Thankful

Since Patrick's birthday party I have had even more to be thankful for.

1) I had a really great time with the boys at Patrick's "friends party". Patrick had a great time with his cousins and made a new friend in the Pastor's son. It was really nice to see how much my son has grown and changed in these all-too-short 13 years.

2) Darren was able to find a dentist to extract his broken, icky tooth that has been troubling him for quite some time AND did not cost an arm and a leg, as well :) Darren's teeth are not that good and he's needed some dental work for awhile. We haven't had any kind of insurance to cover the cost. He had one tooth that was really bad. It's been causing him pain and he's been suffering through. Finally it got too much and he also wanted to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. He found a dentist that would be able to schedule him in the week before Thanksgiving, so he made the appointment and got it done. He has been much more pleasant since then ;o)

3) My nephew, niece & her boyfriend safely made the trip from southern Idaho to our home and were able to spend the week with us. They thought they wouldn't be able to come until Wednesday and they planned to stay through the weekend. Then her boyfriend ended up being scheduled to work over the weekend. So, they thought they'd have to cancel -- it's too far to drive to only be able to stay for 2 days. We talked about it and they were able to change things around to come at the beginning of the week.

The kids were SO excited to see them come through the door. Even our old dog, Holi, was happy to see them. She came over and pushed up against them, whining and begging to be pet. It was really quite cute.

4) My daddy had a safe drive to Boise and a safe flight into Portland to spend Patrick's birthday & holiday with us. This was the big birthday present for Patrick. I had kept the secret from him, so he had no idea Grampa was coming.

I had told Patrick that I had to go to Portland to pick up Darren's aunt & uncle. Since he didn't have school that day & it was his birthday, I asked him if he'd like to ride along, that we could stop and get breakfast and spend some time together for his birthday.

We got a late start (on purpose) so didn't stop for breakfast on the way. I told him we'd grab something small after we picked up Kim & Karl, then go out to breakfast afterwords. About the time the plane was to land Patrick and I headed back to the car (I'd parked in the short term parking so I could pick up something I'd seen previously at the gift shop) When we got in the car the phone rang. It was my dad saying he was at the pick-up area. Patrick overheard the call and said he thought it was grampa because he'd heard grampa say "See you in a minute baby". I said, "No, it was Karl and he'd said 'See you in a minute, Kate'" Then I started the waterworks and said how sad I was to not be able to spend the holidays with my dad and so on. It really got to Patrick and he gave me a hug and said he was sorry. So we went to the pick-up area and dad wasn't there. I got out of the car and called him. He was at the departure doors, I was below at the arrival doors. He said he'd take the elevator and be right down. So I got back in the car and told Patrick to watch one set of doors and I'd watch the other. Next thing I know, Patrick says, "Hey mom, there's a guy that looks like grampa!" I said, "No way! Where?" He then says, "Right there! Oh!!! It is Grampa!" and he jumped out of the car and ran over and gave grampa a HUGE hug! It was such a perfect surprise!

Later that night we had cake & icecream. I'll have to post pictures of the cake. It turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself! :) Patrick got a Bible, paintball gun with paintballs and accessories, a bag of frozen peas (an inside joke), a new suit, and a pass for snowboarding.

5) I was able to get some extra time off of work to spend with my family. What more can I say? Although I was technically off, I am on call 24 hours. I received a phone call while we were at the mall. It was someone requesting some work. I bid the job and got it! Another work related thing to be thankful for!

6) My niece is planning on getting married next winter. We found all of the dresses and were able to put the wedding gown on layaway. She tried it on and looked absolutely beautiful!

7) My family that came to visit all made it back to southern Idaho safely. A HUGE thanks for that!

8) Our old dog got hit by a car this afternoon. The guy that hit her stopped and said how sorry he was and that he couldn't believe he hadn't killed her. I had to take her to the emergency vet clinic- she was clearly hurt. It turns out that she has no internal injuries, however, her ankle joint is completely shattered - a compound fracture and there are abrasions to her skin. They bandaged her up and we were able to bring her home. I am thankful she is still alive (we've had her for 8 years) and I am thankful that I had a credit card to put the charges on (there's no other way I'd have been able to pay the $400+ cost or the costs we will incur). There will be further costs tomorrow when we take her to the regular vet to have her ankle actually looked at and decide how to proceed with treatment.

9) I am thankful, also, for my faith so that I don't have to cause myself unneeded worry about where the money is going to come from to pay the credit card bill (or the heat bill, electric bill, groceries and other bills). I will put my trust in my God that things will somehow work out and that the money will come for me to be able to pay for it all.

There are so many things we could be sad, angry or upset about. Parents who weren't as perfect as we thought they should be, the painful childhood, friends who didn't support us as we believe we'd have supported them, family who disappointed or let us down, jobs we lost, the spouse that broke our heart. So many things to be unhappy about. However, there are so many more things to be thankful for; parents who we can love in spite of their faults because that's how they love us, the pain that made us strong, friends who do the best they can because, really, what more can we ask for? Family who is as diverse and as normal as the rest of the people in this crazy world but love us just as we are, warts and all because we are all part of a family. Jobs we didn't get and jobs we did, the heart that learned to love by being unloved -- so very, very, very many more things, - the sun that warms us, the rain that gives us water, the snow that blankets the buried seeds, the wind that spreads the scents of nature... The amazing and wonderful God that created it all in perfection.