Thankful

We had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  For starters, we were celebrating a non-diagnosis for my sister, Mandy.  She already has Crohn's disease and psoriasis, and they were thinking that she might also have Celiac disease.  However, praise God, the test came back negative!!  I am pretty sure all of the gluten-filled Thanksgiving dishes never tasted so good to her.  :)  We then started Thanksgiving morning with a family tradition - the Grateful Gobbler Walk - a walk they do in downtown Chattanooga every year to benefit the homeless coalition.  We enjoy starting a day of (most likely) overeating with a little exercise, and of course it's a great reminder of how fortunate we really are.  I hope this tradition will also instill a sense of gratefulness in our children by participating each year and talking about why we do it.  We had a wonderful time - Micah slept through most of it, and Cora Leigh enjoyed seeing the water and watching the other people and especially the canine participants!  We also got to enjoy the company of my parents, sister, and niece.

After the walk, we went home to do some cooking and (hopefully) get some rest before a yummy Thanksgiving dinner.  Something magical happened that afternoon - both kids were in their beds napping at the same time!  Jeremy and I were relaxing on the couch, watching television, and we both ended up falling asleep.  I woke up and saw that we had 15 minutes to get ready to leave for Thanksgiving dinner!  Both kids and Jeremy were still asleep.  We woke everyone, and needless to say, we were late, but it was worth it.  We then went to my grandmother's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.  For the record, no one does Thanksgiving better than Mom's family - the turkey, the dressing (made with homemade corn bread and biscuits), the homemade noodles, the homemade yeast rolls - it is DELICIOUS!  And this year did not disappoint.  We were also blessed to be surrounded by dear family members who we love and cherish.

This Thanksgiving, we were so thankful to God for the plans He has for us that we don't always anticipate or understand.  A few weeks before Thanksgiving, we found out that we are going to have another baby!  To say we were surprised would be an understatement.  I was taking birth control AND I am still exclusively nursing Micah.  The odds of us getting pregnant with those two factors - not good at all.  However, those odds mean nothing when God has a plan for your life.  What a reminder that we are not in control of our lives, no matter how much we try to be!  While we are a little freaked out to have another baby when Micah is only 16 months old, we are so humbled that God would see us as being fit to parent another child.  We also are confident that God has a special plan for this child.  I liked what my doctor said when we went in to see him - an unexpected child does not mean an unwanted child.  Every child is a gift from God - we are truly blessed.  Due date - July 3.