what are you thankful for?

well.  thanksgiving is upon us. i am up super late tonight because i can't sleep.  bdawg's going hunting in four hours and i will take ridge duty at that time...and be tired all day i am certain!  if only i could sleep! i'm just not tired at all.  i should be doing something productive.  like blogging. :)

okay. so thanksgiving is upon us.  well....what do you have to be thankful for?

i am thankful.  i am thankful that we are in a much different place than this time last year, in so many good ways.  i am thankful that God has given us wisdom in certain arenas of our life, and that while things aren't always fun, God has protected our family from major illness this year.  I am thankful for a 4 year old who knows more memory verses than many adults.  I am thankful that he has finally learned how to write and pronounce most of his alphabet (I say finally, not because he is late in doing this, but because we have worked very hard on it!).  I am incredibly amazed that he is starting to read.  I am thankful that he is such a great helper at home.  I am thankful that Ridge is consistently going about two weeks without needing a blood transfusion.  I am not sure if this is bc every two weeks he seems to either be getting teeth, or having a runny nose, etc that causes him to bleed some, or if the disease is just kind of on a two week cycle.  i do know that two weeks between transfusions is a big deal.  that means in a month we are for sure getting single digit transfusions (usually anywhere from 2 to 6 in a month).  i am thankful for an 18 month old with more normal looking poop than bad looking poop.  this time last year i blogged a lot about poop.  i don't have to blog about that as much anymore.  and i am thankful for that.

i am thankful that the Lord has blessed us in so many ways.  he has blessed us with a community and a church family that loves us deeply.  he has blessed us with people that have not forgotten us-- in either word or deed or both.  so often we have people tell us they are praying for us, or people call/text/email/send cards saying they are praying for us.  or people give generously  above and beyond what we would consider needs-- but what they consider to be something they need to give to us.  God is good.  so so good.  he has blessed us with people across the board who might not understand everything about ridge's disease or all the weird rules we impose on our family to protect ridge's health-- but even if they don't understand, they still behave understandingly.  of course there are times we struggle in this department because we know it is a frustrating situation we put friends and family in sometimes.  but we are thankful for the understanding we are shown, because we know this is just a season, and it will pass.  i am thankful for good friends who allow me to lay all my burdens down, lay it all out there, and they just listen, or pray for me, or offer advice if i am needing it, but they do not judge or chastise or say i'm weird.  i am thankful for my friends-- be they near or far, family by blood, by marriage, or by self-proclamation :)

i am thankful that the first time i cook a thanksgiving meal, it will just be the four of us enjoying it.  because it might get really messed up. :)  i'm kidding on this one, because it is insanely sad to think we will be with no family on thanksgiving day.  because of travel being far away, and overexposure of ridge to a lot of people/possible illness, we just do not feel like that is the right decision this year.  hopefully next year things will be even better.  but i am thankful that this year, it appears as of now, that we will be HOME on thanksgiving.  and that beats the hospital, even if we are alone.

i am thankful for a husband who truly is a helper.  i am thankful for this because i know he is a rare gem. :) i am thankful that though, most assuredly, this last year has made building our relationship ridiculously difficult, bdawg and i are still standing. the other day,  i was reading  a blog i follow regularly, and a line written regarding marriage, especially in the event of a very ill child, was something to the effect of this: "we will get through this.  we will make it.  we might make it by the skin of our teeth, but we will make it. "   (that isn't a direct quote, but if you want a direct quote, head over to MckMama's blog).  I'm not trying to make things sound more grim/bleak than they are-- i'm just telling you that you don't know how difficult it is to even feel like you know your spouse (or your children for that matter) when all you are doing is making sure your baby stays alive and is getting the care that really only you know how to provide.  so i am thankful this year that even with the semi-hell we have walked through the past 16 months, i still have someone to hold my hand and wipe my tears away.  because no one else could do that as well as bdawg, bc no one else understands.  and for that, i am thankful.

i am thankful for the light.  the light at the end of our tunnel.  it is small, and some days it flickers instead of shines, but it is there.  and we are slowly slowly walking towards it every single day. and i am most thankful, regarding this light, for the day that we reach it.  that will be a day that we don't even know is happening the day it happens....but a few days, weeks, months later, we will look back...and we will realize all this darkness-- the turmoil with illness/bleeding/transfusions/central lines/fevers/vaccinations, the turmoil with MLT ruling our life and leaving our normalcy in the dust, the turmoil with splitting time evenly between a "special needs" child and another very special child, the turmoil between finding a normal marriage, i could go on and on and on...we will look back, and we will see, that it is all gone.  it is behind us.  and we will be thankful.

because above all else, God has been faithful.  we may not have always been so, but He has not changed.  He has seen us through our darkest days.  He has carried us when we needed it most, and He has most assuredly rejoiced with us as things continue to improve.  And if darkness shall rise up again before we are finished with this, he will carry us again.  He has said it is over, and I will trust that.  I will be thankful for that.  We have a lot of things that we could grumble and complain about, and sometimes we do.  I know there most definitely is someone out there facing a darker night in their life than we have faced in ours.  So for the most part, even if we want to, we try not to complain.  Because the Lord has proven himself faithful to us.  And the petty things that once filled our lives with worry seem so .... petty.  We have been given new perspective.  And while I hope I don't complain about those petty things when all of this MLT/turmoil is behind us...there are some days  I long to be able to only have that stuff to complain about again.  I am thankful, though, for new perspective.  For realizing it isn't such a big deal if I have to go to the grocery store 3 times in one week...because at least I can go to the store instead of eating hospital food.  It isn't such a big deal if I can't afford to buy those new jeans or this or that for whoever in my household...because at least i'm at home even thinking about buying that stuff.  It isn't such a big deal if the dishes mount and the laundry piles and i am stressed to the max trying to get things done, because at least i'm in a place where i can do those things and not stuck in a hospital room.  it isn't such a big deal that my bathroom is dirty or my floors need vacuumed, because at least i'm home enough to get those things dirty.  i could go on.  perspective.  i am thankful for a new one.  no matter your story, whether it be like ours or much much different-- there has to be someone out there who is hurting more, who is more desperate, who is needing the hand of God to just reach down and snag them right up out of their pit.  God is faithful.  He knows what he is doing.  And he will prove himself over and over to you and me if we will allow him to.  So....think.  What do you have to be thankful for?

May the greatness of our Lord be at the forefront of your mind this Thanksgiving week.  Be blessed.

The Carys