Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving holds a lot of memories for me....

I've been a volunteer EMT for almost 10yrs now. For about 7-8yrs of that time, I was oncall Thanksgiving day. Instead of finding coverage and taking off that day, I'd pack up my meal & cook at the ambulance building for my kiddos/hubby, my crew and anyone else that wanted to join us. Sometimes that even included some of the local police and paramedics working that day. Definitely some great memories made during that time.

Then in 2009 on Thanksgiving day, we announced to some close family that we were anxiously expecting baby #5.

This was me on that day....

Oh my precious Noah!!! Look at how he was filling me out at 8wks already. Little did we know that day what the future would hold.

Sadly, he wasn't with us for his first Thanksgiving in 2010.

 Ironically enough, that Thanksgiving (only last year wow) we yet again announced we were expecting baby #6. I don't have a picture from that day as it was too hard to take a picture not knowing what to expect.

So as I reflect on how our last few Thanksgivings have been, I am faced with a lot of thoughts and emotions. Thanksgiving is a bittersweet time. 2009 seems just like yesterday when I was so full of hopes and plans for my precious baby. Never did I think I'd be burying that baby, my son, a matter of months later. Nor did I expect to be blessed with another precious life that following Thanksgiving in 2010 who is now here with us today.

I am thankful for so much! I am thankful to have been blessed with 6 amazing children, even as tough as this last year has been. I am thankful for the promise of Heaven and knowing that Noah is being taken care of and anxiously awaiting for us to join him.

Thank you Jesus for allowing me to be a mama to my 6 precious kiddos!

"As we pause to thank Him for the blessings of the past year, we must not forget to thank Him for the lessons we have learned through our difficult times.
We are not to be thankful for just the pleasant, easy things, but ALL things."
[Millie Stamm]