Giving Thanks (inspired by)


Thanks be to God, Father, Son and Spirit, for the abundance of good things he pours on His children.
We are but few, but His blessings are many.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Christmas joy and sadness

What a weekend!

Some of our friends shocked our socks off by throwing Josh and me a surprise birthday party on Saturday night! It was SO much fun! Josh thought he was babysitting the kids so I could go to a "girls night" at Mary Anne's house, so he already had them in their PJs! I don't think they will ever forget partying in their PJs all night long!

Sunday the kids were exhausted and wanted to sleep in a bit, but we made it to church. Aggie had one of those "was that a siezure or is she just acting strange?" moments during church, so of course I am watching her much more closely this week. She will be completely off one of her meds on friday... assuming she's not having seizures again. It's hard to tell what exactly is going on with her much of the time. We are glad we do not have very long to wait until our next appointment at Cleveland (January 11-12) where she will have a full workup again: EEG, MRI, etc. The EEG will tell us if her brain still has a tendency towards seizures or if removing the tumor completely solved the problem. To be honest, we will be very surprised if the EEG shows no more epilepsy. The concerns for her still remain, but we are so very grateful for how well she is doing right now- It has been just about four and a half months seizure free (or very close to it!) and compared to pre-surgery, she is still doing fantastic.

We finally got our first snow here in Indiana! It was just a dusting (see the picture above) but it was SO beautiful! I had to take a picture of it right away, because it was completely gone by afternoon. Sounds like my dear friends and family in Michigan are having a much harder winter!

We are greatly anticipating going to Michigan this weekend for my sister's wedding. I am going to pack snow things for the kids so they can play in the real snow up there! I can hardly believe my little sister is getting married!!! Christmastime is such a beautiful time to start a life together- many prayers and praises are being said for you, Amy and Theo! May God richly bless your marriage, increase your love for each other daily, and bless you with many years together celebrating life in Him!

Christmastime so often seems to be great joy mixed with intense grief. This year is no exception for our family. Josh's grandfather had a two heart attacks yesterday, and so he and his father left in the middle of the night last night to hurry down to Florida before they take him off life support. Grandpa is 87, Grandma is also in her 80s and will need the support of the family very badly during this time. Please pray for their safety, that God will provide for the needs of the church and the family while Josh is away, and that He will comfort the grieving family. May Grandpa be taken quickly without suffering, and may Grandma and the rest of the family be given strong faith to get them through this time. Jesus, please hold them close.

As we celebrate Advent even in this gloom, we remember God's promises to His children. It will not always be this way.

O Come O Come Emmanuel.

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