A Thanksgiving to Remember

So many things for which to be grateful...our family...our friends...our community...our church community...our health.

That might seem strange to say "our health"...but truly, this road that we are traveling...the "C"ancer road has brought so much into our lives I am not sure we would have wanted to miss this journey.  Now I really need to speak more from a "mom's" perspective...not one who also has cancer.  To see the love and support of friends and some that were not friends but just acquaintances before and surely are now friends, is truly a Gift from God.  All of these friends have been brought into our lives for a reason and we feel that our lives have been enriched by this whole experience.  No other way to explain it other than Dina has so many angels in her life and I know she is overwhelmed with the love and support shown to her and truly amazed by the generosity of these friends.  This experience is one that will change all of our lives...and it can only be for the better.  We can now look forward to "paying it forward" ...and with clearer eyes of what this really means.  We now know what it means to give from the heart and to keep giving and giving...with a new spirit of gratefulness, love and compassion.

We celebrated our Thanksgiving this last Sunday, the 18th...most of you know that we always celebrate it on a day other than the Thursday holiday.  For us, it is a time to gather together...not just about the day.  We are of course thankful and grateful for all the blessings in our life.  And a tremendous blessing is still having my own father here to celebrate the day with us...91 years old! 

I always say I am going to get a picture as soon as everyone gets to the house, and somehow, I always forget...and then after dinner and dessert and story time ends, everyone is ready to leave...OH NO!  We have to get a group shot first...well, I didn't get everyone in the picture...Ellie took the picture, Caleb was in the shower because Jamie gave him a haircut and I don't know where Jalen was, but he was MIA!  So here is everyone else for our Thanksgiving group picture...