HAPPY THANKSGIVING from our family to yours!
We had an AWESOME thanksgiving day! As part of one of our traditions, we spent it with dear dear friends who life life with us, and who like us do not have family local, and who like us already celebrated Canadian thanksgiving. We had snow here in the great northwest, soooooooooooo it was a FUN day! If I get a chance I'll try to post some snow pictures later!
All throughout thanksgiving day I would have to say that I truly to the bottom of my heart felt thankful. When you have had the sacred priviledge of seeing suffering here in the US and internationally like I have, thanksgiving is something that hits my heart deeply on many levels.
The day before thanksgiving our furnace went out and we had to get a new furnace. We spent almost a day without heat on one of the coldest days I can remember in a long time. It made me think about when we traveled to bring Faith home from China almost five years ago now. In the province of Jiangxi (and many many others) NONE of the people have heat in the winter months, and it gets incredibly cold in China, the temperature getting way below the freezing mark. I am truly thankful for heat.
Going through the process of miscarrying a few weeks back makes me think about all of the women in the world who miscarry without any access to medical care. As a result of seeing dirt homes I can picture them lying on the dirt floors without a bed, without a blanket, without a bathroom ... and list goes on and on. My heart aches for them, and with it also comes a realization that many of them as a result end up dying. There are part of miscarrying that can be quite scary, as it at times is difficult to know what are normal physical symptoms. I am thankful for the amazing doctors, clinics, and hospital that I have access to at any time.
In the last couple of years God has especially broken my heart for the NEED and power of clean water. I think about all of the women in Ghana that spend most of their days simply getting a bucket of water that their family can use, it often not being clean water. I think about the children that die every day because of the unclean water that they are drinking. I could go on and on. I am thankful for clean water.
Doing the work I do I get the sacred honor of bearing witness to trauma, trauma that impacts sweet sweet children ... all kind of abuse, domestic violence, a parent struggling with a drug addiction, a parent struggling with life threatening medical issues, a parent struggling with severe mental health issues, extreme poverty ... and on and on. Especially at this time of year I am soooooooo completely thankful for my adoring and loving husband and our sweet kids. We truly are soooo blessed.
And in line with that I am sooooo THANKFUL for each one of our children. And with that comes a deep realization that RIGHT NOW there are children who are orphans, who are waiting for a family. They don't have a family of their own, they don't have a family to celebrate Thanksgiving with. Three of our children WERE once orphans, and so with heart break and a heart full of praises I am so thankful that God called us to be the forever parents to each one of our children.
I have seen poverty to depth that is difficult to describe in many countries including the US, and especially in Ghana. Seeing children and families that literally have NOTHING changes you. Although I still takes things sooooooo for granted, I don't do it like I used to. I am fully aware that we ate a huge turkey meal on Thanksgiving, when millions of people in the world ate nothing. I am fully aware that when my kids played with their friends afterward, outside in the snow, in our playroom, and later watching a movie ... millions of children were playing in the dirt. I am fully aware that when we were warm and cozy inside, millions of others were suffering just to meet their basic needs.
I am one BLESSED and THANKFUL woman.
I am one BLESSED and THANKFUL wife.
I am one BLESSED and THANKFUL mom.
I am one BLESSED daughter of the Creator of the Universe, who has given me MUCH! THANK YOU JESUS for allllllllllllll of the literal gifts you give me each day, through my amazing husband, our sweet jewels, and all the other too many ways to count. I adore you Father and stand in AWE of you! I can't wait for our next sweet jewel to come home ...
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