Thanksgiving 2011
Last year's Thanksgiving 2010
My, oh my, how a year can change...
Just looking back on this photo gives me chills. I look so sick, and I don't think at that time I really realized how sick I was. The biggest difference this year at Thanksgiving is that I lost my hat and gained some hair...and maybe another sister one day ;)
I know everyone has said what they are thankful for. And I know that a lot of things that I am thankful for are the same as yours too. But sometimes I think you don't really know what to be truly thankful for until it is lost. Only then do you see the value and truly appreciate it. This year, I knew I would be thankful for something that I have taken for granted and I know many of you have too. But I am so thankful for my health. I am so thankful that my white blood cells have started to act right again and not produce anymore cancer cells. I am so thankful that I have the chance again to live a healthy life, to fulfill my dreams, to have children, and love more deeply. I am so thankful that there was a medicine to get rid of my cancer and hopefully keep it away so that I can have a long, long life. But even though I am thankful for my health, I am also thankful that God has given me trials in my life, so that I truly know the meaning of the word thanks.
Beyond just my new health though...
I am thankful for my husband who tells me that I am beautiful...even during the rough days last year.
I am thankful for my sisters (and you too Buddy). They are my best friends and I am SO thankful that we live just a short car drive away.
I am thankful for my parents and their incredible example of love for their children.
I am thankful for the ability to live a comfortable life style...having clothes to wear and a washer and dryer to clean them in...food to eat at my convenience...and a house to live in that has heat when it's cold and air conditioning when its hot...how often we can forget how lucky we are to live such a comfortable lifestyle.
I feel like I could keep going like a child on Thanksgiving about how I'm thankful for my dear friends, and music, and books, and Oreos, and my pets...but above all else, I am so deeply thankful for my relationship with God. He keeps me grounded and keeps me pursuing Him. I am thankful for the cross so that one day when my life on earth is done, I can be more alive than ever in His kingdom up above. I feel truly blessed to have the life that I do, and I press on daily to live out the life I was called to live. I feel challenged everyday, but that comes with the territory when I ask God to push me beyond what I think I'm capable of. My biggest challenge this year is to take on the challenges that God keeps giving me...I know only then will I be content, and possibly more thankful than I can even imagine!
Morgan wrote a list of the things he was thankful for this year. The Wii might have made the top ten, but the list of 30 things also included all of his close family members, his friends, his bed, his home, food (especially Mac & Cheese), and his coat. I recently took them to the doctor and realized just how fortunate I am to have two healthy children. I agree that we take good health for granted too often. I'm so thankful that you're here with us and healthy this year, looking forward to many more.
ReplyDelete