Ya-Ya Sisterhood of the Traveling Underpants

Recently I was able to spend a weekend in Florida with all my sisters and my mom.   We had a great time in Florida, celebrating my baby sis’s 50^th bday.

 (what happens on Marco Island, STAYS  on Marco Island:)

We absolutely have a ya-ya sisterhood.  Now that I think about it-- it is more blah blah.  We all talk at once and no one listens:)  Also there weren't any traveling underpants that I know of, but there were some that went missing….enough said.

  

Like everyone else, I am eternally grateful for my family,   but I don’t get to see my extended family much.  It takes effort to keep in touch, to be a part of each other’s lives, to keep each other updated. We hadn't all been together for over three years.   Keeping in touch with them is important to me, so I work at it, just like they do. 

Not just effort, It takes LOTS of effort.  

 It was pretty much an act of God to get all of us to Florida.  We are spread out across the USA from California to Iowa, to Chicago, to North Carolina. One of them still has junior high/high school age kids.

Lots of arranging and traveling had to happen. 

We won’t all be together again for awhile unless there is a wedding or a funeral.

OR we are intentional to do it... 

I am thankful for them.

Being thankful is good stuff.  I do a lot of that myself along with the rest of you this time of year.  

But sometimes I wonder, is that enough?

  Are we just a bunch of fat cats sitting around purring out our thankfulness, then yawning, and falling asleep like a good Garfield does after he eats a full tray of lasagna?

Are we lazy in our thankfulness?

It is pretty easy for many of us to be thankful.  We live in middle to upper class America, we own too much junk, and we are never hungry.  When we lived in Papua New Guinea, those kind folks gave much more to us than we ever gave them.  I am thankful for that time we had there where we lived a much simpler life.

It has occurred to me lately that being thankful is NOT enough. 

Our Jesus wants more.

 If you (or me) are truly thankful, DO SOMETHING.  

Put your thankfulness into ACTION.

Here is the short list for some Thanksgiving fun:)

1.Call that family member or friend you haven’t seen or heard from in years.  Let them know they are important to you. Intentionally plan to keep in touch.

2.Go help serve Thanksgiving dinner at a shelter,  or soup kitchen.  You will receive much more than you give.

3.Give half of your junk you own to Goodwill.  Somebody deserving will get it before the Holidays.  And not the crappy junk, the GOOD  junk.

4.Start supporting a missionary financially and prayerfully.

5.Volunteer to be a big brother or sister to a disabled kid.

6.Go visit some elderly friends at a nursing home.

The Ya-Ya Yeggy girls Sisterhood will get together sometime in the future, God willing. 

There might be underpants incidents, Grandma will probably loose her prosthetic breast 10 times.  We will laugh and giggle like a bunch of middle schoolers . 

I will be thankful for them again.

In the meantime, this Thanksgiving week,  I want to put hands and feet to my thankfulness.... 

How about you?