Nick Corona Photography » Destination Wedding Photographer from Southern California: Our Work Journal

Thanksgiving came and went this year in a blink of an eye. Between weddings, family shoots and family time, I wonder if anyone else besides me felt that it just didn’t quite feel like the holidays arrived – and before I knew it we were in the weekend after Thanksgiving… thats a strange sensation.

The night before Thanksgiving I lay awake, wondering how different next Thanksgiving is going to be with Kara and Liliana here. I not-so-quickly- jerked myself back to reality and refocused on this year – this Thanksgiving – this day with family, that I would never be able to get back. While I treasured every kick and roll I felt from Liliana throughout the day, I secretly made it my mission to smother Kara with more kisses and hugs than she ever received in her life…and Nick too, for that matter!

I sat to write this post, featuring a few of our pre-Thanksgiving day photos from the amazing Diana Stoffel, and felt overwhelmingly thankful and grateful for my family. The list became too long to even begin as thoughts raced through my mind of how blessed I am. How blessed I am to have a husband who doesn’t just care for me, but cares about me. How thankful I am to have a husband that works twenty-four hours a day (literally at the fire station) to provide for his family. How fortunate I am to have a husband that loves me, cherishes me, challenges me and encourages me. How blessed I am to have him…never pulling from in front or pushing from behind, but holding…steadfastly…from my side. There isn’t this list of things he does or says, qualities he has, characteristics he possess, that I can create to say what I am thankful for…because I that implies that there could be a list of things that I am not thankful for; pieces of him that I would say, “Thanks but no thanks.” …and the simple truth is that there just isn’t a “Thanks but no thanks” list. He is my list. He IS everything I am thankful for.

Hmmmm… that made me think…

Kara? Surprisingly she fell into the same boat. I could ramble on for days about how much I love her personality, how I cherish every witty and hysterical things she says, how I am amazed at how she learns and picks up on hundreds of new things a week… I could create a list like that that is never ending. But the truth of the matter is that she, too, is exactly what I am thankful for. She is everything I am thankful for. And Liliana? Oh man. Every kick and turn brings a smile to my heart and I feel like I could burst into tears at any given second thinking about how incredibly blessed we are to have her almost here. Thankful? Words fall short of describing! She is everything I am thankful for.

I could continue with parents and siblings, grandparents and extended family – and the whole time I am thinking about how thankful I am for crazy family and my crazy life…I stop and realize that the One who we are all truly thankful for is God. Thankful that He knew us before we were born, laid out perfect and amazing plans for our lives, cherishes every freckle on our face, and loves us so much that He gave us His son. For Him, I am so, so thankful. For His love and grace, for His mercy and kindness. For His design and plan, for me and my family, and for creating for me a husband and daughters that ARE everything I could ever be thankful for.

Blessed… Fortunate… Lucky… whatever it is that you want to call it – its all because He first loved me… and I am truly Thankful.