Thanks and Giving...

This year we have so much to be THANKFUL for. 

Thank you for another year of life.
Thank you for another year of health.
Thank you for another year of mistakes and forgiveness.
Thank you for love.
Thank you for our family and their health.
Thank you for our jobs in an economy when that is not easy to come by.
Thank you for wisdom.
Thank you for opportunity.
Thank you for a house we can rent and feel safe, warm, and at home.

Thank you for moments of quiet.
Thank you for uncontrollable laughter.
Thank you for tears and starting over.
Thank you for connections- whether near or far.
Thank you for grace.
Thank you for second chances...and third, and fourth...
Thank you for guidance.
Thank you for peace.
Thank you for resources.

Thank you for patience.
Thank you for more patience when ours wears thin.
Thank you for even more patience when we feel like throwing up our hands.

Thank you for bringing our little ones home to us.
Thank you for our love and bond- after only 4 months.
Thank you for American Sign Language so we can all communicate and understand one another.
Thank you for a loving community who supports our adoption and journey.
Thank you for loving family and friends how have walked beside us along the way.
Thank you for our kids' Birth Mother-R, and may her soul finally be at peace with you.
Thank you for the rest of our kids' family members- even if we never meet them.
Thank you for all the hands that shaped and supported our journey.  Case workers, adoption workers, CPS, foster families, trainers, therapists, and anyone else who has played a role in our children and our lives. 

Thank you for teachers.
Thank you for janitors.
Thank you for support personnel.
Thank you for bus drivers.
Thank you for cafeteria workers.

Thank you for answers to prayers.
Thank you for not answering some prayers.
Thank you for living in a country where we are free to worship and LOVE you.
Thank you for freedom- but we know it comes at a great cost.
Thank you for those who lost their lives to make us free.
Thank you for laying down YOUR life to make us free, indeed.
Thank you for HOPE.
Thank you for FAITH
Thank you for LOVE.

There are so many other reasons to be thankful today and everyday.  One of those reasons just came home from school and is telling me all about the pie they made.  The other reason is having quiet time because of bad choices all day. 

They aren't joking when they say holidays bring triggers.  While our kids' triggers/reactions aren't over the top, they certainly do exist.  Interesting how one of our kids seems more effected than the other one.  I often wonder if our son's Deafness (his hearing loss and lack of language) spared him in many ways.  He didn't understand a lot of what was going on.  He was lost most of the time.  He didn't hear the bad things people say.  He didn't understand what he was supposed to be experiencing.  Maybe that is why our daughter struggles more than our son?  Maybe it's a gender thing? Maybe a personality thing? Maybe an age thing?  I don't know.

Although days can be long and hard, we are still ever so THANKFUL and ever so BLESSED for the gift of our little munchkins.  They are, no doubt, exactly who we were meant to find.  We will undoubtedly learn much from them.  Thank you for their little hands and feet.  Their eyes and bodies.  Thank you for their love and acceptance of this new family and new life.  Thank you most of all for them. 

Happy Giving of Thanks to each of you.