016’s post: https://karaabbey.com/happy-thanksgiving-2016/
