Giving Thanks for Coconuts

By Shelly Burke, Editor and Publisher, Nebraska Family Times

Since Thanksgiving is in November, I’ve decided to make November the month of “giving thanks.”

The Bible commands us to be thankful; Psalm 106:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” This command is repeated in Psalm 107:1 and 136:1. The Bible also tells us that we should be “always giving thanks…for everything.” (Ephesians 5:20) and that we should “…give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thess. 5:18).

(GoogleImages.com)

One of the things I’m most thankful for is the joy of being a mom. Cody will turn 21 this month, and Morgan will turn 19 next month. The years have just flown by! Every day this month I’m going to write about one of my memories of being a mom, and why I’m thankful for that experience or memory. And since I’m also thankful for my mom, she will probably be mentioned too. J

Today my memory has to do with…a coconut. Specifically, dropping that coconut…on Morgan’s head.

You see, one of my goals as a mom was to teach my kids about things they normally wouldn’t do/eat/see every day. One day in the grocery store Cody saw a coconut and asked what it was. He was fascinated by it so I decided to buy it so we could crack it, drink the liquid inside and taste it.

To crack the coconut the kids watched as I dropped it on the sidewalk outside of our house. I dropped it several times but it didn’t crack, so I decided to go up on the steps of our deck and drop it from that height. Unfortunately, Morgan walked under it at the exact moment I dropped it!

Thankfully she wasn’t hurt. She didn’t even cry, but gave me a very hurt look; she was only about 3 years old and just didn’t understand why mom would drop this strange-looking thing on her head! I was thankful that she wasn’t hurt, and the next “drop” successfully cracked the coconut and we did catch a few drops of the juice and enjoyed a few chunks of fresh coconut.

However, the memory both kids carry from that day is, “When mom dropped the coconut on Morgan’s head.” I belonged to a MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) group at the time, and one thing I always loved about MOPS was that no matter what experience I’d had, someone else had had the same experience…until I dropped the coconut on Morgan’s head. Until this day, no other mom has admitted doing the same to one of their kids. I guess I can also say that I’m thankful that I’ve done something to my little girl that no other mother has!

What have you done, as a mom, that no other mom will admit to? Share it in the comments!

(I’m also blogging at www.nebraskfamilytimes.blogspot.com;

read today why I’m so thankful for friends.)