Every year as Thanksgiving approaches, I take time to think about all that I've been given. So many blessings!

Like I should need a day to remind me!

A certain day back in February of this year made me stop and realize how things can change in an instant.

An unexpected phone call and a long drive to the hospital really took all that makes up my daily life and placed it on a back burner for about a month.

The usual things that had consumed my life on a daily basis were suddenly unimportant.

I had one thing on my mind and that was my father. I went to work, went to the hospital, went home, and the next day I did it all again. I think I aged 10 years in February, or at least it felt that way.

For several weeks we didn't know from day to day if we would lose him or not. With the help and support and love of so many, WE survived.

What amazed me most about February 2007 was what happened to our family when we thought it was about to change forever. Our lives would never be the same, if we lost him. Everthing would be different. It frightened us more than we could ever have imagined.

But here's what happened. Our family did change forever, we realized our lives would never be the same, and everything WAS very different. ALL this happened to us AND our father came home, too.

Our love and our faith grew stronger with each day. We talked until we fell asleep and we cried a lot. We learned how strong we all were and how weak. And we realized how very much we needed each other. We wondered if this was a lesson or if it was just 'life' happening. We decided it was both.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year..our father and so much more!

xo

(Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends here at the OFC)