Giving Thanks

Some days in life are unexpected.
Sometimes heart-break is wrapped up in between joy and success, inadvertently preventing us from feeling one without the other. So we wake up overwhelmed and appreciative and hurting. 
Like when you find out someone you love has cancer.

Yuck. What a horrible feeling.
The odd part though, is life goes on. The very next day, Collin mastered his first Christmas song for the holiday program and I was so proud of him. He was ecstatic. Wrapped up in the joy of success. Me too a little bit. I love seeing him achieve things. It made me feel a little bit guilty though- that balance between heart ache and happiness. But, it also was a little bit more precious too. Maybe because for my heart there was a bigger gap between happy and heartbroken. Maybe there was more ground to make up.

This year all of this wandered into our lives right before Thanksgiving. Which seemed to me, if there was any serendipitous moment to feel thankful, this was a neon arrow. Taking stock of all that blessing in our lives, we decided to make a surprise trip to Michigan to see my family for Thanksgiving.

Two days of travel, one winter blizzard storm, many many many too many hours in the car, an irrational amount of food, cooking, and a memorable moment of "surprise!! we're in Michigan!", some well-needed hugs and we had arrived!

                                       

                                     

After putting up these pictures its almost surreal to really take a look at them, because there was a time not all that long ago when there were no small personalities running around in this family. But now, they fill our photos. They create the memories for us in their crazy antics, cozy stories and food catastrophes. So far, four of them. Who knows how many more to come?

This year, we're especially thankful for their little faces and the people in our lives who share in their joys and triumphs.

We have a print in our hallway that fits this moment well, in giving thanks. It's a quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

For rest and shelter of the night,

for health and food,

for love and friends,

for everything Thy goodness sends