Departure of Pilgrims from Delft Haven (Lucy, 1847)

I will never forget driving home from the hospital with two of my children who had just had surgery. Hal was home in the bed; we’d just found out a couple of days earlier that he had pneumonia. I was driving home, stressed and exhausted, wondering how I was going to manage this home-hospital, with yet another child due for surgery in a few days, when I heard the baby cough a deep ugly cough. Oh no! What if she has pneumonia? This was my heart baby and sickness for her was a very frightening thing. “Oh dear Father,” I prayed, “I don’t think I can take anything else. Please help me.” He did help me, but not at all as I was hoping. His plans were higher.

I called the doctor and he said, “Bring Katie right in!” so I dropped the other two off home in the care of their teen brothers and took her in. Thankfully, the doctor assured me she did not have pneumonia, but then our old friend said, with anxiety in his eyes, “We need to talk.” The x-ray for Hal’s pneumonia showed a massive tumor behind his breastbone and I needed to rush him to the hospital for a CT scan. That was the start of an incredibly harrowing few weeks that involved hospital trips for children, surgery for Dad, and great worry for me. I learned a lot that month; especially that prayer is far more effective than worrying and has the added benefit that the enemy doesn’t keep tempting you with worry if it drives you to prayer! Nevertheless it was long and stressful.

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor (Halsall, 1882)

By the first week of January, we had a diagnosis: stage IV cancer and a 55% chance. It sounds awful, doesn’t it? But our family has been overwhelmed by the mercy and love of God through this trial. Hal completed six months of chemotherapy and several weeks of radiation, all while traveling all over the country speaking to folks about Biblical family life, homeschooling, raising sons, and trusting God in hard times. We’ve had an extraordinary hard time of our own, but our dear Lord has blessed us enormously through it.

It took awhile during our feast today to be able to think at all past “Daddy is alive!” but then the sweet memories started flowing:

• Coming home frantic from the hospital with no time at all to think about Christmas presents to find an email from a dear couple we didn’t even know, “You may not even need anything like this, but the Lord is really impressing on us to go Christmas shopping for your children.” I wept and I still do when I think of it.
• The family who gave us a wonderful van when our van was dying so we could travel in comfort and safety to speak in the Midwest. Our children say, “God bless the _________ family,” with reverence everytime the air conditioner comes on.
• Our precious church who has helped us with bills when it was hard, held up our hands in prayer, and loved us and our children. We love them all.
• The dear church that insisted on bringing us everything we needed for this Thanksgiving. What a blessing! And what lovely fellowship we had when they delivered.
• The homeschool organization who invited us to speak at a conference, then paid us twice what we had agreed to come for, telling us only, “We prayed about it.” We think of them everytime we run analytics on our finances and we pray the Lord would bless them.
• All the dear people who prayed for us and encouraged us and left messages on Facebook and our Carepages and sent cards or gift cards or just love and prayers.
• That our son was able to go to Oxford for the year on scholarship -  a dream come true – and to study there the life of C.S. Lewis with a world authority and real believer.

Landing of the Pilgrims (Sargent, 1822)

• That $300 my Dad, who has been in heaven for 32 years, put in a savings account 45 years ago grew to the point that it paid for my mother and our high school senior to travel overseas together, another dream come true.
• For our precious local homeschool group, who’ve fixed us innumerable delicious meals and faithfully prayed for us. What a blessing to pick up a hot dinner on the way home from chemo each time!
• For our beloved extended family, who have been extraordinarily caring and patient with us this year, upholding us in every way possible and lovingly holding their tongues when we were barely keeping it all together.
• All the things our children learned this year about the great things of life: sickness and the threat of death, sacrificial love, stepping up to the plate.
• Our children, who gave up so much at different times to help the family business or do something so their dad didn’t have to or to take care of a younger sibling in difficult circumstances. What a gift of the Lord each of them all.
• The hope of heaven and the love and sovereignty of God – our true help in trials.
• And for my beloved’s life. Oh Praise God!

We are truly deeply thankful for the Lord’s manifold mercies this year. We wouldn’t choose to go through this, but we could not have seen these amazing providences without it. What a really Happy Thanksgiving we are having!!

NB: If you’d like to hear more about God’s incredible providences to us in the past couple of years and how we’ve been able to be joyful in the midst of these trials, I recently told the whole story and what we learned from it at a ladies retreat called Walk by Faith. You can get the CDs here. You may also be interested in reading that first blog post I wrote here when we learned of Hal’s cancer. This hymn is a little more difficult than many modern songs, but is so very rich – I hope you will sing it – there is music at the link.

We particularly love “We Gather Together,” because it was a Dutch song of the proper time frame – it is quite likely that our Pilgrim forefathers knew it and sang it! We try to make sure our children understand the rich history of our country’s founding. We try to read books about the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth. It is very encouraging, because they were people we agree with on many different things! They were concerned about living and worshiping as Biblically as possible. They were very concerned that their children be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In fact, the influences on their children in the Netherlands was one of the deciding factors for beginning a colony in the New World. We love to read the real first hand accounts to our children, especially Of Plymouth Plantation. I really like the Plymouth Set available from Vision Forum, which includes it, and it’s on sale for 25% off right now. In fact, they are having a great sale on tools and toys through tomorrow – up to 50% off!

Another thing we like to do is to put up a Thanksgiving tree. We make a tree trunk out of brown paper and tape it to a wall, then cut out lots of construction paper leaves in fall colors. Each of us writes something we are thankful for on a leaf and tapes it to the tree. We keep on adding more and more until the tree and all the “ground” at the base of it is covered in lovely leaves. What a terrific reminder of how blessed we are!

On Thanksgiving Day, we place five kernels of corn on each plate at the table. When we come together at the table, the youngest child who can read well reads aloud the poem “The Five Kernels of Corn” by Hezekiah Butterworth. It reminds us of the famine our forefathers endured the first couple of years in Plymouth and of their endurance and God’s provision. We thank God for those brave believers who endured all that to leave a goldly heritage for our nation.

Five Kernels of Corn

By Hezekiah Butterworth

‘Twas the year of the famine in Plymouth of old,
The ice and the snow from the thatched roofs had rolled;
Through the warm purple skies steered the geese o’er the seas,
And the woodpeckers tapped in the clocks of the trees;
And the boughs on the slopes to the south winds lay bare,
and dreaming of summer, the buds swelled in the air.
The pale Pilgrims welcomed each reddening morn;
There were left but for rations Five Kernels of Corn.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
But to Bradford a feast were Five Kernels of Corn!

“Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye people, be glad for Five Kernels of Corn!”
So Bradford cried out on bleak Burial Hill,
And the thin women stood in their doors, white and still.
“Lo, the harbor of Plymouth rolls bright in the Spring,
The maples grow red, and the wood robins sing,
The west wind is blowing, and fading the snow,
And the pleasant pines sing, and arbutuses blow.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
To each one be given Five Kernels of Corn!”

O Bradford of Austerfield hast on thy way,
The west winds are blowing o’er Provincetown Bay,
The white avens bloom, but the pine domes are chill,
And new graves have furrowed Precisioners’ Hill!
“Give thanks, all ye people, the warm skies have come,
The hilltops are sunny, and green grows the holm,
And the trumpets of winds, and the white March is gone,
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye have for Thanksgiving Five Kernels of Corn!

“The raven’s gift eat and be humble and pray,
A new light is breaking and Truth leads your way;
One taper a thousand shall kindle; rejoice
That to you has been given the wilderness voice!”
O Bradford of Austerfield, daring the wave,
And safe through the sounding blasts leading the brave,
Of deeds such as thine was the free nation born,
And the festal world sings the “Five Kernels of Corn.”
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
The nation gives thanks for Five Kernels of Corn!

To the Thanksgiving Feast bring Five Kernels of Corn!

Sometimes we also read George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation. This year, I believe we will. I’ll post it tomorrow, along with why I think this is a particularly appropriate time to read this proclamation.

Then we pray and thank God for our feast and for all the blessings of the year.

During the meal, our topic of discussion is “The Blessing of God of this year. ” Each person is expected to share at least five things they are thankful for – one for each of the kernels of corn they received. What a happy time it is to enjoy the wonderful food as we think of all our dear Father in heaven has done for us.

This year, in particular, our family has much to be thankful about. We’ll be sharing that on Thanksgiving Day and we hope you’ll join us and rejoice with us!

Peruvian corn picture courtesy of Jenny Mealing, through WikiMedia Commons, no endorsement of our site intended.

Thanksgiving at our house finds us gathered around the table with five kernels of corn alone on each plate. A child rises and reads the poem, Five Kernels of Corn. We pray and thank the Lord for his bountiful provision for us. As we pile into the feast, the topic of conversation is the blessings of God of the past year. This year we have much to be thankful for!

‘Twas the year of the famine in Plymouth of old,

The ice and the snow from the thatched roofs had rolled;
Through the warm purple skies steered the geese o’er the seas,
And the woodpeckers tapped in the clocks of the trees;
And the boughs on the slopes to the south winds lay bare,
and dreaming of summer, the buds swelled in the air.
The pale Pilgrims welcomed each reddening morn;
There were left but for rations Five Kernels of Corn.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
But to Bradford a feast were Five Kernels of Corn!

“Of course! Raising Real Men would make a great Christmas gift – encouragement you can wrap up as a gift – but let’s call it a Thanksgiving sale. We are so thankful for God’s gifts, this is a way we can give away some of the blessings He’s shown us.”

Raising Real Men makes a great gift for your pastor:

“Pastors should read this book and recommend it to families – whether they have sons or daughters.”

Rev. Dr. J. Curtis and Sandra Lovelace, Lifework Forum

Raising Real Men makes a great gift for friends with sons:

This book is a treasure trove of practical tips to help you to raise your sons right. It will answer your questions, help you avoid mistakes, bring them up in the Lord, and understand them. I highly recommend it.”

Chris Klicka, late senior attorney, HSLDA

Raising Real Men makes a great gift for grandparents:

“…got your book as well, just started reading it and enjoying it and this grandma is learning alot about raising boys that will be a blessing to my grandchildren.”

A Grandmother on our Facebook site

As a special Christmas gift from us to you, every order placed between now and Monday, November 30th at midnight EST,  will receive free a CD of our workshop on how to build family unity through family traditions, holiday celebrations and more. It is one of the most popular workshops we do and it’s yours free with an order!

“Your workshop on unity was one of the two best liked workshops of our conference.”

South Carolina Home Education Association

Go to our Thanksgiving Sale Page!