Today was one of those rare Thanksgivings when I have actually stepped back and taken stock of the blessings in my life. I know I did so back around the time of my wedding in 1986, and also when we adopted our girls in 2005. There were probably some selfless times in between, but days like today are unique. You know what I am referring to but when you go through a near-hit, you do that. God has my attention. Know what I mean?
Today was a very quiet day and started out with Laura, our eldest, and beginning the culinary activities around 7:00am; at around noon when Barb and Blake rolled on it, the turkey was as al dente, the stuffing ok, green bean casserole was still crunchy, and the rolls were just going into the oven. The vino veritas wine was open; add to that Barb’s cheese and crackers, delicious salad and sweet potatoes and we had a feast. As usual, for the six of us we prepared enough food for a medium sized inner-city food kitchen.
Our dear friends Nick and Madeleine form Minnesnowta had called early and we all took turns talking to them - they are the ones who helped find the girls who would later adopt, Laura and Sami. I would appreciate it if you would please keep Madeleine in your prayers between now and the middle of December – I can’t get into detail, but God will hear your prayer use it appropriately, that much I know.
We turned the football off during the meal so we could actually talk and spend time together. It was great. During our pre-meal prayer we did a ‘what are you most thankful for’ and you can imagine the main topic. Our girls scored some brownie points. Sami said she was thankful that our friends had joined us for Thanksgiving – immediately get out of jail, pass go, collect $200, etc… Laura, likewise, said something great like she was thankful for having a family that loved her and cared for her. Ok, pretty darn good. But we did have an audience… ;) Still, I’ll take it.
All in all it was a very lazy day and we rolled over from the table in the kitchen where we ate to the family room and turned the game back on. It was all irrelevant since the Bears are not on until Sunday, playing the Eagles (hey, do you know where YOUR dogs are!). Still is was great to see the Saints almost blow a complete butt kicking of the Cowboys, who did not play as well, but came VERY close to upsetting a much better team.
The girly-girls were downstairs watching some movie during this part so we got to do adult talk. We don’t get enough of that. Refreshing.
This picture was an attempt for us to do a family picture. We do not have a long history of success in all the year we have tried, but we were going to give it a shot. It was really quite beautiful and so we sat out on our front lawn and had Blake take some pics. Having three dogs in addition to two kids in a picture is quite something, and about 5 minutes into the process, one of our Shepherds (yes, Nocciola) decided that she did not like that way Indigo – the runt of the litter that would be the Alpha – looked. And she prepared to rip her a new….. If it looks a bit like we had just broken up a fight, well, we did. Check out the this year’s theme. I was in Chicago on business earlier this year and found Bears paraphernalia on sale. J Needless to say, we will do another as this one did not pass the committee screening.
From my perspective (and I can say the docs as well), Laurie continues to so do really well. Although nothing like the steroids she had been taking, she does get a bit edgy, although I have not pin-pointed any trends as to when. She also still gets frustrated when she does something out of character (can’t remember something or can’t recall something) but these are not too frequent. In her 2nd week of chemo/radiation, she continues to wake up with the energy of a spark plug and then goes downstairs to work out. At about 10:00am she begins to peter out, so she naps for a couple hours and then is awake for the rest of the day; physically she is tired, but not really sleepy for much of the rest of the day. It is a really good thing we as a family read a lot because there is so much *space* during which she used to *do* things, but cannot yet do so again. Thanks for keeping her healing in your prayers!
"Rooted and built up in Christ, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Colossians 2:7
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