Thanksgiving Eve
1. Thankful that our family is officially H1N1 vaccinated! Luke received his booster today at Mary Bridge. By his account, "I didn't cry at all! I was so brave!" My account's a little different, but we'll go ahead and go with his.
Thanksgiving Day
1. Thankful for a delicious dinner with Nonna, Papa, Oma, Uncle Evan and Jerry. Good food and good family.
2. Thankful that my contribution to the meal was edible and thankful that my husband and son don't mind that I'm not much of a cook.
3. Thankful, so thankful, for this third Thanksgiving with our sweet, miracle boy.
Friday and Saturday
1. Thankful for our time together as a family in Leavenworth, WA. This is a small Bavarian village at the base of the Cascade Mountains, about 2 1/2 hours from our home. We checked into our hotel and walked over to the Kristkindlemarkt to make Christmas lanterns. This was a sweet little Christmas market but we didn't get much chance to walk around because of Luke's tuba phobia. I have no answers.
We ate dinner at an outdoor Bavarian grill and then walked around a bit, window shopping, purchasing a Dept. 56 village piece and getting hot cocoa at Starbucks. We spent quite a bit of time warming up in the bookstore (note to self, next time you visit a mountain village, remember to bring gloves), which ended up being Luke's favorite spot. He called it the "Leavenworth bookstore."
Even though there was no snow yet, it so much put us in the Christmas spirit. If no other Christmas traditions this year include large brass instruments, Christmas just might be Luke's favorite holiday.
2. Thankful that Luke was a much better car traveler than we expected! It helped that we had my mom's portable DVD player hooked to the back of the passenger seat.
3. Thankful for those good conversations that always seem to be sparked on car trips.
Sunday
1. Thankful for perfect marathon weather! The Seattle marathon and half marathon is always on the Sunday following Thanksgiving and more often than not will be a cold and rainy run. Not this year! 50 degrees at start time and dry.
2. Thankful for 13 miles to think about and pray for those heroes in my life: Luke, Alex, Tiernan, Maddie, Teagan, Owen, Elijah, Mia, Mirabel, Jared and others.
3. Thankful my body felt great for the 1 hour and 41 minutes of the race! I have past issues with hip and IT band problems, so I always feel especially grateful for those long runs that don't leave me hurting.
4. Thankful that I will see my dear friend Susanne again in Heaven. Susanne passed away in September of 2006, killed riding her bike to work. She and I did our first half marathon together back in 2000. Running the same streets all these years later of course brought her to mind. I miss you, Susanne.
5. Thankful my husband loves to put Christmas lights up on our house.
Phew! That is a lot of thankfulness jammed into four days. We hope you had a wonderful, joyful Thanksgiving as well.
It sounds like you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving weekend, and so much to be thankful for!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you found us. I have to tell you...I stalked your blog for several months before Derrick was born. Somehow I came across it after finding out that Derrick would be born with his special heart. We were initially told he had single ventricle, then HLHS, HRHS and back to single ventricle...no one knew for sure. I could find plenty of kids with HLHS, but once finding out about 'single ventricle' I had to find exactly that. And I found Luke! I went back and read your entire blog and you have no idea how much it helped me. I desperately needed to find a happy, healthy child with a heart similar to Derrick's. I remember sitting on the couch, enormously pregnant, reading all of your posts, praying that Derrick would be as strong as Luke. When my husband would come home from work I would fill him in on what I'd learned about Luke.
When I saw your comment, I was really excited. I said to my husband, "Oh my gosh, that's Luke's mom! Do you remember Luke?" And he did! Sorry if that seems scary or weird, but I figured I'd fess up!! I also wanted you to know how much your blog and your faith helped us. Thank you for sharing your son and your strength.
We'll be praying for Luke (and you guys) as surgery approaches. God's timing is perfect, even if it doesn't seem that way to us. I know you know that though. I'm glad you found us, and we'll definitely catch back up with that CUTIE of yours.
Big heart hugs and prayers,
Shannon Carter
www.carolinacarters.blogspot.com
So sweet! I can't believe Luke is talking in sentences, where does the time go!? He's so brave. hehe. :) We will be making a drive by soon to check out those lights! Look good!
ReplyDeleteThat sure is a lot to be thankful for! The Bavarian Village you visited looks AMAZING!! Oh man, I think I'll travel across the country just to see that for myself.
ReplyDeleteGive that amazing little boy of yours some hugs for me. And, your house lights look great!
Tuba phobias--I get it, Luke.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't recognize anyone's name but Uncle Evan.
Glad you're all doing well-and congratulations on such a great race! I'm incredibly impressed with your time. And how sweet to be able to remember Susanne during the race.
Miss you-