Our Great-ful Wall

One day I read this post of Ann Voskamp's about Great-ful jars.  I was inspired to do something similar for my family members.

Preface: I am NOT a project type of person.  Some people are always creating things in their home: designing, aligning, rearranging, or adding.  Not me.  It's just not in me.  I'm not creative in my home & I just let things stay the same for a long time.  So, when this idea came to me I would have to say that it was divinely inspired!

I love the idea of Great-ful jars, but I wanted this to be something that was ongoing, that we could keep on adding more thankfulness to.  I also knew that in my crowded house there is absolutely no room for anything else to sit and take up any more counter or table space.  Especially not 6 jars for every member of the family.  I started to think of something that could be hung on the wall.  I had an idea in my mind of what it could look like, and I decided I would be thrifty & creative & went straight to Goodwill that day to find something to fit my idea.  I was full of excitement and anticipation- I just knew I could find something that would fit what I wanted to do!

An hour later I had picked up countless items, looked around, gone back to items and looked at them again, tried and tried to figure out how I could make my dream reality, but I left Goodwill disappointed, discouraged, and empty handed.

When I got home I instantly remembered that I had a Craft Warehouse gift card.  Maybe they might have something that could work?  I went straight to Craft Warehouse & imagine my excitement when I found some things that would fit my idea perfectly!  Mike helped me by staining the untreated wood and hanging up the box.  Now, where on my wall was previously an eye-sore of an old wall phone jack, we have our Great-ful Mail Center!

Well, the tin pail hanging off the side did come from Goodwill, so the trip was not completely in vain!  Each drawer has a family member's name on it (we included Grandpa & Michael Jr's girlfriend, so that makes 8).  This is for storing their Great-ful mail in.  When we want to write a note to one of our family members (something like, "I really like the way you..."  or "I'm thankful that you..."  or "I remember when you...") there are small papers in the upper right cubby for that (those are unused scrapbook papers that I trimmed down to size), and tape for sealing the note.  We write the person's name on the outside of the note and put it in the tin bucket.

The bucket has a little "chalkboard" star on the side where I wrote "New Mail".  The bucket could also have gone on top of the box, but I like it closer to eye level.  After they read their note they put it in their drawer so they can read their notes anytime.  

The notebook in the metal "FAMILY" pocket actually says the word "Thankful" on it.  Also inspired by Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts, and by our own gratitude journey, this is our family thankfulness journal.  When we gather together for dinner, or anytime really, we will add things we are thankful for.  I wanted all the words displayed to read like this, "We Are... grateful... blessed... thankful... family."

Everyone in the family likes the idea and I am so excited that this God-inspired idea became reality!  Maybe you will be inspired of some ways to incorporate gratitude into your family culture too.

God Bless You,

Lisa