Thankfulness

Here I sit on a chilly Wednesday afternoon waiting for my pot of fresh coffee to finish brewing. Some days I lack motivation even though my to do list doesn't slow down. Last night was another rough one. Heidi was back at the doctor's office today for a recheck on her ears and sure enough her ear is still not completely healed. I could have told you that without a visit to the doctor though. She would only sleep on me in a reclined position on the couch and that was with wakeful cries every 20-30 minutes, lots of tugging on the culprit ear. She did have a stretch of about 3 hours after the Motrin kicked in but Eden and Tristan decided to disrupt my only solid stretch with multiple visits to our bedside, trips to the potty, help locating lost blankies......those of you with little ones know the drill. So....today my body and spirit feel similar to the gray sky outside. Just blah! Feeling sorry for my little girl and wondering why we have such a hard time getting her ears clear after an infection. Her ear drum is definitely perforated from two weeks ago too. She handles it with more grace than I do I am afraid.

We spent Sunday with my side of the family celebrating the beginning of Thanksgiving and now tomorrow we will continue the festivities with Mark's side. I enjoy Thanksgiving so much. The whole concept of taking time out to recognize how blessed we are and to be grateful. I think we are going to start an experiment this year as well. Our pastor gave some statistics from a study that was done on people who kept of thanksgiving journal. I am going to see if he happens to have the statics on his blog or if he will forward them to me so I can pass them along to you. It was pretty amazing how the simple act of writing something down on a daily basis that you are thankful for causes a persons outlook on life to be transformed. I am hoping to start a daily thanksgiving journal with the kids since some of our children have a natural tendency to be pessimistic. What if by mirroring to them a grateful heart we can begin to help transform their minds?

I really have so much to be thankful for - too many things to even count. Thankful for the health of my children as I continue to watch my friend Lisa's little girl fight to hang onto life. Thankful for the things I take for granted on a daily basis - food, shelter, family. Did you know there is an absolutely horrible drought right now in Western Africa? Very similar to the famine in the 80's. How helpless a mother must feel listening to the cries of her children grow weaker and weaker as they hover on death's door. I am thankful for nice medical facilities. I hope to someday soon have my cousin do a few guest posts on my blog about her work with many Haitian patients during this cholera epidemic. I still need to ask her but I am waiting for things to slow down for her. I am incredibly grateful that when my child says they are thirsty I have clean water to pour into their cup. I don't have to worry about the chronic diarrhea that plagues a majority of the world's children. Really.....the daily things I take for granted are enough to make me thankful for a lifetime!

I am thankful for a certain little boy in my house who invited me to have a sleepover in his room along with his sister Eden. Even though a minute ago I heard him tell her she isn't allowed in his room because she stuck out her tongue at him. Come 8:00 he will change his mind. And he will probably change his mind in 10 minutes for that matter. How she delights in tormenting her brothers!!

On another note altogether (this is a random one post): I wouldn't normally ask you or encourage you to go buy a copy of People magazine but I am encouraging you to do so this week. You know the organization I told you about called Project Hopeful? I met the founder at the orphan care summit we attended a few weeks ago and some of the women and their husbands who work with them. Guess what? They have a 5 page spread in the center of this weeks People magazine about Carolyn's family, about Project Hopeful and about hiv adoption!!! It is an amazing story of God working. They have been working for 10 months on this article and it is released the week before World Aids Day! People is the largest subscription magazine with 44 million subscribers not including the ones on racks in stores. It is an amazing opportunity for God to work in people's hearts and for the stigma of HIV to be smashed to smithereens!! I am hoping to purchase a copy tonight. And if you don't want to buy it find it at the local library, the local salon, take a moment and read the article in the checkout at the grocery store. Just spread the word!!

And now I am going to drink a bit of coffee in hopes that my body will respond a little quicker to my brains attempts to get it to move.