a very thankful thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Thanksgiving.

thankful.

In Him we have breath, love and hope.

Everyday He graces us with His presence and touch.

 We will do our best to give Him our highest praise.

thanksgiving day

I didn't get very many pictures of our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, but it was such a wonderful day. Thanks dad and mom for hosting our crazy family and for continuing fun traditions for all of us. We love you!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours...

Our family is all cuddled up on the couch watching the parade and eating homemade cinnamon rolls, and we wanted to wish you a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Enjoy your day and your family!

30 things...

Recent post from Holly Furtick:

Psalm 28:7: The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. I am hoping today that you will know the Lord who is your strength and your shield.  He is trustworthy and promises to help you in your time of need. Sometimes, I have to stop thinking about my need and start giving thanks to Him for the needs He has already met in my life.  He has blessed me and met my needs (and so many of my wants) far beyond my imagination, what makes me think He is going to stop now? I was recently challenged to make a list of 30 things I am grateful for.  It was a great exercise and I am passing the challenge on to you.  Take some time today to focus on the things you are grateful for.  Perspective is everything.

 So here are my 30 things I am thankful for:

1. Children that are being raised knowing the things of God
2. Christopher Stephen Bunk
3. Being able to live in Michigan with 4 seasons
4. My husband's job
5. My job
6. Our home that holds so many family memories already
7. My church family
8. My mentors
9. 3 healthy children
10. God's grace on my imperfections
11. The Word of God giving me immeasurable wisdom every day
12. My brothers and sisters
13. My incredible dad
14. My loving mom
15. My amazing in-laws
16. The ministry that God has given to our family
17. For all the people that love my kids
18. Good friends that bring me closer to God
19. My salvation
20. God's provision for our family throughout the years
21. Blessed hope of eternal glory
22. The ability to laugh
23. Men and women of God in my life who model His character
24. The love my children have for God and for the Bible
25. Songs of worship
26. Warmth, Breath, Life
27. God's unconditional love for me
28. My unconditional love for my family
29. Growth
30. Thanksgiving with family

The Thanksgiving Feast

Today was the kid's school Thanksgiving Feast, and it was packed out! You can tell it is close to a holiday because there is so much excitement in the air (and a ton of food!)

Isaac Thanksgiving Song from lori bunk on Vimeo.

Ode to Thanksgiving

Today was our Ode to Thanksgiving day and we loved every second of it! We did a bunch of projects and talked about what Thanksgiving really means. Now I'm ready for Thursday!!!

While Zoey was napping, Isaac and I made Paula Dean's Chocolate Cupcakes. He said they were "awesome!"

 Isaac and I decided it would be fun to let the grandparents know how much we are thankful for them, so we made "encouragement jars." In each are little questions about each person that Isaac answered on his own, things like "What makes Grandy smile?" and "What does Papa want to be when he grows up?" We folded them up and put them in jars so that they could pull one out when they needed a pick me up. (These would be a very cute holiday teacher gift paired with a gift card from Starbucks!)

 Next we made "salt dough" handprints... plus a few extra things. It's an easy recipe that you can place in the oven and harden. I am so excited to hang their handprints for the holidays. It would make a great inexpensive gift as well!

Salt Dough Recipe (close to homemade play-dough):

4 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

food coloring or paint as desired

Water to moisten

a little bit of oil

Mix flour and salt and gradually add water until dough consistency. (Add food coloring if desired). Make desired shapes and place in a 150 degree oven for 1 hour (I kept them in there longer). Then place in a dry area for a day to harden. Paint if desired.

 Lastly we made coloring pages to talk about what we are thankful for. Isaac made a portrait of his father playing hockey and Zoey made a portrait of her daddy and Elijah. I think I was left out because I was the facilitator... yeah, we'll just go with that.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday

with family and friends!

"O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples!" (1 Chronicles 16:8)

Sooooooo Thankful...

There is so much to be thankful for... so much that at times it overwhelms me. Here are some things that made me smile this morning...

I love when the tree in front of our house turns red. I see it every morning when I open the blinds to Elijah's room and it always makes me stop and thank the Lord for all He has done for me and my family.

  I really do have a special place in my heart for a good cup of coffee, and it was so much fun to drink it from my new travel mug from the Starbucks in Copenhagen, Denmark. Whenever I have special souvenirs my parents bring back from other countries, it reminds me to thank the Lord for sending my parents all over the world to do His work... and for always keeping them safe.

I crack up every time I see my son put his blanket over his face... it's such a trademark of our Bunk kids- they all did it when they were young. I am so grateful to God for the blessing of my children and the fact that they bring me closer to Jesus every single day.

Always Give Thanks

Today we did a bunch of activities to get ready for the Thanksgiving season. I think Thanksgiving might be my favorite time of year.... or at least it ties with Christmas. Thanksgiving is simple: it's about giving thanks and being with family. I love that there isn't another ulterior motive to celebrating that day.

Here are some of the things my 4-year-old and 2-year-old are thankful for this year:

- our playground with 2 slides in the backyard

- no boo-boos today

- Hunter, the doggie next door

- that we have lots of leaves to jump in

- bookshelf to hold all our books

- the color pink

-Jesus giving us the Bible

- our jammies

- that Elijah doesn't cry all the time

Thankful 4 Thanksgiving

I LOVE THANKSGIVING! I love being with my family, I love eating good food, and I love making memories with the crazy Carlson family! I think by far my favorite part of today was watching Isaac excited to help cook with Grandma and Aunt Jeni. His face lit up as he was able to be a part of the chaos in the kitchen. That's my boy! Now if only he was as excited to clean the kitchen...

14 days and counting...

...till THANKSGIVING!

"O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness."

-William Shakespeare-

32 days and counting...

32 days until THANKSGIVING!

1. Which President was the 1st to establish Thanksgiving as a legal national holiday to be held the 4th Thursday in November?

2. What does the word "cornucopia" mean?

3. In what year did the 1st Macy's parade take place?

The Thankful Tree

Yesterday Isaac made his "Thankful" Tree. We wrote down some of the people we are most grateful for and and he stuck them to the tree. Now everyday until thanksgiving, we will read the tree and thank God for placing these people in our lives.

Psalm 9:1
"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart..."

Psalm 105:1,2
"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wondrous works!"